Page 45 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Honesty and Integrity

Rick McCoy, a one-time 90-unit franchisee, said the ombuds-
man program gave owner/operators “someplace to vent.” And
though some may find fault with the program, it is designed to
base decisions on the merits of the case by an unbiased source.
The ombudsman program was also used prior to a dispute.
On more than one occasion, as the regional manager, I called
the ombudsman in when I knew a situation would lead to heavy
controversy. Why not get another objective opinion in to make
sure the decision is a fair one? It was a real advantage to have
that support available to enable me to try to avoid making a
poor choice that could have lasting effects.
Owner/operators gave the company high marks for giving
them a venue to air concerns. “I think the company makes most
of the decisions but listens to the operators and maybe picks up
some of it. They think: well, maybe they are right,” noted Rick
McCoy. “They put together a lot of committees and things that
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probably did a lot of good for the company.”

Lesson Learned

An ombudsman program sends the signal to everyone that the
organization strives to be fair in its decision making. It also
indicates that the company cares enough to do the right thing
and fix what may be broken. It also becomes a great tool to
allow staff to vent their concerns and frustrations.

Giving Everyone a Vote
There were other examples of establishing trust and a relation-
ship based on integrity. One example is in voting in the local
advertising cooperatives (co-ops) around the country. It was