The ethics of recovery: How CBI restored trust and rebuilt its reputation
In response to allegations that led to a well-publicised crisis of trust, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) engaged Principia to conduct a comprehensive ethical culture review.
The challenge
In the wake of disturbing allegations reported by The Guardian newspaper, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found itself in a significant crisis. Trust among members, stakeholders, and the public plummeted, putting the organization’s future at risk. With a critical vote on the future of the organization just four weeks away, the President of the Board together with the incoming Director-General Rain Newton-Smith recognised the need to not only understand what happened but to address the root causes of the crisis.
How we helped
The CBI Board and Newton-Smith acted swiftly and decisively by hiring Principia to conduct a comprehensive ethical culture review. Enabling the organization to rapidly regain stability.
Our approach involved five key steps:
- Listening & dialogue: We initiated a listening exercise, encouraging staff to reflect and share their perspectives. This fostered dialogue and helped build consensus at a time when viewpoints across CBI differed. Using a trauma-informed approach ensured staff felt safe and were supported during a challenging time.
- Data-driven insights: We analyzed data from 90% of CBI staff using our proprietary Ethical Culture Index, drawing on findings from a staff survey and listening exercises. This analysis revealed foundational strengths to build on and the vulnerabilities that had developed over time in CBI’s culture.
- Leadership engagement: We collaborated with CBI leadership to support their role and ensure open, consistent communication with their people. We focused on equipping the newly formed leadership team with values-based, ethical leadership capabilities for the future.
- Strategic change roadmap: Recommendations to rebuild trust and ensure cultural transformation were shared with the Board, leadership, staff, and members. A summary of our recommendations can be found in the CBI prospectus.
- Taking action: We worked closely with the CPO Elizabeth Wallace to shape immediate priorities. This included work to update the Code of Conduct, co-create values and behaviours and strengthen ‘speak-up’. All staff received training on an upgraded grievance process, focusing on promoting an open and proactive ‘speak-up’ culture at CBI.
The results
By collaborating with Principia, CBI gained a deep understanding of the factors that led to serious misconduct allegations and broken trust with employees, members, government, and the broader public. CBI’s leadership was able to take targeted action and demonstrate their commitment to transparency, accountability, and ethical practices during a reputational crisis. This commitment laid the groundwork for restoring its reputation, its role with government and the business community, and fostering a culture that aligns with the organization’s core values.
Some people felt very angry at the descriptions of the organization […]; others were very upset, or feeling trauma related to experiences in their personal lives. We had to be extremely sensitive to that range of emotions, and Principia were able to really engage with individual staff and show how there was an inconsistency of experience between different people. What was important for us was having an organization that can come and listen to those experiences and make recommendations for how we need to change.
