Conflict of Interest?
“Conflict of Interest” is a term we continue to hear about in our work and personal lives on a frequent basis. What is a true “conflict of interest” and how do you help your company implement a policy?
In business a “conflict of interest” is defined as: a situation that has the potential to undermine the impartiality of a person because of the possibility of a clash between an employee’s self-interest and professional-interest. This definition allows room for interpretation on both the employee and employer side.
“Conflict of Interest recently became an issue for Mary, a friend of mine who runs a private school. Over the weekend, Mary told me about an employee, Stephanie that works for her.
Stephanie was an all around average employee, very reliable and interacted well with the 5th graders she taught for the past few years. Within the last few months, Mary had been told some rumors about Stephanie and her provocative after work behavior, but didn’t think anything of it.
Recently the gossip started again: a parent requested a room change for their child, and an office manager at a neighboring school sent her a link to Stephanie’s myspace page. Out of disbelief and curiosity, she went to the link and all of the rumors she had heard were right there in black and white. There was no longer a mystery to Stephanie’s provactive extracurricular activities.
Mary immediately called me up and was in complete shock on numerous different levels. Putting aside her personal feelings, we began to break down the situation. First, as a teacher Stephanie was required to sign a “conflict of interest” policy for the school. Second, Stephanie was misrepresenting the school by engaging in extremely inappropriate behavior and using her real name. Lastly, Stephanie was marketing herself by posting pictures of her “conflicting” after-work activities.
All businesses should have a conflict of interest policy that all employee’s are required to sign and follow. Employee’s with questions should be directed to a company designated expert and responded to accordingly. In order to develop a policy, employers can work off the definition and develop company specifics they would like to add in. I have worked with businesses of all shapes and sizes in various industries and created a general template that I can use for clients in any arena. We start with the general policy and have a brainstorming session with appropriate key players and then submit it to the CEO for approval.
Each “Conflict of Interest” policy is unique, depending on the industry. I have extensive experience developing “Conflict of Interest” policies, having worked with businesses of all shapes and sizes in various industries. The process is straight forward; starting with the general policy and expanding upon it to meet the specific needs of your business.
As with all policies, it is important to update them and make them a part of your company culture. A common occurence in the ever evolving electronic age we live in is to not include things such as social networking sites etc. Policies should be evaluated on a yearly basis and updates should be posted and issues accordingly.
In regards to Stephanie, Mary was unsure how to counsel her, as the updates I mentioned above were not a part of her current policy. Let’s just say the policy had quite a bit of dust on it and included things such as the age of carbon paper. We discussed a counseling/coaching session with Stephanie and immediate behaviors and personal marketing that would have to be addressed and corrected and a plan of action for her reaction.
If this isn’t a problem for your company right now, that is great news! But don’t wait until it is to create a policy and implement it. If you do have a policy, take a quick look at it as the end of the year approaches and be sure to add in things like social networking and sites that allow you to post videos or pictures that live in public domain. Five words: Protect yourself as a Company.
