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Wait! Before you answer these questions, let's explore the concepts
a bit further, and then you can test yourself at the end.
I ask these questions purposefully, for in our programs on Governance
or Executive Leadership what often starts out as a simple question,
with seemingly simple answers, invariably gets more complex and
difficult to answer as we dig-down further into the concepts.
I could have
asked about "trust" or "values" or "ethics"
which in truth are all related to integrity. Indeed truth is also
related. Whereas all of these others are important, only Integrity
makes it onto Plato's short-list of human virtues.
| IN*TEG*RI*TY |
n. |
1.
Quality of being honest and up-right in character.
2. Condition of being complete.
[Wikipedia]
Syn:
honour, veracity, reliability
Ant: "cheat"
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The clever reader
will already see that these concepts and their definitions are also
contextual. As a leader, you will be seen as one with integrity
in the context of both your own and other's expectations, values,
rules, and ethics.
Thus,
living and leading with integrity suggests that one:
(a) has a
formal relationship with one's "self" (or inner compass),
and
(b) is connected to society in acting morally and ethically.
[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
Starting
With Values
On the personal level, your integrity depends on whether or not
your personal practices, decision-making, and leadership actions
are in-tune with your own values.
So quickly now,
grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write down your answer to this
question:
What are
5 Core Values that you live your life by?
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Core
Value |
Definition |
Example |
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| 3. |
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Not one or
two, but push for five! Then, to ensure you are not being 'hazy'
or 'light' in your thinking, define what you mean by each one of
these 5 values - the way you would explain it to your teenage daughter
or son. Next, to be really sure you are clear on these, give an
example for each - again one that you would use with your teenager
or spouse - to show how you live-out that value daily/weekly.
Go ahead; take
a few minutes to complete this chart before we go further.
In a recent
program, I gave the assembled group of executives about 15 minutes
to complete this exercise. After about 8 minutes, one woman was
finished and looking to move on. The rest of the room meanwhile
was deep in thought. A few were visibly having real difficulty!
After about 30 minutes, the majority of the participants were almost
finished and so we moved on. But several, had only a few of the
spaces in the chart completed.
What can we
take-away from this exercise? When asked why completing the chart
was so fast and easy, the one woman answered: "I was brought
up to be very clear about how to live my life! Every morning when
I get up and go into my bathroom, my personal values are written
on my bathroom mirror. As I get washed and ready to face the day,
I am also thinking about how I will live out my values in the meetings
or decisions I know I must address, plus I am reminded about what
is important to me in facing the un-anticipated challenges."
FANTASTIC! Now
there is a leader who is set to live their life and lead others
with personal integrity.
As you can imagine,
the next question was tougher. Why were those who first, needed
more than 15 minutes; and second, were still incomplete after 30
minutes, finding the exercise so difficult? With great honesty and
insight they answered:
"I have never really ever thought about my core values."
"No one, nor my organization, has ever asked me this before."
"These really aren't something I think about often, so they
are hard to define and it is difficult to think of examples of how
I practice them regularly."
As a leader,
your actions and reputation are not just related to your personal
values, they are also compared to the expectations of others. In
some cases the organization or profession may define these through
their values and ethics statements. In this situation, as a leader,
you must be able to lead others in creating/stating the values and
then how to interpret them. When they do not exist for the organization,
you will have to fall back on to your own for guidance.
When you look
at core values too, there are many that are assumed in our lives
today, some with very unclear definitions. For example, if you work
for a company, do you have the core value of "Capitalism"?
If so what does this mean? (Or, is what you value really more that
of a "mixed-economy"?) What about Democracy - is this
a core value you hold? If so, what does this mean to you? Is democracy
a societal value or one that is practiced in the workplace? What
about values such as "hierarchy" or "team" or
"collaboration" or any of the 10 Commandments"? What
are some of the assumptions you are operating under with an incomplete
understanding of what they mean and/or your level of commitment
to them?
Frankly, it
is a bit worrisome to find regularly, that so many executives and
Board members have difficulty with this simple exercise.
Another important
element of living with integrity is the ability to define and cite
examples for your teenage kids (or staff). You see, the notion of
integrity, also connotes the element of being a role-model for others.
If you can't define your own core values and show how you live by
them to your teenagers, they will readily call you out for being
"un-true" - in a way your staff would probably think,
but never declare openly.
Further, employees,
potential business partners, clients and others watch what you do
in your personal life as a sign of what you will do in business,
government service and so on. If you 'cheat' in your personal life,
then maybe you are likely to 'cheat' in business too. (So how do
you behave when playing cards, golf, or when driving!? :)
Integrity's
Connection to Ethics
A person may act in-line with their own core values, but this is
not necessarily the same as being ethical.
Being ethical
means balancing the needs of the individual with that of the whole.
Or stated another way: balancing the needs of the few against that
of the larger community/society
(Ethical Perspective by John Dalla Costa) - Plus, it requires meeting
a minimum standard of performance, prudence, care, and/or capability.
In this way,
a leader's wholeness of character is assessed partly based upon
the expectations for the greater good.
We do not see
a politician who benefits himself and a select few at the expense
of others (or tax-payers) as being very virtuous! Neither is maximized
'shareholder return', at the expense of the community or environment,
considered an example of corporate governance with integrity. A
prudent balance is expected from those who have the privilege to
lead.
Once into this
area of ethics and leadership, we are significantly engaged in a
'moving target' exercise. Balancing between the benefit of the few
and the greater good, is not an easy thing to determine, enunciate
or decide. As such, executive leaders and governors can benefit
greatly from engaging wider stakeholder dialogue in such matters,
then clearly enunciating their standards through an enterprise "Statement
of Ethical Practice" - along with the statement of their organization's
Goals and Outcomes Measures of Success. In this way, Executives
and Directors can then be held accountable to both advancing the
organization (the good of the few), balanced within the context
of their defined ethical standards (the greater good).
For today's
executive leader or Board member, these guideposts are imperative
to acting and making decisions with integrity. How well are they
defined in your organization?
Without such
definitional statements, neither you, nor others can asses your
integrity. Further, an un-enunciated 'inner-sense' of right or wrong
- while valuable - is not enough. Such an inner sense ends up being
too situationally flexible and fuzzy. And, we have already seen
how many in an average group of executives are able to be quickly
clear and explicit of their values and ethics!
Now, do you
feel as an Executive Leader or Board/Political Governor, that you
have ethical standards and demonstrated practices higher than that
of the average person?
This is important,
because the law, stock exchange rules/guidelines, and most Societal/
Traditional/Tribal norms expect more from their leaders/elders than
the "common person".
OK. Grab that
pen and piece of paper again.
List 2 - 3 ways
that your Leadership or Governance practices are done to an ethical
standard above that of the average employee or common person:
Ways
My Leadership/Governance Practices Exceed Standards of the "Common
Person"
1.
2.
3.
Different
Forms of Integrity
Do you act with:
- Professional
Integrity?
- Artistic
Integrity?
- Intellectual
Integrity?
- Political
Integrity?
- Legal Integrity?
- Experimental
Integrity?
As mentioned
at the outset, "trust" is an important component of integrity.
Trust is gained with your colleagues over a period of time, when
your actions, decisions and impact meet with the expectations and
approval of your peers. Continuity and consistency of your actions
are also important attributes leading to their trust in you. Different
communities however, tend to have different explicit and non-explicit
standards and expectations for their members' integrity.
Professional
Integrity - In this sense, a professional - such as a doctor,
lawyer, military officer - acts in a manner consistent with their
profession's stated code of practice. For doctors, the Hippocratic
Oath is taken at the start of their career and standards are further
defined by the Medical Code of Practice in the jurisdiction in which
they practice. Newer professions, such as Chartered Accountants
or Certified Management Consultants, are anchored by Competency
assessments plus Codes of Conduct and Ethics.
In addition,
the onus is on all members of the profession to uphold the standards
of practice both personally and with peers. This includes the reporting
of fellow professionals not performing up to the standards, the
requirement for ongoing professional development/improvement, and
occasional competency review.
So, if being
an Executive or a Board member was a profession, what Code of Practice
would there be? What 5 - 10 Practice Guidelines would you enunciate?
[Note - in the discussion area of this article, we are asking readers
to submit one or more Statements/Guidelines towards a code of Professional
Executive or Board Practice. Please click the discussion icon at
the end of the article to participate.]
Have you ever
reported a colleague - Board member or fellow executive - for practices
unbecoming to their role, or for performance that is incompetent?
Surely if we were a leader/governor with integrity, we would intervene
constructively in situations that warrant it. Perhaps too, we would
have fewer incidents of corruption and malfeasance in the newspaper
these days, if we treated our work as an executive or Board member
as that of a profession.
Artistic
Integrity - What does this suggest to you? A commitment
to one's craft, to continuous improvement and experimentations,
to innovation and regular renewal come to mind. Also connected to
this, might be a search for patterns, then the re-combination of
patterns into new forms, new media, and new applications. Readers
who are in the arts may have further elements to add here. Perhaps
though, some of these elements above have resonance and application
for those in the business world?
Intellectual
Integrity - Included in this aspect might be such things
as: thinking through carefully the logic of one's opinion's/thoughts,
peer review, taking time and making space for original thought,
reflection upon personal experience, genuine respect for opposing
points of view, learning from others' experience, the citation of
references plus respect for and recognition of others' ideas that
stimulated your own. Again, I suspect that several of these elements
might play a role in assessing the reader's own practice of integrity.
Political
(Democratic) Integrity - This form of integrity clearly
speaks to such aspects as: transparency, accountability, truthful
reporting, clarity of policy, and acting according to the platform
that got the party elected. More and more, political integrity also
requires educating of the population about the important issues
or challenges we face together. Today we have similar expectations
for corporate Boards and executives as we have for our politicians/civil
servants.
The reader could
consider further what "legal integrity" and "experimental
integrity" might mean - and the connection to his/her own world
- or you can explore the web-links at the end of the article for
further insight in each area.
Strength of Character
The first line in the Wikipedia definition of integrity related
to one's character - honesty and uprightness. In many ways, honesty
often shows up as one of an executive's 5 Key Values. The 'up-rightness'
is generally related to the ethical dimension. But then there is
also the integrity element having to do with the strength of one's
character, and the courage one shows in making balanced decisions
that are difficult.
I have personally
experienced the difficult challenge of deciding which 25% of employees
to fire in a situation of organizational cut-back, in order to ensure
the jobs of the other 75% and the survivability of the company overall.
Further, I was challenged to carry out my decisions in a manner
that was respectful and fair. This was not a pleasant experience,
but it was a test of character.
Times of crisis
tend to show the strength of a leader's character, as well as their
integrity overall. So too do opportunities: growth, M & A's,
added funding availability, popularity of product/service. How the
leader responds in times of opportunity are also being watched.
Will the leader line only their own pockets? Will they carry other
deserving people along with them? (Does the "rising tide truly
lift all boats" in our capitalist world today?) Do they re-invest
in/reward the community in which they operate? How do you maintain
the integrity of your services, products, and impact as you grow,
enter new markets and innovate?
Leadership and
Governance integrity clearly is more demanding than regular integrity.
To 'lead' suggests movement - a dynamic process which hopefully
moves a collective forward positively amid a multi-faceted and ever
shifting environment. In the governance role you have the added
requirement or ensuring sustainability of the enterprise, successfully
addressing risk and leaving the organization in a better condition
than you found it when you inevitably pass it on to future Board
members. In these ways, your integrity of character is assessed
on moving dimensions!
How do you build
that Vision for the future? What lies at the foundation for your
choice of one direction over another ad how does this relate to
the values/ethics you and your enterprise hold?
Being genuine, truthful, engaging and motivating to those around
you (as opposed to manipulatively 'selling' your own opinion), is
the mark of a Visionary leader who also has integrity.
How do you speak
your truth when the situation is difficult and those around you
are in group-think mode - such that your truth and character are
both demanded? How do you respond when a 'superior' requests you
to do something that is against stated values and ethics? At these
times it may well be easier to say nothing; however executives and
governors can not simply say nothing and live out their fiduciary
duty. Those involved in the infamous "Bay of Pigs" decision
and others from the Enron debacle have publicly highlighted their
learning in these regards.
Finally, what
would you do, even in situations where there was no risk of getting
caught doing wrong? According to Prof. Leonard Brooks of the Joseph
L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, the
forensic accountant's 'rule of thumb' holds that:
20% of people will not steal anything, even if they have a chance.
60 % will steal if they believe they won't get caught.
20% behave unpredictably.
In such business
situations are you a person - a leader - of integrity?
Do you consistently do the right thing?
Leadership and
governance integrity in a dynamic environment therefore requires
you to constantly examine and define what is the 'right thing to
do' - and do it - even when the situation or others might try to
convince you otherwise. It is in such a dynamic environment that
strength of character comes from the clarity of values and ethics
mentioned before and also being clear about where you are going
and what outcomes you are trying to accomplish.
It is in this
spirit, and from the recent excellent new book "Presence"
by Senge, Sharmer, Jaworski & Flowers, that I will leave you
with the third little awareness-raising question of this article.
It comes from Otto Scharmer's research with some of the most significant
leaders of our time, across all disciplines and sectors. Grab that
paper and pen, and think deeply again!
What is
the question that lies at the heart of the Leadership (Governance)
work that you do?
Beginning
Again
Integrity is a source of personal identity. It also means standing
for something that is greater than yourself. And, integrity is surely
linked to ethical behaviour, decision-making and character.
This said, living
and leading with integrity is also difficult. As with any human,
you will make mistakes - especially earlier in your executive-level
leadership experience and Board governance career. Temptations lie
all around you, as do opportunities to remain silent in difficult
circumstances. Given this, your integrity can grow and develop based
upon how you handle mistakes, learn from them plus the mistakes
of others, and adopt renewed practices.
Personally,
I'm going to adopt the "bathroom mirror list" of core
values that I re-learned form a recent program participant.
So in ending,
let me go back to the beginning and adjust the article's opening
questions - leaving you with one last question:
What might
you start to do differently, in order to live and lead with
more integrity?
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