In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” – Warren Buffet, CEO Berkshire Hathaway
Most professions build their practice on strong ethical foundations. Healthy businesses are founded on professional codes of conduct and shared norms. Regulatory compliance – a concept unknown 20 years ago, is now part of the governance landscape in all industries.
From the business perspective, values are a set of moral principles. From the individual’s perspective, values are principles and standards of communication, part of the behavioural code that guides us throughout life, above and beyond our life experiences themselves. From the communication viewpoint when we live by our values, we are credible. Ideally there shouldn’t be any distinction between personal and business integrity; the world would be a wonderful place if we all lived by our shared values.
“Imagine a world where the axioms of coaching operated everywhere: in interpersonal relationships, in work dynamics, in international relations. Imagine the difference it would make if people designed an alliance before embarking on a business project or a relationship. What would it be like if people routinely told the truth to each other – even the hard truth – and stood up for no less than that? Imagine how our political systems would change. Imagine a world where people are willing to truly listen not only to the words but to everything behind the words. Imagine a world in which you could hear and receive the hard truth and find the learning in the truth instead of diving for your defences. […] The whole value of work would change because it would no longer be about what job you have but about what difference you make and what values you honour in the work you do.” (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl, 2007)
Integrity is the red thread linking individual values, corporate values and organisational culture. Communicating with integrity is about being open and candid, and about looking for a win-win solution. Integrity is what draws the line between influence and manipulation – a question coaching clients often ask when we discuss company politics and stakeholder management.
Both integrity and values are important in the workplace, not only for making moral decisions, but also for positive communication. Alignment between personal and corporate values ensures smooth communication and higher engagement.
Integrity is a clear concept, although quite difficult to measure in the workplace. Most certainly, people have a similar definition of honesty across organisational and, even, across national cultures.
Many sophisticated recruitment techniques and assessments applied today give a good understanding of the match between the person and the role they apply for, and a reliable picture of the candidate’s character. Sometimes though, an employee or a manager surprises with the poor choices and decisions they make, and with the stories they tell themselves to justify dishonest behaviours and compromised integrity. It is human nature and it happens, even if, I trust, people try their best based on who they are and their understanding of what is going on in the moment. As coach, I believe in the dignity and integrity of every human being and I partner with my clients in eliciting integrity in their actions.
Communicating with integrity means – first and utmost, being honest with ourselves about our thinking, our feelings, our experience and usual response in both good and bad situations. It takes self-awareness, honesty and courage to recognise when our actions are not aligned with our values. Sometimes we try to maintain a positive and consonant self-image, inconsistent with other people’s perceptions; sometimes we conform, because conforming is expected from us.
Integrity and honesty in the workplace start with taking responsibility for our actions instead of projecting blame. We should believe in ourselves, but we also need to be able to see reality for what it is, through the eyes of other people or through the lenses of integrity. When we are open, honest and candid as best we can, we receive an open, honest and candid response in our relationships most of the time. Kind of the same as when we smile at strangers in the street and they smile back at us.
