The Diamond of Responsibility is a brilliant tool for enabling an individual to become a Change Agent for responsibility. It is based on the precept of Personal Responsibility: Personal responsibility is an individual’s open, wise and ethical engagement with the world, for the sustainable good of all. © Hopkins / Skarstam 2012 In our private and working lives we are confronted by a bewildering series of issues and problems. These range from the manifestations of corporate (and high level personal) greed, frequently driven by short-termism to the demands for greater consumerism, which are countered by extra legislation or the demands of CSR, together with the increasing voices which insist that our planet is both finite and precious. At an individual level, we might feel powerless, and in a corporate situation, a leader might also feel powerless, not knowing how to mobilise the employees and other important stakeholders to more responsible action. The Diamond of Responsibility is a way of starting to make a difference – a way for you to become a Change Agent. The Diamond has four key points which, when taken together, are essential for enabling change agency: Values, Ethics, Stakeholders and Process. Values are the guiding principles for our lives, which we absorb informally from our own and individually experienced environment be that at home, in the family, from school, from our religious training and from our wider society. They are learnt as we grow and become our cultural foundations. There are common values that are shared across cultures: honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness and compassion , yet there are differences, which can lead to clashes and problems. Further, one area of stress and frustration is where your own personal values are at odds with the company or organisational values of your place of work. It is unlikely that your personal values will be completely aligned with those of the organisation in which you work – indeed complete homogeneity could be stultifying – but it is very important that there is some agreement or overlap. For this, it is key that you not only know what your own or personal values are, but that you also know the values of the organisation in which you are active. From an organisational perspective, it is essential that the company or organisation not only has clearly stated values but that these are also lived by the entire organisation, from the board room to the engine room. Ethics: although the word Values suggests virtue, not all organisations which have strong values are virtuous, as criminal gangs prove. Therefore, Values need to be further polished by the application of Ethics which is the thoughtful and reasoned discussion of Right and Wrong, the light and dark that lie at the heart of all dilemmas. Ethics, which has a philosophical dimension, needs to be studied. Stakeholders are individuals or groups that are affected by, or have an interest in, a company or organisation and it is usually understood in stakeholder theory that these individuals and groups can be spoken with. As individuals, we also have stakeholders in our own sphere of influence. Stakeholder maps for companies and organisations are often complex and no two are alike. Frequently, these maps do not include two groups of stakeholders that we feel are essential: the Environment, as in the natural world, and Future Generations, so that our actions are guided by longer term thinking than is frequently the case in business. These last two stakeholders are key for the sustainable aspect of our definition above. Process: once we have identified our Values, are clear on our Ethics and know who our Stakeholders are, then we need to add Process – or action – to the cutting points of the Diamond, or no external change will take place. To help make the first move you can: • Surprise: surprise yourself – and others - by doing something differently that is aligned with the other points of your diamond; • Enthuse: spread the word and get others involved in some way in your company or organisation; • Get out of the Box: (a) reframe the situation by doing something positively and with responsibility in a free and untrammelled manner or (b) go to your tool box and find a structure that works for you such as, in organisational terms, the ISO 26000 Guidance on social responsibility. In a company, the governance procedures are also crucial, as they are linked with the firm’s values. In our view, The Diamond of Responsibility can also be used by the leaders of companies and organisations to harness the energy from their core stakeholders (such as employees) in three temporal ways either as a (n): 1. Prequel for responsible initiatives or processes such as Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and so on, to bring ideas and action from outside; 2. Equalizer, to help disseminate existing CSR / Sustainability ideas throughout the company so that they really become part of the organisation’s DNA; 3. Sequel to responsible actions in maintaining their positive energy in external stakeholders – by effecting continued change - long after such change has been fully assimilated by the core organisation, where it is the accepted and responsible way of doing business. Frequently, semantics are used as a way of avoiding responsible action: “Corporate Social Responsibility? That’s only for the big boys, for the multi-nationals. It has nothing to do with me!” or, especially in the US, “Corporate Social Responsibility…that’s pretty much communism – we don’t like that here.” The Diamond of Responsibility cuts to the heart of the matter transparently and precisely so that being responsible is no longer a burdensome obligation but something that is multi-facetted, robust and valuable and – if we may extend the metaphor – excites wonder. Ivor Hopkins Dr Bengt Skarstam Responsibility3 Ltd Reshape AB ijhopkins@responsibility3 [email protected] London, May 2013 (K)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:56:00 +0000
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