Leading with integrity
23 September 08 - 11:24
In a previous post I attempted to give you my thoughts on courage. Today I will explore the idea of integrity and its importance to a leader or manager."Courage is the foundation of integrity" - Keshavan Nair
"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you" - H. Jackson Brown Jr
I do like this quote from H. Jackson Brown Jr but why should it apply solely to my role as a parent? If I live a life of integrity in front of my family it will naturally form a potent part of my professional personality as well. Why? It is because integrity, if I truly posess it, can not be worn, changed or removed like a suit jacket.
"Integrity is not a 90 percent thing, not a 95 percent thing; either you have it or you don't." - Peter Scotese
So then. Assuming that my claim to integrity is accurate, what does my integrity bring as a part of my day to day leadership style?
Trust is a great start. What has occurred in my team goes beyond people believing what I say. My team members all 'trust' that what I say is what will happen, that I will do what is best and believe completely that in all of my dealings their well being is always going to be a primary concern. To use a rather cliched phrase, I 'walk the talk'.
Of course I have made mistakes and had to confess those mistakes to my team. Another aspect of being recognised as someone of integrity is that you can be forgiven by the team without too much harm done.
"Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all." - Alexander the Great
Integrity is contagious. I have found that if I am consistantly displaying the correct behaviours, they spread. This means that the inter-relationships amongst the members of my team have become stronger and more open due to not only the spread of these behaviours but also the recognition in each other that trust is possible.
This deepening and strengthening of relationships ultimately produces a more cohesive team unit.
Growing out of integrity being present in the life of the team is the magic catch word of people management today - ENGAGEMENT. I have found that when integrity is practiced in the daily life of the team, there is no need for special measures to promote engagement. It tends to just happen.
There is a note of caution here with regard to engagement. The fact that it can grow by itself under the right conditions does not give licence to ignore engagement as a major part of my leadership style. The basics such as recognition, reward and taking steps to have those 'tough talks' are still a valuable part of the leaders tool kit, but they carry much more value and potency when coming from a position of true integrity.
All of this is great, and is central to building a healthy team, but does it mean anything to the business? The answer is of course it does!
When a team reaches the point where everything described above clicks into place you will see your team producing consistantly high results and building a reputation as a team that people wnat to be a part of.
two comments:
Hi Scott, I liked what you said today at http://www.Leadershipturn.com and after reading some of your entries I can also say that it’s great to see the stuff I write about at http://www.MAPpingCompanySuccess.com actively in practice.
Keep up the great work; I hope your team recognizes just how lucky they are to be reporting to you!
PS I hope you’ll consider adding an email subscription option for those of us who don’t do RSS:)
Miki - 18 11 08 - 17:38
Hey Miki
Thanks for providing the very first comment here at Frontline Manager. Your material has been a very positive influence in the way I work and write.
Not sure that I can add email notification since this blog is a freebie, but I will certainly look into it.
Cheers
Scott
Scott - 02 01 09 - 00:56
