In Life, As In Business, Integrity Is Everything
Ask Francis Perkins. She is the woman who fought for the working conditions we enjoy today.
Integrity: How does that look to you? How does it feel? Why does it matter? Can it be taught?
The dictionary definition suggests it’s: showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions.
So it has nothing to do with having accrued wealth, or perceived status within society. It’s nothing to do with disdain or being better than someone, but everything to do with doing the right thing, even when nobody it taking notice.
How you conduct your life, how you treat people, even when it’s hard, will define the level of your integrity.
It’s so much easier to pinpoint what integrity is not, because a person who has integrity at his core will exemplify the value as easily as breathing.
On the other hand, a lack of integrity speaks volumes. For instance, it’s difficult to get into the minds of people who can easily shrug off things that are morally wrong, such as:
- forgetting to pay for their coffee at the coffee shop and thinking, oh well…too bad!
- passing on some very private information about a friend…betraying trust that was given
- gossiping (Check on the priest and the feather pillows, penance!)
- not going back to a store to admit you have taken something and not paid for it
- letting somebody take the blame for something you did, when you know you were to blame
- not keeping a promise
These don’t look like life-threatening issues, or world-wide news, but the ramification of them can often know no bounds.
But back to the question about whether integrity can be taught, or not.
Might it just be a quality, there within, an intuited sense of fairness that is not necessarily part of our growing up?
Let me tell you this story about one inspirational woman, one we owe lots to, for her fight for conditions that we kind of assume today.
A woman of integrity!
Frances Perkins, was the daughter of an American businessman. She was obviously a thinker from an early age. At one stage she asked her father how it was that nice people could be poor. It didn’t make sense to her.
Her father told her that she shouldn’t worry about poor people, that they brought things on themselves, by indolence, and drinking.
That very idea could have stuck in her head, a statement that could have led her to dismiss the poor.
But Frances was inquisitive, a reader, and in particular read the works of investigative, socialist journalists such as Upton Sinclair, Ray Stannard Baker, and Lincoln Steffens, writers who opened her eyes to inequality and injustice.
Initially majoring in physics, she took in her final semester, a class in American economic history, which eventuated in her taking a tour of the mills along the Connecticut River. There she was shocked by the intolerable working conditions.
This led her to study social work, and eventually to take up a position as Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers’ League where she became a relentless campaigner for human rights.
Rest assured. Things that we take for granted today, were born out of her dogged determination for fairness.
- sanitary regulations for bakeries
- fire protection for factories
- limited working hours for women and children
Perkins stood apart from many of her peers, despite her father’s ideas about poor people. She fought tirelessly for the underdog, and achieved amazing turnarounds in conditions for the poor.
As Secretary of Labor she was the power behind:
- the 40-hour work week
- the minimum wage
- unemployment and worker compensation
- abolition of child labor
- health insurance
And though she died many years ago, her legacy lives on today.
Yet it could have been otherwise, had she chosen to believe her father.
People in today’s workforce have come to presume the conditions that are in place. But more and more, these conditions come with responsibility, with work ethics, and demand an understanding of the difference between right and wrong, between success and failure, between give and take.
Understanding it is one thing, practicing it, another.
This covers many things that we don’t necessarily see as unethical.
Following company guidelines for instance
Policies are often drawn up by all players in a company. As such they can be seen as agreed practice. Issues like, time to start work, when to clock off, and time in between. By the way, time to start work is not necessarily the time you walk through the front door. Instead it’s when you actually begin what you are hired to do! Hint: Having breakfast at work isn’t part of agreed practice. But it happens!
Being seen to be a model of best practice
Your attitude to work and to your colleagues, serves as a model for others to follow. If you maintain high standards so to will those who report to you. Professionalism begets professionalism!
Being willing to help others
If, for instance, you have caught up with all your work, but there are others who haven’t, that’s not a time to file your nails, or have a little chat, or spend time online.
Hopping in to help, and so relieving another person’s stress, is ethical behavior. Going the extra mile is what makes businesses successful in the long run.
Allowing others to have their say
We are never going to be in a position where we agree with each other all the time. Besides, what has worked for a long time isn’t necessarily the correct way to do something, so be open to both lending an ear, sharing your beliefs, and being respectful. You never know where that might lead.
Accept when you are wrong, or have made a mistake
There’s no human who doesn’t stuff up on occasions. Learning to admit failure, is an open door to respect. It’s integrity in practice!
Create the environment you would like to see
Does your team feel supported? Are you aware of things going on in their lives that may impact on their work? How well do you know their families…really know them, that is? Could they use your support?
When all these things are in place, any organization will be reaching for the stars. But of course the stars are always out of reach, and so too will be the perfection that a company seeks. But getting close to perfection? THAT, is doable.
If the character, the worth, and the foundations are still rock solid, the close-to-perfection status will be both comforting, and effective.
But where would an organization be without a dose of fun?
So be that person! Be the one who injects some fun into the work place. You work many hours there, and life is a little short for always working at breakneck speed, or in the doldrums.
There’s nothing like a bit of team-building to energize people. And that fun can even bring out qualities in people that have been hidden.
It’s not about winning or losing, but everything to do with team playing, camaraderie, and spending quality time with each other.
When we all get our hands dirty together, we build cohesion and respect. However, it goes a little further. The games I suggested can bring out qualities that you may never have suspected a colleague had, the leader, the negotiator, the problem-solver, and the sensitive, all working with integrity.
Fun can be the very mine pit for discovering talent! And it’s definitely when you will see the finest examples of integrity.
