The Business Leadership Wikipedia: Business Transparency Score Sheet

1st Insight Communications Business Transparency Score Sheet

Test your team, or why not use this as a model to create your own Business Transparency Score Sheet?

No matter how large or small your business, your thoughtful consideration of the following questions will reveal specific actions you can take to improve the transparency and innovation of your business. Have a dialogue on these items with your primary team members and your top clients to gain additional value from this score sheet. Note that even if you're a sole proprietor of a small business, you still have a team: Those who most closely support you in achieving your business goals (i.e. assistants, networking partners...). How would it help you to get these people more actively supporting your success? Creatively make these questions relevant to the size and nature of your particular business.

Additional ideas:

• Print the score sheet, circle the questions that are most relevant to your team and discuss those questions at an upcoming team meeting.
• Assign questions to various team members who will bring their reflections and research to the next team discussion.
• Identify questions you would like to ask your best clients, professional associates, business networking partners or members of your market audience.

Scoring:

• All questions are yes or no.
• For every yes answer to a question, put that question's score (seen in parenthesis following the question) in the right column of the score sheet.
• When finished, add up the total score in the right column.
• A perfect score is 100

I) Transparent Purpose

1) How clear is the purpose of the business to team members and clients?

There is no clarity as to the businesses identity and operation. (score 0)

Descriptive information is confusing and/or inadequate. (score 0)

Descriptive information is minimal. (score 0)

Descriptive information is reasonable. (score 2)

Descriptive information is abundant and thorough. (score 7)

II) Transparent Products and Services

2) How clearly are the major types of products, brands, and services of the business described?

There is no clarity. (score 0)

Descriptive information is confusing and/or inadequate. (score 0)

Descriptive information is minimal. (score 0)

Descriptive information is reasonable. (score 3)

Descriptive information is abundant and thorough. (score 5)

III) Transparent Description of Organization and Management

3) How clearly is the business organization and management described?

There is no clarity. (score 0)

Descriptive information is confusing and/or inadequate. (score 0)

Descriptive information is minimal. (score 0)

Descriptive information is reasonable. (score 3)

Descriptive information is abundant and thorough. (score 5)

4) How well does the organization and management of the business fit its stated priorities and values?

There is no correlation (score 0)

Any correlation is accidental (score 0)

There is reasonable correlation (score 3)

There is strong correlation. (score 5)

IV) Transparent Access (Point of Contact)

5) Is there a designated contact person with stated availability to field employee and client questions (email address, phone, hours of availability)? (score 1)

V) Transparent Vision

6) Does the business have a clear visionary statement expressing commitment to its stated values and priorities? (score 3)

7) Are there initiatives or actions to fulfill that commitment? (score 1)

8) Has the business listed the impediments and challenges it faces in attempting to realize its vision and commitments? (score 1)

9) Are there initiatives or actions to overcome these? (score 1)

VI) Transparent Policy

10) Does the business have written policy guidelines? (score 3)

11) Is there a written list of the businesses positions on major issues pertaining to its stated values and priorities? (score 1)

12) Are there initiatives or actions by the company to work on these issues? (score 1)

13) Are there specific targets and goals for improved performance on stated values, priorities and intended actions? (score 1)

14) Are suppliers and venture partners screened based on their performance on the stated values and priorities of the company? (score 1)

15) Does the business have voluntary memberships in internal or external standards or rating organizations? (score 1)

These are voluntary codes of conduct that do not involve certification.

VII) Transparent Management

16) Does the business have a program or plan in place to promote education and increase the awareness of employees and the general public on its stated priorities, values and performance? (score 1)

17) Is there a plan in place to adopt ISO or some other formal Management system? (score 2)

18) Is there regular discussion, consultation and dialogue with both internal and external stakeholders regarding the stated priorities, values and corresponding performance of the business? (score 1)

19) Are there initiatives or actions in place to engage with the stakeholders? (score 1)

20) Are there initiatives or actions in place to act on information gathered from stakeholders? (score 1)

VIII) Transparent Social Accountability

21) Are there initiatives or actions to provide systematic structure of social oversight? (score 1)

22) Is there a clear visionary statement expressing a corporate commitment good social performance? (score 1)

23) Are there initiatives or actions in place to fulfill that commitment? (score 1)

24) Is there an ongoing discussion of the impediments and challenges faced by the company in attempting to realize its social vision and commitments? (score 1)

25) Are there initiatives or actions in place to overcome them? (score 1)

IX) Transparent Commitment to Team, Employees

26) Is there a commitment to minimize staff turnover and emphasize job security and employee retention? (score 1)

27) Is there an ongoing discussion of the training, skills and learning programs appropriate to support employees' upward mobility? (score 2)

28) Are there initiatives or actions in place to implement such programs? (score 1)

29) Are there efforts to uphold the highest standards of business ethics and integrity? (score 1)

30) Are these standards found under a Code of Conduct? (score 1)

31) Is there a commitment not to engage in any kind of discrimination? (score 1)

32) Is the percentage of all females and minorities in management made public? (score 1)

33) Are there initiatives or actions in place to correct any imbalance? (score 1)

34) Are there efforts to provide a safe and healthy working environment at all sites? (score 1)

35) Is there a tracking system in place for the total number of employee incidents or accidents? (score 1)

36) Is there a tracking system in place for the total number of employee injuries or illnesses that resulted in one or more lost workdays, typically normalized per a certain number of employees or work hours? (score 1)

37) Is there a tracking system in place for the number of health and safety citations or notices of violation given by the government in a given year or total amount levied against company for health and safety violations?

38) Is there a tracking system in place for the total amount levied against a company for health and safety violations. (score 1)

39) Are the above statistics made public? (score 1)

40) Does the business make an effort to respect the right of employees to form and join trade unions of their choice and to bargain collectively? (score 1)

41) Are employees compensated fairly? (score 1)

42) Is there a formal system in place to review employee compensation practices? (score 1)

43) Are there efforts to support education in the communities where the company is located? (score 1)

44) Are employee satisfaction surveys administered on at least an annual basis? (score 2)

45) Are there initiatives or actions in place to follow up on such surveys? (score 1)

46) Are employees at every level represented in the creation, administration and follow-up of the surveys? (score 1)

47) Is there auditing or validating of the company's employee relations by a qualified external third-party source? (score 1)

X) Transparent Consumer and Community Accountability

48) Initial Consumer Communication

Are clients notified upfront of the basics of their involvement in the company (what's being offered, how will personal information be used, prices...)? (score 1)

49) Ongoing Consumer Communication

Are there regular client notices (newsletter, mailing) that present an opportunity to convey good news and build relationships? (score 1)

50) Consumer Stakeholder Education

Does your education of stakeholders empower them, strengthen communication and build trust? (score 1)

51) Consumer Exception Processes

Is there a full range of consultative services and support to help your team develop manual review processes that take into account and apply alternative decision criteria where warranted? (score 1)

52) Quality Control

Is there a quality control policy and designated responsibility to implement quality control policy? (score 1)

Are there efforts to compile, validate, track, and analyze customer complaints? (score 1)

Are there efforts to comply with code of business conduct? (score 1)

Is there evidence for these efforts, including employee training on business conduct? (score 1)

53) Consumer Relationships Review

Are there regular consumer relationship reviews, surveys? (score 2)

Are there initiatives or actions in place to follow up on the reviews? (score 1)

54) Consumer Benefit Reinforcement

Is there regular reinforcement of the benefit of company products and services to consumers? (score 1)

55) Consumer Safety

Are there ongoing efforts to help improve the user's health and safety in using the products or service provided by the company? (score 1)

Are there Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) with health and safety information about each product? (score 1)

56) Volunteerism and Community Outreach

Are there efforts to promote employee volunteerism? (score 1)

Is the amount of money spent on community outreach, including education grants, donations, and relief effort funds made public? (score 1)

XI) Transparent Allocation of Budget and Other Resources

57) Do your team members and clients understand how the business uses its resources in accordance with its values to accomplish its stated priorities and goals? (score 1)

Timeliness of Response

The business responds to requests for financial information within hours. (score 3)

The business responds to requests for financial information within days. (score 1)

The business responds to requests for financial information within months. (score 0)

The business does not consistently respond to requests for financial information. (score 0)

Quality of Response

The business responds to requests with no specific financial information. (score 0)

The business responds to requests with incomplete and/or confusing financial information. (score 0)

The business responds to requests with minimal financial information. (score 0)

The business responds to requests with reasonable financial information. (score 1)

The business responds to requests with all financial information requested, presented in a clear and thorough format. (score 3)

58) Is there a discussion of expenditures in relation to the stated values and priorities of the business in the report? (score 1)

59) Are there voluntary initiatives including donations and grants? (score 1)

In creating the 1st Insight Communications Business Transparency Score Sheet, we consulted the following models for business transparency criteria:

• The Pacific Sustainability Index (PSI) scores companies on environmental and socioeconomic comprehensiveness (transparency) and performance as expressed in their voluntary environmental or sustainability reports.
• TransUnion Insurance Risk Scores are open and thus help take the mystery out of how scores are calculated. The attributes used to create the score are available to the user, providing a clearer understanding of all the elements that impact a score.
• The Ministrywatch.com's Transparency Grade provides donors with an insight into a ministry's commitment to transparency and help's donors search out those nonprofit Christian ministries that excel in the area of Transparency.

David Smith is the CEO of 1st Insight Communications: Business Leadership Coaching for Accelerated Results. He is also the visionary creator of The Business Leadership Wikipedia.

• Learn 5 easy steps to immediately strengthen your presentation skill and impact.
• Gain exposure for yourself and your business by joining our growing list of Business Leadership Wikipedia ContributingAuthors.
• Contact David Smith for a complimentary Business Growth Acceleration Session, valued at $500 Email or (503) 816-9665.