“A cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism”. This may sound like the trailer for a Netflix series but it is actually the sub-title of a memoir by ex-Facebook executive and whisteblower Sarah Wynn-Williams. She had a leadership ringside seat for seven years and her book Careless People is number one on the New York Times best-seller list, despite Meta having secured a temporary ban on her promoting it.

Her memoir relates how, allegedly, in Meta’s relentless drive for profit, global expansion and push into politics it lost any sense of moral and ethical compass. Her account describes a toxic culture that embraced “greed and lost idealism” and had systemic double standards at the most senior levels. 

From Meta’s perspective, spokesperson Andy Stone called the book “a mix of old claims and false accusations about our executives”, as reported in The Atlantic.

The rise of whistleblowing  

The narrative is all too familiar. In recent years there has been a steady stream of stories in which whistleblowers have felt the need to go public.

On a psychological level, whistleblowing is the action of last resort to have one’s truth heard and gain fair treatment and justice. 

Worryingly, for every story that comes to public awareness, there are many bubbling and festering just below the surface, ready to erupt at some point. They may not become a best-selling book, but they will involve a lot of leadership attention and energy, alongside time-consuming and costly investigations. Not to mention the personal stress of a whistleblower going through this process. 

The organisational fallout may impact investor confidence and reputational damage feeding into issues with winning business, and attracting and retaining talent. What’s more, the organisation culture may be holed below the waterline, meaning it’s a long journey ahead to restore trust and credibility.   

So how do we prevent things from getting to this point? Here are four areas to consider.

Values

Every organisation needs a set of values and behaviours. This is important in providing clarity of expectations and a framework for guidance.

Are your company’s values embedded in how decisions get made and things get done? 

To what degree are the values lived in reality? If there is a credibility gap, is this due to people not understanding the above (more education and training needed), or do employees (and/or leaders) consciously let things slide? Both are unsafe but the latter is more pernicious and should be addressed quickly. 

Leadership integrity

There is no point in having values unless leaders role model them. Even one leader behaving poorly signals that your values are not taken seriously. This creates cynicism about the leadership and in effect condones poor behaviour. 

Holding people to account in a values-based way sends the message that not only do you live your organisational values, but you work practically in navigating difficult situations.

Of course, no one is perfect. Ambiguity and blind spots are always at play in human relationships. But a sincere and active commitment to living the values creates confidence and integrity.    

Psychological safety   

In healthy organisational cultures, people’s wellbeing is genuinely valued, and managers are held responsible for fostering engagement and trust. In this type of culture, the vast majority of concerns will be discussed and resolved before the need for any formal process.  

Employees feel confident that if they raise something with their manager they will be listened to and thanked for bringing it to attention. The issue will be treated confidentially and the person bringing forward the issue won’t experience any negative impact on their reputation, role and progression. These are typical worries that prevent people from raising concerns and with good reason – often the whistle-blower’s character and motive can be called into question.  

If, for whatever reason, the raised issue cannot be resolved, there should be a grievance process. When something escalates to grievance status this should be taken as a glaring red light and resolved quickly before it goes further.

Some organisations have multiple grievance cases in progress to the point where grievances are almost normalised in the culture. This situation requires urgent senior management intervention and a commitment to evolving the culture.   

Confidence in the whistleblowing process

It’s important to examine the effectiveness of your whistleblowing process. Consider the following questions and how you can get the answers you need from your regular engagement and culture surveys: 

• Is your whistleblowing process fit for purpose?
• Does it provide employees with an easy, confidential and swift experience? This may include the option for anonymity where appropriate.
• Do employees know about the process?
• Have they been briefed on how to use it? 
• And crucially, do they feel confident in using it?

Ensure your findings are shared at board level so that any changes and improvements can be made quickly.

Proactive investment in these four areas will help to proactively manage issues early on and prevent them snowballing to the point where they can be really damaging.