A Spirit of Transparency and a Culture of ‘Speak-Up’ (Networking Event with SNC-Lavalin)

By: Jessie McFadden,
CRL Student Ambassador, Comm’17

Mr. Stefan Hoffmann-Kuhnt (pictured, right), now the Head of the Compliance Program, Monitoring and Reporting at SNC-Lavalin, boasts abundant experience compiled from his time at Siemens and around the globe.

On February 4^th, QSB Centre for Responsible Leadership hosted an intimate networking event for its Certificate students, where they were granted a closer look into the successful ways by which Mr. Hoffmann-Kuhnt is working to shape compromised business systems into reconstructed models of responsible practice.

Throughout his talk, he stressed the importance of internal change and ‘executive buy-in’ within an organization to amend the missions and goals of a company. According to Hoffmann-Kuhnt, it can take three to four years to establish a reformed tone and culture within the workplace and beyond.

Often, asserts Hoffmann-Kuhnt, problems lie within the intermediaries of a company (its subcontractors and agents, for example). He suggested that by employing sensitive training; administering ethics and compliance-related employee surveys; and by protecting and supporting a company’s ‘whistle-blowers’, visions of responsible leadership practices can become reality.

Attendees of the afternoon session now understand the significance of “a spirit of transparency, and a culture of ‘speak up’”, as was articulated by Mr. Hoffman-Kuhnt.