Straight Talking From Andrew Leigh of Maynard Leigh Associates

“Thought I should see what everyone has been raving about,” wrote the head of Talent Development in a major UK non-government body recently. She came away full of enthusiasm for in essence an intense experience—or as she called it “a bijou gathering - just six of us,” focused on individual behavioural change.

The advertisers who withdrew their support from the News of The World and helped seal its demise were not being noble, altruistic or demonstrating integrity. They were keenly aware their own brand could be contaminated by being associated with what was clearly becoming a toxic organisation.

An important role of an HR service is to tweak an organisation’s conscience and if necessary draw attention to issues of integrity. How many HR practitioners are now wondering whether they should be advising their companies to have nothing to do with News International as a whole, not just its now defunct tabloid?

The News of World saga highlights what it means to have integrity and how organisations must achieve the right balance between compliance, regulations and freedom for people to create, make decisions and be human.

The bigger the organisation the more integrity and compliance surface as an issue. When many people in an organisation are doing something wrong, for example, it can be easy to conclude this is “normal” and not in fact wrong at all.

No amount of rules, regulations, lists of compliance requirements will stop people behaving badly if the culture does not place a premium on integrity. KPMG Research in the US for example, shows how a large proportion of employees spot things their organisation is doing wrong and would cause major problems if exposed.

Approximate reading time 3.88 minutes 

Of the many tough roles that HR must play within the corporate environment, one of the most challenging is, er…challenging. Particularly, challenging internal complacency.  

Approximate reading time: 2.3 minutes

Can you fake charisma? According to Carol Kinsey Goman you can! She is a self-styled charisma expert and author of a book on body language for leaders.

Well I don’t believe it, and what is more, the tone Ms Goman’s adopts leave me feeling slightly sick.

Trumpeting a fake approach makes it all sound like artifice and tricks. What her article says in theory works, however it is essentially aimed at people who hope that they can get away with being charismatic at a purely superficial level.