My Mantra for Life both Professional and Personal

Gloria Barnett
Lori Smith
GL 400

December 1, 2009

Leading with Integrity in Today’s Work Environment

All companies require great leaders to enjoy long-term success. Today it is nearly as difficult as ever before to achieve success in the world of business. Greed and corruption have taken such a strong hold that many have lost sight of the best recipe for long-term sustainable success.
Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being complete or undivided. It implies trustworthiness.” Trustworthiness is a direct result of honesty. It is important to value honesty, as honesty speaks of one’s very nature. Success will be earned by the great leaders who lead using integrity as their moral compass.

To dissect and define integrity, to bring it from within oneself, and to make integrity a value that can be demonstrated at every level of the work environment should be the goal of every leader wanting to have remarkable results. A leader must be reliable, consistent worthy of trust and respect. How does one become a great leader? Leadership is innately a natural part of each and every person; one must take the time and have the confidence to tap into the greatness of all that can be achieved.

Most every person wants to be ethical, credible, and honest; this reflects human nature. The hard part is having clarity of a personal goal and holding oneself accountable for every step of the process. Great leaders make everyone, including themselves, accountable first, then collectively the entire team can enjoy satisfaction in a job well done and success seems to happen without fail. Everyone should make it a habit to approach all tasks within their lives with integrity.
As listed on pg.75 the book “Lincoln on Leadership” by Donald T. Phillips, some of Lincoln’s principles for living with integrity are listed as follows:

Ø Refrain from reading attacks upon yourself so you won’t be provoked.
Ø Remember that truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
Ø Do the very best you know how, the very best you can, and keep doing so until the end.
Ø The probability that you may fall in the struggle ought not to deter you from the support of the cause you believe to be just.
Ø Give your subordinates a fair chance with equal freedom and opportunity for success.
Ø When you make it to the top, turn and reach down for the person behind you.

Leaders lead best when they are servants and when they are willing to give back to others. An effective leader will take the time to completely listen to others, even if others are not comfortable expressing their personal point of view. A truly effective leader will take the time to ask each member of his or her team to fully explore options that can contribute to their collective success. A leader who leads with integrity must be brave and unafraid of confrontation, for integrity shows greatest under pressure.

According to Robert K. Greenleaf on pages 150 and 151, in his book entitled, “Servant Leadership: a Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness”:
“I cannot visualize a world without leaders, without those who better see the path ahead taking the risk to lead and show the way. What reason is there for accepting the constraints of a society except that therein the more able serve the less able? One way that some people serve is to lead…Leaders may be completely honest about their leadership, that which makes them more dependable and trustworthy than most, is their intuitive insight, which cannot be fully explained.”

Good leadership can only be as effective as the foundation that it was built on. A great leader will create a culture of effective goal setting and achievement. Nothing should ever be promised unless the organization can deliver the goods or services promised. The goal should be to over deliver whenever possible. This can only be achieved if every department within the organization is motivated with the same goal in mind.

Although it can be extremely difficult, one must make the right decision to do the right thing no matter the consequences. Integrity never involves manipulation or greed. If integrity is exercised in every aspect of one’s work on a consistent basis, success will certainly be the end result. The behavior of a leader must match his or her personal beliefs. A strong focus on the importance of consistency, in both word and deed, especially in the face of adversity, is a necessity of great leadership. Organization is the key to expressing integrity, because it is not enough to simply have the intention to do the right thing. Policies set by a leader leading with integrity will serve as a model of the organization’s values and credibility.

One must hire knowledgeable candidates that have high levels of competency to promote a trusting work environment. An effective team will be required to seek and successfully complete continuing education in their fields of service. A great leader understands and appreciates the importance of education for the betterment of the organization. An exceptional leader will be certain to learn from his or her team without feeling threatened or insecure. Managing with perfectly defined priorities and with values utilizing a clear objective is less stressful and far more productive than managing without a formula to emulate.

A leader should always acknowledge and show appreciation for the contributions of others toward the common goal. Building a reliable team is an important ingredient to affect positive change in the workplace. Each member of the team must have the potential to do his or her job with confidence. When the task at hand has clearly defined guidelines to be followed, an adept team member will be able to approach and complete the task with confidence. It would be unreasonable to expect a team member to do a job well unless their leader offered him or her access to all of the necessary tools.

If one were to assume that nothing will ever go wrong in business, he or she will be greatly disappointed on a regular basis. It is better to realize that nobody is perfect. Things can and often times do go wrong regardless of the amount of effort put into preventing failure. The important thing is how the team corrects the situation when things do not go as projected. Leading with integrity requires a clear mission of helping others, and implementing a process to resolve conflict utilizing specific rules. When these steps are followed, a just result is sure to be the outcome. Clear and concise guidelines enable team members to respond swiftly and decisively without ever compromising their own integrity.

A sense of humor is a very important attribute of a great leader. Even if his or her sense of humor is perceived as being a bit on the dry side, this can reveal a leader as a real person who understands that life is real. When a team can laugh and enjoy life while in a work environment, less stress and lighter spirits will be enjoyed by all. Seeing humor in others is important. Perhaps he or she may have a bit of a quirky personality, so what? A great leader will embrace other’s perceptions. It is okay that others see humor in what is different in one another. The important thing is that malice is not the intent.

As stated by Dave Johnson, founder and principle author of “Seeing The Forest”, and a blogger at “Speak Out California,”
“A company (or industry) makes a tremendous amount of money by scamming us, screwing us, stealing from us, killing us, poisoning us, destroying our environment or some other thing that one way or another a working democracy would stop immediately…So it's very simple, really:…no influencing public opinion in any way whatsoever…no predatory marketing of their own products, marketing that influences our culture, marketing that makes us feel bad about ourselves, marketing that makes us feel bad about others, marketing that insults us and marketing that makes us think we should want things that we shouldn't!..So it continues. And we all get poorer while they get richer.” (Johnson)

Batrushollweg International dedicated research efforts to create and validate an assessment that measures a leader’s propensity to exhibit integrity. Their findings concluded the following:
Ø Employee theft and fraud cost the average business 1-2% of its sales.
Ø 23% have given product or service for a discount against company policy.
Ø 18% have manipulated data to make results appear better.
Ø 29% repeatedly ignore misconduct of subordinates. (Batrushollweg pgs. 2,4)

If more business and political leaders were to lead with integrity as a design principle, our national economic state would be much stronger, and as a people we would be less divisive. Integrity is not a certain personality trait or set of ideas. Integrity guides decent people that are open to moral excellence. All should approach their jobs and lives every-day with integrity. One should have a moral compass for guidance and follow it. IT is necessary to have strong moral values to rely on when important decisions need to be made. A leader must have courage under fire. If all decisions were made for the greater good, one would have nothing to fear in spite of criticism.

Achievable goals must be clearly defined as written rules, policies, and procedures. Consistent behavior that matches one’s beliefs as a leader will define that leader with integrity. Clear objectives, as well as accountability, reflect the true character of an illustrious leader. It is important that he or she be mindful of social influence; let it be known that your standards and policies are representative of the organization, and they must be adhered to by every member who wants to share in the success of the team.

As stated by Patricia Schaefer in her article entitled “The Seven Pitfalls of Business Failure and How to Avoid Them.” Patricia reports poor management as the number one reason for failure.
“Unless they recognize what they don’t do well, and seek help, business owners may soon face disaster. They must also be educated and alert to fraud, and put into place measures to avoid it.” Ms. Schaefer goes on to add, “A successful manager is also a good leader who creates a work climate that encourages productivity. He or she has a skill at hiring competent people, training them and is able to delegate. A good leader is also skilled at strategic thinking, able to make a vision a reality, and able to confront change, make transitions, and envision new possibilities for the future.” (Schaefer)

As stated on page 107 by Donald T. Phillips, in his book “Lincoln on Leadership,” it is important for every manager to remember:
Ø If you are a good leader, when your work is done, your aim fulfilled, your people will say, “We did it ourselves.”
Ø Try not to feel insecure or threatened by your followers.
Ø Always let your subordinates know that the honor will be all theirs if they succeed and the blame will be yours if they fail.
Ø If your commanders in the field can’t be successful, neither can you or your executive staff. (Phillips pg. 107)

The results are boundless when leading effectively with integrity. Truthfulness promotes confidence, confidence promotes credibility, and when one is perceived as having credibility, others will then be drawn to them for their products and services. If a leader focuses solely on him or herself, others will view them as narcissistic, manipulative, and self-centered. Many will choose to avoid doing business with an organization they feel is lacks integrity. An organization known for its integrity usually attracts the best candidates to join its team. Do the right thing, and the right thing will happen. It will be easy to be effective when you operate with grace and have a clear mission to help others. Make a conscientious decision to move forward as a transformational leader, and to maintain a pattern of alignment between positive words and positive deeds. Success will be earned by the great leaders who lead using integrity as their moral compass.

Semester Break is Breaking ME!!!

Finally a break! For what? To do my best and get caught up on everything that I am behind on. Christmas with six children including in-laws and five grandchildren requires a lot of work!!! I am gonna enjoy it, but it sure is wearing me out!!!!

I accomplished what I wanted to, I have maintained a 4.0 GPA and am on the Dean's List. I hope that this helps with my eligibility for grants and so forth. My final paper and presentation was on a topic that is very important to me. I decided to post the paper for anyone interested, mostly because I want to keep it as part of my progress. I am so grateful to my husband for being patient with me as I spend so much time working on my education. He has some health issues that he is working on as well and feels since life insurance not to mention the expense of health insurance is so high that my education will better serve me for a sustainable future. It is really hard to say what is the truth sometimes, but this for us is clearly the truth. I hope you take the time to read my paper, I sure enjoyed the research and writing it. "Leading with Integrity"