A story that I picked up via Twitter had me scratching my head. It’s the story of the the Salz review that was requested by the Barclays board following their fine for Libor rigging.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22012261#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
What I find particularly perplexing is the comment from Barclays chairman Sir David Walker:
“The Board asked for an insightful, rigorous, and, crucially, independent view of how Barclays could improve… [and] that is precisely what we have received,” Barclays chairman Sir David Walker said, reacting to its publication.
“The report makes for uncomfortable reading in parts. That is bound to be the case when one asks for an independent examination of this kind, and we must learn from the findings.”
“Bound to be the case”
Why so?
I’m sure that there are many upstanding chairmen that would be shaken to their core to discover that such corrupt behaviours had been endemic within their walls, and particularly on their watch.
We hear frequently that the banks have to pay exhorbitant salaries and bonuses to attract the best people.
You don’t have to be anything like the best, and certainly no Master of the Universe to understand that the job of management is to not only know what is going on throughout the company, but be the role model, the setter of standards, and the creators of the culture.
Those responsibilities lie at the top, it is exactly and precisely the responsibility of management to define the standards and create the culture. To have integrity, to be doing the right things especially when no-one is watching.
I’d say it’s “bound to be the case” if you are asleep on duty or are turning a blind eye and hoping things will stay peachy.
Blissful ignorance? Wilful neglect? These are not the qualities that any company needs in its leaders and managers.
Culture change is becoming quite a popular topic at the moment. It’s easy to say and damned hard to do. It sometimes has begin with the old classic “change your people, or change your people”.
If Barclays wants to be fundamentally transformed, and to be trusted again at some point in the future, I think that it may have to begin that process at the very top and keep on changing for a long, long time.
