Shaking trees and catching the fruit

By Sally Treeby

This article was published in Living Ethics: issue 79 autumn 2010

Sally Treeby had always regarded St James Ethics Centre as an important part of the community, but it wasn’t until she became its General Manager in 2009 that she understood the full scope and breadth of the Centre’s work within Australian society. Here Sally outlines plans for the Centre’s next twenty years.

Like many in the corporate sector, I was pleased to know that an organisation like St James Ethics Centre existed. I admired its commitment to providing practical services to support and encourage ethical thinking and decision-making in everyday lives, be it for both personal and professional purposes.

In my experience, people want to make the right decisions. Even more than that, people want to feel they are supported in making the right decisions. Sometimes they are just not sure how to decide the right thing to do.

Having recently joined the Centre, I am now in a position to understand fully the unique nature of the independent services it offers to help individuals and organisations navigate their way through ethical dilemmas of all descriptions.

In a tangible sense, the key elements of our work include stimulating ethical thinking through commentary, events and debates (shaking the tree); as well as practical services such as consulting, leadership development, training programs, counselling for ethical dilemmas and engagement around the corporate responsibility agenda (catching the fruit).

Our potential audience is … well, everybody – individuals, business, government and the community. Quite simply, we want ethical reflection and decision-making to be as intuitive as turning off a dripping tap. One of the first things I have tried to understand in my new role of General Manager is why our most important stakeholders support us. Here are some of their comments:

For me, the value of St James Ethics Centre is the necessity of an institution that provides insights into control structures and boundaries of acceptable community and individual behaviour which is not regulatory-based. At times of great stress and pressure, people migrate to more base behavioural output. Without strong ethical grounding these behaviours can quickly become unacceptable. Regulation will never stop this – it will only deal with the consequences.

Michael Hawker, Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Australia Group Limited

The work of St James Ethics Centre provides immeasurable support to the corporate sector, community organisations and to the Australian general public. Its civic contributions are unparalleled in Australia.

Ms Carol Schwartz AM

St James Ethics Centre occupies a unique space in Australia’s public discourse and learning. So many of the big decisions in life have an ethical dimension and business, in particular, is no exception. Yet there are often few formal roadmaps to help guide the vast majority of business leaders, who strive to strike the correct balance between real-life pressures and expectations and doing the right thing. With many rules and standards about business behaviour now codified into law and regulation, institutions such as St James Ethics Centre are important in highlighting how shade and nuance can and should be merged into the black-and-white of the bottom line.

Katie Lahey, Business Council of Australia

Like any organisation we don’t want to risk becoming complacent, and being a unique organisation comes with complexities as well as great opportunities. In order to continue to flourish over the next twenty years and take full advantage of such opportunities, the Centre needs to have long-term plans in place. Some of these are operational, while others are more visionary. So what do such plans mean in practical terms for the future of St James Ethics Centre?

To begin with, we are investing in clarifying and strengthening our brand. We understand that it is not always easy to explain the work of the Centre, so we have undertaken research to help us clarify and articulate our purpose and mission and, in listening to our stakeholders, ensure that our activities remain accessible and relevant. We look forward to keeping you up to date with this project in future editions of Living Ethics.

Looking to the future, the Centre will expand our reach and capacity by building an ‘orchestra’ of Ethics Fellows, to advocate, educate and facilitate ethical discussion across a range of sectors. Specifically, this strategy aims to support and expand the work of our Executive Director Dr Simon Longstaff. We have already engaged a number of appropriately qualified individuals to work within their sector of expertise to further encourage business and the community in ethical decision-making and practice. We plan to expand this orchestra over the next few years.

In terms of broader community engagement, we are adopting new technologies like social media to connect with and inspire the next generation.

Earlier this year, we also proudly announced that the twenty-fifth Governor-General Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC has agreed to be our Patron. We look forward to her involvement in the Centre’s work.

Excitingly, and after many years of temporary digs, the Centre has secured a new permanent address in Sydney’s CBD with building due to commence this year. This permanent home has been generously donated by the City of Sydney and will ensure not only the Centre’s longevity but also serve the community by offering access to meeting rooms, public spaces and various technologies. We see this as a new opportunity for our community to have a dedicated space in which to engage in ethical conversations and thought-provoking dialogue.

Leadership development is increasingly a core part of our work. Over coming months and years, we will be placing much emphasis on developing differentiated programs that are underpinned by a model that views leadership as a strategic and ethical practice.

To achieve these plans we need adequate and reliable funding streams to remain sustainable in our core services as well as cultivating and capturing opportunities for new markets, audiences and generations. A sustainable funding model is therefore another important and very current priority for us.

With respect to more mundane administrative plans, we are working to strengthen our operational efficiency so that we continuously improve the way we do things. In this way we will save costs while also providing better service.

Moving into the next twenty years, St James Ethics Centre hopes to become an even more influential part of the social fabric of Australian society, inspiring more people from all walks of life to include the ethical dimension in their daily lives. Our aim is to create a physical and virtual space for deep reflection, conversation and challenging questions, encompassing a vibrant interaction of ages, occupations and beliefs.

Looking back over the journey of the past twenty years, I can’t imagine what the Centre will look like in 2030. But I’m certain we will still be faced with ethical dilemmas and seeking guidance to make good decisions in answering that question: “What ought one to do?”