How to Start a Business Ethics Awareness Training Program
With more companies coming under public scrutiny for their accounting practices, hiring and firing policies, investment strategies, and client privacy issues, there has never been a better time or greater need for qualified trainers and facilitators to introduce and reinforce the principles of sound business ethics. Here's what you need to know to launch your own training program.
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Instructions
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Educate yourself about business ethics on a daily basis by reading the business and financial sections of major metropolitan newspapers. Many of these such as the "Los Angeles Times," "The New York Times," and "The Wall Street Journal" are available as online editions. You should also set up a Google Alerts account (http://www.google.com/alerts) so you'll be notified whenever news stories are posted that match the criteria you specify regarding corporate ethics, scandals and collapses of major institutions.
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Read ethics case studies to familiarize yourself with a range of moral issues affecting today's businesses. When you start assembling your training materials, you'll be drawing from these case studies to illustrate the lessons you are teaching.
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Join local and national organizations and associations whose primary focus is to exchange information on business ethics.
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Query the human resources departments of local businesses to ascertain whether they are offering ethics awareness training to their employees. Survey them as what types of ethics issues they are most interested in. For instance, if the primary purpose of their organization involves data storage and medical record-keeping, then they need to be aware of privacy issues and the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the files to preserve client confidentiality. If it's a company that has a high turnover in staff, their interest may lean more toward ethical hiring practices, state and federal laws regarding discrimination, sexual harassment, and developing guidelines for appropriate codes of conduct.
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Outline the content of your training program and identify the supplemental materials you will need, such as case studies, recommended reading and articles on ethics. Besides a lecture, each module of the workshop should include breakout groups for analysis and discussion of real and hypothetical ethics scenarios. In addition, you may want to include some role-playing activities for participants. Use you startup capital to reproduce handout materials, purchase presentation folders, and pay the fees for your business license and any local marketing you plan to do to get the word out.
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Get a business license. The website of the Small Business Administration (http://www.sba.gov) will walk you through the steps of becoming an official entity.
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Design a website that describes the type of content you offer in business ethics awareness training, the fees you charge and a brief bio about yourself. If you're good at blogging, you'll want to include your observations about corporate accountability as well as links to ethics articles and interviews.
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Join the Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations that will bring you into contact with a network of businesspeople.
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Tips & Warnings
Join Toastmasters. This is a great venue for practicing public speaking techniques and getting feedback on how to deliver more effective presentations. Always invite your participants to grade your training program content through a questionnaire. Carry your business cards wherever you go. Give talks about business ethics at local high schools and colleges.
