Management

Leadership and integrity | HR Policy

Most serious writers on leadership have something to say about integrity, although some mention it only in passing and without exploration of its meaning. Others give it the seriousness it deserves.

In his book Secrets of Effective Leadership: A Practical Guide to Success, Fred Manske clearly honours the virtue of integrity. His advice includes:

• Hire leaders who practise high principles; that is, live by the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
• Once such leaders are in place at all levels of the organisation, ensure 'frequent, candid information'. Continued sharing of both good and bad news builds trust, the other key to effective organisations. Employees are well aware that everything won't always be rosy. From the launching pad of honest exchange between leader and follower, an organisation can do the right things right and prosper in the process.

In his article, 'Values-based leadership has huge pay-off', Jim Clemmer reminds us that:

. most organisations, management teams, and managers have a major gulf between what they say and what they do. Since they confuse their aspired behaviour with their actual behaviour, they don't recognise their own rhetoric--reality gulf. Sometimes they point to declining work ethic as a reason for the inconsistent behaviour on their team or in their organisation.

But that is often a cop-out. The desire for doing meaningful work, being part of a winning team, and making a difference in our job has been on a steady increase throughout the Western world. If I feel that 'people don't want to work any more' I need to take a deep look in my management mirror. Maybe they just don't want to work with me.

In Do You Know If You Are Trusted, Michael Maccoby says:

Highly educated employees don't trust information unless they know its meaning for them. It is not enough to communicate the information with talks and memos . employees need to be able to question directives, and managers need to be open about their reasoning, why they made their decisions . Creating trust requires interactive communication, dialogue based on values of respect and continual learning. Employees also need to trust that management will not punish mistakes or criticism but will use them as basis for learning.

Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge devote an entire chapter entitled, 'Set the Example: Doing What You Say You Will Do', to the development of integrity (although they don't call it that). It's a powerful read. In their own research on leader credibility (a component of integrity), they asked: do you know if someone is credible; how can credibility be defined in behavioural terms; and how do you recognise credible leaders? Not surprisingly, the most frequent response was: 'They do what they say they will do'. People listen to the talk, watch the walk and then decide whether there is congruence. In setting an example there must be clarity around their values (the 'say') and then they must act on their beliefs (the 'do').

Kouzes and Postner also advise that these beliefs and values must be shared. What they mean by this is:

• Personal values and beliefs and those of others must be shared.
• Constituents are unified around shared values.
• Attention is paid constantly to how self and others are living the values.

They discuss values in the following way:

Values help us to determine what to do and what not to do. They're the deep seated, pervasive standards that influence every aspect of our lives: our moral judgements, our responses to others, our commitments to personal and organisational goals. Values set the parameters for the hundreds of decisions we make every day. Options that run counter to our value systems are seldom acted upon; and if they are, it's done with a sense of compliance rather than commitment. Values contribute to our personal 'bottom line'. (Kouzes and Postner)

Sound familiar? Echoes of Braithwaite's development of conscience and the discretion--shame mechanisms, and Tomkins's scripts for the management of our affects/emotions.

A word of warning, though, about values. Various researchers have found that not everyone agrees about the meaning of a value. One researcher found 185 different behavioural expectations around the value of integrity alone! It is the process of dialogue about meaning that is important (number one in Tomkins's blueprint for an emotionally healthy climate); that is, open and honest talk about how we feel, our values, what has happened, what's working, what's not, actions aligning with the organisation's values and our own.

In it's Tools for Developing Successful Executives (360-degree feedback), the Centre for Creative Leadership lists a number of factors and attributes that can derail an executive's career. I'll include the full list here, but want you to note the references to the items that I think contribute to a lack of integrity (my emphasis added in italics):

• insensitive to others
• cold, aloof, arrogant
• overly ambitious
• lack of composure
• failing to staff effectively
• over-managing
• inability to think strategically
• betrayal of trust
• low detail orientation
• over-dependence on an advocate/mentor
• over-dependence on a single skill
• inability to adapt to bosses/strategies/management culture
• performance problems with business
• key skill deficiencies.

Of course, not all developing leaders have black holes in all 14 areas. But it is interesting to see that the research does list those 'soft' skills related to emotional intelligence that seem to impact on integrity or the lack of it.

Lombado and Eichinger, in their book, What To Do Before It's Too Late, found that organisations often derail managers by giving little feedback about 'how you did it', concentrating rather on 'what you did'. Many managers got their first 'how you did it' feedback only after they were derailed.

We struggle to give feedback to those who lead and manage us, to our peers and to those we lead. This is very human, and very unfortunate. We know that the experience will be one of shame---for them and for us. Culturally, we are not good at it. It is rare to find it modelled effectively. Yet the failure of management to give employees honest feedback is one of the greatest shortcomings in the workplace. Managers especially avoid giving feedback that concerns matters that impact on relationships---usually people behaving inappropriately, being too slack, aggressive or abusive, or not taking responsibility. These managers have failed in their duty of care. And their managers have failed them for not demanding that they do this hard work. My experience is that, more often than not, performance management is done very poorly, and the cost in down time, low morale and poor productivity is massive.

With a restorative approach to problem solving (as opposed to a blaming approach)---with the emphasis on exploring the harm that has been done---management and employees alike are invited to tell their stories, take responsibility for their part in the doing of damage, and eventually cooperate to develop a way forward that involves repairing the harm and minimising the likelihood of it occurring in the future. This is integrity at work in a group setting, no less. But getting people used to the idea that it's alright to talk honestly in their daily transactions with each other is hard work. We are simply not used to it.

I don't wish to labour the point or state the obvious, but I think it's necessary to be very clear that integrity and positive relationships are closely linked. You simply cannot get the best from your employees or colleagues unless you are trusted; you walk your talk and are open and honest in your dealings with them. This means that one of your values must be 'relationships are important'; that is, the recognition that positive relationships lie at the heart of your organisation's success.

So, exercising integrity will make a difference to your relationships with others, job satisfaction, productivity and your organisation's bottom line. Your leadership behaviour must demonstrate this virtue in a genuine way. People pay attention to what you say and do.

And imagine what could be achieved if you actively and deliberately recruited leaders, managers and staff with integrity?

Becoming a leader of integrity | HR Manager Job Discription

In naming those leaders in our professional or personal lives who have stood the integrity test, it is clear that it is a quality that, while respected, is rare. From a sociological and biological perspective, it seems that the getting of integrity is determined by the kinds of influences we have been exposed to over time. But I think it's also fair to say that each of us is a 'work in progress'. The shaping of a person's qualities and character is surely a lifetime job, rather than the result of some static genetic trait like blue eyes or height. Of course, there are those who claim 'well, that's just the way I am', implying that change is not possible. I believe this is a cop-out, and an excuse for not doing the hard work needed to do things differently.

So, for me, integrity is rather more of a journey than a destination. I don't think I'm there yet. I'm not old enough for a start. I'm still learning.

I didn't ask my focus group whether they thought I had integrity, because I didn't want to put them on the spot (and, perhaps, was not ready to hear their answers). I do know, however, that when I have worked for, and with, good people who are clear about their values and beliefs, will not deviate under pressure, cannot be corrupted, and examine their hearts and conscience for answers in difficult times, I have become a better person and, therefore, do better work.

Can we learn integrity from coursework? Unlikely. The Centre for Creative Leadership has conducted extensive research on learning, growth and development and how they impact on careers. They advise that 'other people' are the best source of learning for this virtue and this substantiates the sociological and biological theory mentioned earlier in this chapter. But there are some things we can do to make the journey easier. Here are some of my suggestions (and you will find a summary of these points at the end of the chapter).

• Understand that your integrity in dealings with others (and yourself) is an essential component of the glue in your relationships. It delivers respect, loyalty, commitment and trust. It's a virtue worthy of your interest.
• Find role models who are known for their integrity and watch their values playing out. Watch their behaviour. Learn from their example how they 'do' honesty and openness, how they walk their talk.
• Watch someone who is a spectacular failure at integrity and don't follow in his or her footsteps.
• Find someone known for his or her integrity to coach and mentor you. Listen to their views and values. Ask them about what integrity means to them. Talk to their staff (with permission) about the quality of their relationships with their staff. Learn from them how to do it. Find out how they go about deciding what to say and do when the pressure is on. How do they wrestle with their sense of right and wrong?
• Seriously examine these questions. What do you believe in? What are your values about right and wrong? How did you learn them? What has influenced how you deal with people?
• Engage your staff in dialogue about how they feel about the issues that affect them. Talk about integrity generally. Find out how important it is to them. Ask them how they feel when they are let down.
• Seek feedback about your staff's perceptions of your integrity---whether or not they trust you to walk your talk. Do they know (and understand) your talk?
• Have courage. Integrity is hard work. Be prepared to be disadvantaged sometimes when you make a stand over an issue, or to be inconvenienced when you made a promise.
• Be prepared to take the risk of changing the way you deal with others, and yourself.
• Do what you say you will do. Don't let people down..