Full disclosure is not something we like to offer just to anyone. But accountability and transparency can actually be a good thing.
We too often hear stories of companies and individuals whose previously hidden faults or misdemeanours have become exposed for all to see. You know examples. I won’t list any here.
Then there are organizations and individuals who are committed to doing things right and well, and have put checks and balances in place to help ensure not only are proper procedures followed, but also to protect against activities that would damage reputations and potentially hurt people.
On a personal note, my wife is a bookkeeper and loves to track whatever we spend. She uses QuickBooks to enter all of our receipts and at the end of the year, she can tell me how many times I went to Tim Horton’s (coffee for you non-Canadians) or Starbucks and how much money is spent on movies, or whatever.
Some of you might be thinking, “Wow! That’s keeping pretty close tabs on things.” Maybe you wouldn’t want the same level of transparency. Here’s my point: if I have nothing to hide, it’s fine with me that every dollar I spend is accounted for and visible to my wife. And with this approach, the level of trust is very high, which is a good thing in a marriage.
On the business side, I have noticed that not everybody wants everything tracked. I’ve come across a few interesting situations in which there actually is resistance to complete traceability, and the apparent reason is because certain people in the company want to be able to have a way of hiding things. Yep, they want to be able to have buffers that can be applied to cover up mistakes or questionable practices.
Some companies in the food industry are taking steps towards transparency. For example, Cargill Meat Solutions is putting in video cameras into their slaughter facilities to monitor how they are doing regarding animal handling. Not only does this build confidence and trust in others, but it also will undoubtedly motivate people internally to ensure that they are doing the right things.
In a similar way, a good traceability and visibility solution can help do the same things. If everything is above board and as it should be, putting in a solution that tracks every movement of product and every activity related to people performing duties with products will be a system to ensure things are done properly.
I expect that transparency will be a driver to help move traceability forward in the next few years. This accountability to government, to customers, and to consumers will be in the form of several initiatives that have been in the works for some time. These include sustainability, corporate social responsibility, food safety, supplier scorecards, environment, country of origin, quality, animal welfare, labour, insurance, and regulatory compliance.
Of course, financial benefit and productivity are important as well. With the exception of strong visionaries, however, I believe it will take the earlier initiatives to drive traceability, and then companies will begin to realize the huge benefits of implementing it. And one of the benefits of traceability will be a system of accountability that will give transparency and help prevent the unwanted publicity that comes from secrets being brought to light.
We live in a day when we can’t afford to have secrets. It doesn’t take long before a whole lot of people find out about something. Articles like “Supply chain transparency only answer to hostile campaigns” show the importance of this issue.
What the Great Teacher said is very true: “What you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” It’s better to not have anything to hide and to have the mechanisms in place to ensure the right things are being done.
