Integrity is a buzz word that you will hear over and over.
Leaders strive to be characterized as someone with integrity
and their efforts to do so are a critical part of the
learning and development process.
 The challenge is that there
are many definitions of integrity and there is confusion
about who has it and who doesn't. So let's simplify the
issue and focus on building integrity into our foundation of
leadership skills.
We define integrity as the
ability to match your values and your behaviors. In other
words, "walk your talk". If you say something is important
to you, your behaviors should reflect that. The first step
to becoming congruent is to define your values - what are
they and why are they important to you. Be specific and
challenge yourself. Are these your values, or did you just
adopt them from your family or friends.
Then you must specifically
identify behaviors that are congruent to your values. For
example, if you have a stated value that family is important
to you, what behaviors could you demonstrate?
Maybe you would demonstrate
that value by spending more time with your family, improving
your communication with your parents, and organizing more
family events. Those would all be behaviors that would put
you in integrity with your value.
Integrity is always a
challenge. The more clearly that you define your values, the
easier it becomes to practice behaviors that are congruent
with your beliefs. |
