Tag Archives: integrity

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Clearing your Conscience

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Taking action to salve your conscience may benefit others or it could just be a selfish act.  Most likely though it is a little bit of both.   Doing it solely for vindictive purposes may weigh on your conscience and create a vicious circle.
Each of us is guided by our inner feeling or inner voice relative to the rightness or wrongness of our behavior.  Sometimes we act on this directly, sometimes we ignore and let it fester for a while but ultimately it always affects us in some way.

Focus on You

Our conscience is with us until we die.  When we override the voice in our head or values we hold dear in our hearts the action we chose remains embedded in our brain and we need to live with it.

From time to time this can mean we try to heal our feelings by taking actions to resolve those things that are eating at us from the inside and just won’t go away.

In some cases, these things we finally chose to resolve will not only help us but can spill over as beneficial actions for others.  For example, if you chose to out a bully through public identification,  this could have drawbacks on you (the bully might not like it).

However, the good news is that it could put a stop to the bullying behavior, that is saving others from past or future pain.    For you, doing the honorable thing should resolve guilt feelings a salve your conscience, although there may be some short term pain.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Say what you do and do what you say

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We perceive other levels of honesty and moral uprightness based on their actions (words and deeds).  People who do not follow through can lose respect and trust very quickly.

That is not to say you must accomplish every objective and goal you expound on in order for others to view you as having a high level of integrity.

Open, Clear, and Forthright

Things change and new circumstances may make if less feasible or even impossible for you to complete your initial commitment  (i.e.,  you said it but could not do it.)

However, when what you committed to changes, openly communicating this, and discussing options with those impacted mitigates your risk of being perceived as dishonest.

Blindly Forging Ahead

Making a personal commitment does not entail being successful at all costs but collaborating with others to achieve positive outcomes when the unforeseen occurs is critical.

Blindly forging ahead with your initial approach when it has become unfeasible can be both painful and unproductive.  Our moral foundation will not be cracked because we fail, only if we ignore that failure and hide it from others.

Explore Alternatives

When I was young my parents use to advise me; Succeeding is important but trying is critical.  If we have accepted accountability for a task or deliverable it is possible we won’t achieve it.

This does not impinge upon our integrity as long as we both tried and kept everyone who will be impacted apprised of our efforts and well as consulting them and seeking assistance where it makes sense.

Maintain your personal integrity with others – try your best and keep them informed.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

But is it Right?

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During my corporate career, I encountered a number of different approaches to defining and implementing a code of ethical conduct.  That is the moral principles that govern a person’s organizational behavior.

Without exception, these were always founded on the expectation every individual member of the corporate family acted with honesty founded on strong moral principles.

Rules versus Common

Rule-based ethical practices are very popular but I have always had doubts about the effectiveness of this approach.  Behaving with integrity is not absolute and definitely is impacted by both context and personal perspective.

I believe the best organizational code of conduct I ever encountered began with a simple dissertation on the qualities of ethical behavior.

It was neither directive or specific as to what was correct or incorrect relative to carrying out your assigned responsibilities. The key to the code was the simple ending.

Question Yourself

Notwithstanding the high-level guidance employees could read in the document, in the end, all were simply directed to ask themselves, “But, is it right?” after considering all the contextual aspects and before committing to action.

After all, acting ethically is not a simple nor straightforward behavior.  It requires consideration of all the factors, and most importantly the application of common sense.

The intent of questioning yourself is obviously not to cause analysis paralysis, some things just don’t have an easy answer, nor is it intended to create a personal dilemma.

Check Comfortability Rating

Rather asking yourself “But is it right?” is simply a reasonability check.  Take time before committing yourself to action to really ensure you feel comfortable about what you are about to do.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Say what you do and do what you say

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Being perceived as having a high level of integrity and thus building trust is not difficult.  Believing that you need to commit to actions and then complete those actions is the simple personal value that covers this.

Accepting responsibility for something requires communicating what you plan to do.  This does not mean committing to the outcome (which sometimes is out of your control) but rather committing to an activity, something fully in your control.

Passive/ Aggressive

Being agreeable or apparently accepting of a change, task or directive with no intention of undertaking the action, or even undermining it, is classic passive-aggressive behavior.

This approach could be described as “say what you do but don’t do what you say”.  This method won’t inspire trust but then it is not intended to.

To sabotage an unwanted change or objective is the goal and this technique is easier than being candid or blunt about how you feel.  It is certainly a way to avoid confrontation but does include significant reputational risk.

Not Locked In

A common concern I hear about the straightforward approach to “a promise is a promise”  it does not allow flexibility if things change and you are unable to fulfill the promise.

I beg to disagree.  The promise lays a foundation for expectation.  Ongoing discussion and communication resulting from changing circumstances are a reasonable and widely accepted way to keep expectations realistic.

Most people recognize expectations around an initial commitment can change as a result of circumstance.

Wording to this effect is often embedded in contracts and agreements where opt out of risk event clauses are inserted to ensure delivery on a promise does not become an impossible task.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Integrity

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The level at which we each practice personal integrity, that is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, can be subjective and hard to measure.

We each invision what ” a person of good character” means within the context of our personal filters. That being said, there are accepted commonalities that define moral behavior across your geographic culture or even the human race in general.

For example thou shalt not murder a fellow human is a mostly universal belief across regions, races and religions.

It is the interpretation, recognition and acceptance of exceptions to this moral principle that create the dilemmas (i.e., except when a war is going on or it is enforcing a law or singular belief, and so on)

Practicing Personal Integrity

From an integrity perspective, our personal behaviour should be able to consistently allow us to answer yes to these simple questions:

  • Is it right?
  • Is  it fair?
  • Would others (a majority) answer yes to those questions?

This is a simple self “litmus” test you can perform, before acting, to help you set and the follow  your own morale compass (don’t overlook question 3 as it is the zinger.)

Rules, Laws and other Constraints

Society creates boundaries, both tangible and intangible, often governed by consequences as a way of standardizing behaviour to meet the cultures minimum requirements.

While adherence to these more detailed and sometimes restrictive rules cannot be ignored, just following these standards does not equal high integrity.

My basic test of three questions can be a great assistance to your confidence levels as you try and choose behaviours that could be held to a high moral standard.