Some weird things have emerged from the collapse of the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) over unacceptable behaviour. The chairman’s statement that there was “not enough training on values” implies that the organisation needed a special programme to teach senior employees how to behave.

Really? Alleged rape at the organisation’s events suggests that perhaps the “alcohol explanation” is still alive and being used to cover unacceptable activities. Someone else suggested that the CBI had wrongly “paid more attention to competence than behaviour”. I think competence is behaviour.

Even weirder things are emerging from the banking world where several senior people’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein are alleged to have continued after it was clear that his activities were so blatantly illegal and immoral that he had been rejected as a client. By all means keep your enemies close, but perhaps not your disgraced customers.

Being a decent human being

None of which suggests that you shouldn’t be willing to help people in trouble. It’s what decent human beings do. But running a business is not about “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”. It’s about getting and nurturing the right horses in the first place.

Every business, big and small, high tech and low tech, new and old should look carefully at its culture right now. There will be a wave of disclosures, accusations, not all of them truthful – and lots of innuendos – encouraged by these bizarre activities. Does your business culture live up to the standards you expect of your best friends, your children and your partner?

There’s an easy way to tell the superficial culture of a business. Look at the boss. Don’t look for the “processed” character of glib words, smiles, smart clothes and accessories. Seek the inner confidence, the ability and willingness to concentrate on you rather than herself or himself. See how they treat their PA, the coffee provider and other members of the company.

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Is their politeness seamless or is it conjured up for you? Do their employees treat them sensibly or deferentially? Politeness and deference are two different things that often get confused. Are the bosses’ words with those who work for them open and frank or do they reek of secrecy? Do they keep the conversation light but clean? Good engagement demands lightness or humour every eight minutes. Polite light-heartedness makes life tolerable.

Decent behaviour at work

You won’t know the real culture of a business until you work in it. By then you should be contributing to that culture, perhaps even by changing it to make it a better place. Decent behaviour at work is needed both to fulfil the law and to make your business an efficient, sustainable organisation.

I observe, however, that many people don’t know what “decent” means. They think it is avoiding poor treatment of women and not shouting at those employees who are critical to – and of – the business. Certainly, respectful treatment of everyone is a prerequisite for a decently-run business. There’s more to it than that, though.

“Bulk” behaviour models are no longer the way to ensure a well-run business. It is idiotic that we refine marketing and advertising techniques to cater ever more specifically for individual customer’s needs but turn the essentials for employees and peers into mass process and personality-denying rules.

The old adage that your best assets go home at night is actually true. Many managers behave as though it isn’t. Humanitarian considerations apart, business efficiency depends on those working in it caring about the company and regarding its public persona as a projection of themselves.

How the boss treats them will largely determine how they treat the business.

Managing people at work must cater for their needs, personalities and expectations. Where there are thousands or millions of employees, rules and processes are inevitable for the orderly running of the business. The ‘processes’ for dealing with large numbers of people should be kept to strictly functional matters. We do not want individuals arbitrarily classified and assigned to boxes of definition. Individuals are not a “K” or an “M”, they are human beings. Many organisations are still classifying people in highly arbitrary ways – and often those who do so are the same people who implore everyone to think ‘out of the box’. So contradictory.

Handle individuals individually

Such processes as are essential must not invade the personal handling of individuals. If they do, the business culture fails and no amount of talk of diversity or personal growth will make up for it.

When I was building Cerebos Pacific 40 years ago I published the wages and terms of employment of all those working in the business. It was novel, but not bizarre, then. It seems to be thought of as both novel and bizarre today.

Why? Those ashamed of earning too much can ponder their contribution to the organisation and ask if they are worth it. Those ashamed of earning too little can ask themselves – and their bosses – why. We don’t hide the prices of our products from our customers. Why should we hide the prices of ourselves?

How do you avoid “process” becoming all pervasive? By installing more managers into the chain of command? Absolutely not. Companies that do that, lengthen the communications lines so that they cause miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Even the best-meaning bosses can be daunting to an employee with a complaint. Being a CEO demands stature and such “presence” can inhibit subordinates from raising issues they think will make them unpopular. Democratic countries are used to top people being called to account by the media.

Even so, Rupert Murdoch’s employees, Donald Trump’s cohorts and many middle managers know that the dangers of raising controversial issues include being fired. I was fortunate in my employers where I raised several such issues – including opening up all-male management dining rooms to women managers – but was never terminated for doing so.

The role of HR

Human resources (HR) should be the place where any employee feels safe to raise any issue. Unfortunately HR has grown in as many ways as there are organisations. Even strong HR managers can be the most reluctant to challenge bosses. They see themselves as vulnerable to retaliation.

A recent client of mine, a senior manager, was fired out of hand without cause or explanation apparently because her boss wanted to import a friend of his. HR didn’t lift a finger. They were responsible for the contract that allowed such unacceptable action in the first place.

Each business has to make up its mind what it wants its HR team to be. The current roles of file keeper, appraisals collector and having responsibility without authority for any failed hires are untenable. If HR managers are to exercise more than their former, largely administrative, part they must be given the tools to do so. The true HR overseer remains the boss of whoever is hired to report to him or her. HR should not be left to clear up their failures.

In Part 2 of this article next week, I shall discuss ethics, vision, empathy, rewards.

The writer is founder and chair at Terrific Mentors International