As a society we place our trust in a wide range of expert advisers, specialists and representatives to act in the best interests of both ourselves, and the organisations and communities we work and live in.

Professionals such as lawyers, but also accountants, engineers, architects, medics, financial investors and so forth, all have an immense influence on different aspects of our lives. Their professional ethics and standards are of great importance in establishing the necessary trust and integrity in the delivery of their services.

Unfortunately, as Eduardo Reyes, features editor for the Gazette, identifies in his blog, we have to question where professional ethics were in the monumental failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and the RBS Libor-fixing scandal, which have both played out across the national media.

Whilst acknowledging that the Libor-fixing, and in particular, the healthcare failings are both shameful events with consequences that have hurt many people, it should also be noted that the exposure of these crises demonstrates that a warning system does operate to identify, respond and react to such issues. If it is possible to be encouraged by that fact alone, then we should be. We should also remember that most people revere the professionalism of our professionals and in almost every instance their ethics and standards are exemplary.

Encouraging the professions to be standard bearers for ethical behaviour in business is one of the prime activities of Professions for Good, a collaboration of leading membership bodies responsible for entry policy, professional standards and qualifications across many of the UK’s largest professions.

Trust, standards and ethics are critical to a functioning democracy and a thriving economy. The professions, of which lawyers and solicitors are a fundamental component, account for 8% of GDP and by 2020 the UK Commission for Employment and Skills anticipates an additional 1.5 million jobs in this growth sector. The legal profession, alongside other British professions, must work together to champion ethics in all business situations.

Self-regulation will always be the strongest suit in promoting the right behaviours. But as the experience of the professions has shown over some 200 years, creating trust through behavioural and cultural changes within both companies and individual practitioners is best achieved through professional membership bodies that take their public interest responsibilities seriously. These bodies do not countenance the behaviour of organisations and individual operators who show a lack of professionalism and integrity. Professions for Good is lobbying the banking sector to listen and learn from the positive experiences in professional services of having a professional body holding its sector to account.

In the wake of RBS’s involvement in Libor-fixing, Greg Clark, the City minister has called on the City to relearn ethical standards and return to the days when the maxim was ‘my word is my bond’. The situation calls for humility in a world where we have become motivated by the bottom line.

Ethics and standards are driven by the behaviour of leaders. The tone is set at the top. All too often the predominant leadership style is autocratic and bureaucratic. The Chartered Management Institute confirms that employees don’t trust these type of leaders and as a consequence staff will not escalate bad news, and are less positive about their working environment. This ultimately impacts professional standards and decision-making. By contrast, leaders who take accountability and responsibility for issues that arise will have more engaged and optimistic staff whose performance is better, resulting in improved decision-making.

Things will go wrong in business. It is not ideal to say or hear that, but it is a fact of life. The challenge for the professions is how to behave when this occurs. It should have been the response of the healthcare and banking communities in these current cases to recognise mistakes and the importance of appropriate behaviour and decision-making to correct the problems.

By taking responsibility, asking for forgiveness, demonstrating action-led solutions, ensuring learning arises from the issue and exhibiting emotional intelligence, these situations would not be deemed unethical and may not even have occurred, as ethical behaviour breeds ethical standards.

Louis Armstrong CBE is chairman, Professions for Good