Very few businesses today fail to understand the importance of ethics, compliance and corporate responsibility. 
But there is a wide gulf between recognizing the importance of something and weaving it into the cultural fabric of an organization.
As headlines in the business pages constantly remind us, companies that view ethics, compliance and CR programs as “check the box” items often experience integrity failures, at great cost to their reputations, their employees and their shareholders. On the other hand, for companies that think strategically about their businesses, these items are part of the organization’s roots, rather than ornaments that are hung on the branches.
Our goal at ELG is to help companies build cultures of integrity, not to sell off-the-shelf quick fixes. We work closely with management to understand your organization, and to help develop integrated programs and plans that seamlessly mesh with your broader business objectives.
We’re successful at this because we listen, and because we tailor our efforts to your businesses, rather than trying to force you to adjust your approach to fit our model. In fact, we have no model. We are consultants, not retailers. But “consultants” doesn’t really fully capture it either. We prefer to think of ourselves as business partners, and our clients tend to agree.
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Confidential Insight
ELG works closely and confidentially with management and, as appropriate with boards of directors, to understand the unique integrity challenges and opportunities facing their companies. We offer expert perspectives, based on over 100 years of collective experience, regarding how they can best meet these challenges in both the short- and the long-term.
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Program Strategy and Structure
Given our experience, we know and understand what the “must-haves” are, what the best practices are, what’s nice to have, what’s “bleeding edge” and what’s “leading edge”. But we don’t bring preconceived conclusions to any client engagement. Instead, we work with each client in each of their unique contexts to develop strategies and design programs that meet their particular needs. At the core of everything we do is helping clients understand how best to drive the creation or reinforcement of ethical and responsible cultures.
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Functional Integration
As Scottish poet Robert Burns famously reminded us, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. In the business world, the truth of this is demonstrated all too often when otherwise well-designed programs and initiatives fall apart from a failure of the various business functions to work together or even to communicate with one another. Ethics, compliance and corporate responsibility initiatives are particularly vulnerable to this challenge.
At ELG, we have experience working with the key functions within companies, such as HR, legal, regulatory compliance, investor relations, and others, that are central to the success of ethics, compliance and CR efforts. More importantly, we are skilled at helping companies tear down the silos that often impede the success of such efforts.
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Industry Initiatives
In the corporate responsibility arena, companies recognize that successfully tackling some common challenges depends increasingly upon collective, in addition to individual, efforts. A single company buying products from overseas suppliers may be less effective at creating positive change in working conditions than may a number of companies cooperating in effecting such change. Several such initiatives have been launched in the past few years, involving electronics, apparel and footwear, diamonds and gold, coffee, and other industries.
ELG consultants have been closely involved in the birth and growth of several of these efforts. We are therefore uniquely able to help business clients understand whether and to what extent involvement in such initiatives meets their overall CR strategy, as well as to help them identify the milestones that may make future involvement appropriate.
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Stakeholder Relations
Company leaders understand that their businesses have accountability to a variety of stakeholders, including but not limited to shareholders. And the voices of these stakeholders are becoming louder and more influential with each passing day. The traditional Investor Relations function at companies has given way to a more complex and nuanced set of demands and expectations.
ELG’s consultants have extensive experience helping clients understand who their stakeholders are, what drives them, and whether and how to engage them in dialogue. They also have credibility with many stakeholder groups, and have been involved directly in successful and constructive stakeholder engagement efforts with and on behalf of their clients.
