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Contrary to popular belief, judgment can be taught. As I wrote in last week’s post, “Matters of Judgment Can Be Taught: Starting with Leader (Mis)Behavior”, most leaders know the rules, but some choose to disregard them, in a misguided belief that the same standards don’t apply to them, that they won’t be caught, or that their great value to the organization overrides any misdeeds.

Where ambiguous workplace issues are concerned, it has become even trickier to determine when certain behavior crosses a line or whether it is merely a nettlesome business issue that requires careful factual analysis and an examination of the issues within the broader context of multiple circumstances.

For years, I’ve heard people say that you can’t teach judgment. Admittedly, I’ve said it myself a few times.

However, I have recently realized that it’s just not true.

There are two basic areas where judgment in legal, ethical and values-based workplace behavior can be taught.

The first area involves instances of leader misbehavior, as we saw with HP CEO Mark Hurd or even more blatant instances where leaders fraudulently violate rules for their own personal interest or financial gain.

Every organization should have a few clear and unambiguous rules and principles that are followed and enforced at every level. These principles build culture and set standards that can readily and credibly spread throughout any organization.

A string of executive controversies over the summer months have brought this issue into stark contrast. Two bewildering examples drawn from recent headlines include the firing of the:

• University of Georgia’s athletic director following a DUI arrest (when part of his responsibilities involved encouraging fans not to drink at UGA sporting events)
• HP CEO for breaches of trust and conduct who had pledged to lead his business ethically

In setting standards, I suggest leaders and boards figure out what’s really important. If you don’t live up to these rules, you’re gone, no matter what position you hold or who you are.

That was the question posed during a recent client meeting. How do we get people to care more about each other? How do we get people to be more engaged and trusting? How do we eradicate negative behaviors from our workplace and encourage a higher level of professionalism?

Watching our clients shake their heads in frustration and wonder out loud about why it was so hard to get people to change, I smiled . . . and waited.

When they grew quiet, I asked, “Do you remember the first time you used hand sanitizer?” Blank stares.

Some time ago, I had lunch with a colleague, a compliance officer for a widely known and respected organization who told me he’d spent several months reading almost one million emails as part of discovery in an employment case. Now he had only about 72,000 more emails to go.

During the discovery process, he reviewed executive correspondence, middle-manager emails, and exchanges between entry-level personnel. He discovered what certain people really thought about their team members, their jobs, roles and the company strategy. He read jokes, some proper and some not, and saw lots of exchanges that had no work purpose whatsoever.

A week ago, I listened to the best guitar music on Earth with my good friend and colleague, Ray Amelio, and 80,000 other fans at Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads Guitar Festival” in Chicago.

For 12 hours, the hot Chicago sun blistered us, despite lots of suntan lotion, as we listened to performances by ZZ Top, Robert Randolph, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, BB  King, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and Jonny Lang, to name just a few of my favorites.

Miners used to carry a caged canary into new coal mines. As long as the canary kept singing, miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary signaled the need for an immediate evacuation.

The last canary disappeared from English coal mines in the late 1980s. Since then, miners have relied on inspections, instrumentation, regulation, administrative processes, complaint investigations, and their gut instincts to safeguard their lives.

Unlike human whistleblowers who often are ignored, called troublemakers, demoted, ostracized or fired, canaries send a clear and unmistakable signal of danger. With the recent tragedies at the Massey coal mine in West Virginia and the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time to bring back the canaries or listen to employees or others whose voices deliver the same message, as I suggest in this brief  video.

“We’ve completed the investigation, and the matter has been resolved.”
“Did you verify what I told you? Has he/she been disciplined? Will this stop? What happens next?”
“All I can tell you is that this has been resolved; if you have further issues, please let us know. We are required to keep our findings and actions confidential. I’m sure you understand.”

“We’ve always worked through lunch.”
“I do all my admin stuff before the shift starts so I can focus on my real job.”
“I’ll do the training on my own time. I’m more productive that way.”

Tiger Woods is in sex rehab, Jay Leno is returning to Tonight, Curt Schilling loves the Yankees, and Johnson and Johnson is charged with kickbacks and failure to address product safety issues.

Gilbert Arenas is a great basketball player. Not only does he have super skills and talent, but let’s not underestimate his smarts as he’s mastered a game with rules as complex as the Uniform Commercial Code.

My friend will lose his job soon – like too many others already have in this cruel, exhausting recession.

Tiger Woods has been the premier sports brand for the past several years. We’ve wanted our businesses to perform like he plays golf, our kids to behave the way he acts, and our commitment and intensity to approach his impossible standards.

“We need your help – a doctor abused our patients. He’s gone, but this can’t happen again, ever.”

I’ve wondered when it would happen – for years there have been stories of athletes, proxies for other celebrities, who say and do what they want while their behavior is ignored, minimized, or attributed to “locker room” humor or conduct.

David Letterman is lucky. Some may question how that can be when his private affairs, literally, are now so public. And some may say, if he can do it and keep his job, so can I.

I wish the whole world lived by the Prescriptive Rules^®. Have you ever been out with friends and had the deep desire to ask them to Guard their Words and Actions or to Get Help?

I just returned from a fantastic bike trip in France with my daughter, Rebecca, and my first cousin Craig, her godfather. We biked along the coast of Normandy and saw where our courageous soldiers stormed the treacherous beachheads to begin the D-Day invasion.

I recently facilitated a session for senior leaders of a public utility. In all ways, they were confident that they successfully lived by their values, with one exception: accountability.

Actions may speak louder than words, but few things speak louder than words that are documented.