Associations can be full of ethical landmines. How do you handle conflicts of interest on your board? Comped trips to exotic locations for your meetings staff? Staffers accepting gifts at tradeshows? The answers aren't always simple, which is why the most common (and unfortunate) response to such dilemmas is to turn a blind eye to them.

But a new flowchart developed by the ASAE Ethics Committee is determined to make the process of identifying and responding to ethical issues more straightforward. "A lot of associations were developing protocols for how they do business and how they carry on their affairs, but identifying an ethical issue is one thing, but how to make your way through it is another," says Joe Tiernay, executive director of the Ontario Good Roads Association and a member of the committee that developed the flowchart.

What you might think is an ethical issue, or what I might think is an ethical issue, to somebody else may not be.—Joe Tiernay, Ontario Good Roads Association

The chart has eight steps, with deep-dive questions for each step. The steps roughly break down into three categories:

1. Assessment. False or incomplete information can derail an ethical inquiry before it starts, so the committee prioritizes getting the facts, defining the problem, and identifying whatever current codes of conduct your association has related to the issue. This is also the moment to determine whether what's at issue is a legal issue, beyond being an ethical one.
2. Discussion. The flowchart encourages brainstorming among colleagues and experts to create a list of possible options and then evaluating them. Among the questions to ask for each option: Is it harmful? Can you rationally explain it to others? Is it consistent with the organization's values and mission? Would you be concerned if the decision were a top news story?
3. Implementation. Whether the decision is based on something already in the code of conduct or is brand-new, the committee recommends keeping a close eye on what happens once an option is chosen. Document the action, track its effects, and see what the ethical issue might prompt in terms of changes to the association's policies and procedures.

Discussion is a tentpole of the process, especially because there's often disagreement on what qualifies as "unethical." "No ethical issues are alike," Tiernay says. "Our own personal biases have to be factored in. What you might think is an ethical issue, or what I might think is an ethical issue, to somebody else may not be."

That relates to another important issue when it comes to discussions of ethics: Take your time. "You shouldn't get yourself into a situation where you're rushed," Tiernay says. "Generally when you're in a rushed situation, you're making bad decisions or potentially increasing the likelihood of making a bad decision. We feel that to take the measured and slow approach is to take the best route. And if that means delaying a decision for a couple of days, then so much the better."

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Members of the ASAE Ethics Committee will formally introduce the flowchart and discuss hypothetical ethical scenarios at the 2016 ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, August 16, at 11 a.m.