 Connected Again
If you
have really been around awhile (pre-1990,) you might remember a quarterly Connections
newsletter published by PRISM, Inc., the consulting firm I established in 1983. That
was before most newsletters were replaced by e-messages, and before I sold my interests in
PRISM to set out on my own again in 1998 as inTEgro, Inc. Like most else in the
'90’s, Connections has been streamlined and will be on the Net (www.integro-inc.com,
after July 25). Also, please think of this more as a "periodical" than a
"newsletter," since I will distribute it periodically – whenever I
think I have something of interest to pass along.
If we
have worked together before, I hope this premiere issue is a reminder and update of what I
am working on and why. If we haven’t, I hope it serves as a useful introduction.
Integrity is Fundamental
I
had a wonderful opportunity in 1997 to participate in the Executive To Leader Institute
offered by LeaderSource. Part of the experience involved crafting a personal mission
statement, which gelled for me after a couple days as "Serving as a catalyst for
Integrity." As I shared my evolving interest connecting integrity to organizational
health and effectiveness with clients, I got some curious reactions. One client asked me
if I had ever considered becoming a minister, which to me implied that matters of
integrity were better dealt with at church or in a religious context than in "the
real world." Another wondered if I had explored teaching at the college level,
implying that integrity and topics relating to ethics were of academic interest, but
hardly the stuff that was of concern to practical business executives. A third responded:
"Al, God knows that our organization should pay more attention to these kinds of
things, but will you be able to make any money?" Well, I am convinced today more than
ever that integrity is fundamental not only to long-term organizational health and
effectiveness, but to the quality of leadership, our personal lives and communities. It is
not just about moral matters better dealt with by churches or of mainly academic interest,
but a practical matter that is very much connected to the real world.
In 1999
Walker Information conducted research validating that attention to integrity is not just a
"feel good" matter or the right thing to do, but perhaps one of the most
effective strategies for gaining competitive advantage – attracting and retaining
talent as well as customers. Their research demonstrated that in terms of how people
choose where to work, reputation for integrity and ethics is rated second only to
treatment of employees as an influential factor. Three fourths of Walker’s same
sample who said they were currently refusing to buy some product or service again cited a
firm’s reputation for integrity and ethics as the second most influential factor,
behind only service.
Who knows
where personal mission statements or callings to serve in one capacity or another come
from? All I knew four years ago was that there was probably something to the
"Integrity" call, and that I needed to check it out. I also remembered someone
telling me a while back that "often, when we really know what we’re looking for,
it finds you." Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to:
- Co-facilitate CEO forums on organizational integrity and
ethics in conjunction with the Minnesota Center for Ethical Business Cultures.
- Co-facilitate the LeaderSynergy experience offered
by LeaderSource to build the authentic leadership capacity of executive teams.
- Facilitate dozens of experiences for clients to chart
direction, form or revitalize teams, develop leaders or address organizational blockages.
These
experiences helped validate four dimensions of integrity that I believe are critical for
organizations and leaders:
Identity
Organizations, teams and individuals occasionally suffer "identity crises" that
contribute to dysfunction. "Who are we and why are we here?" may be the oldest
of questions and one that some organizations, teams and individuals I serve still wrestle
with. A mission statement on the wall or a laminated wallet card doesn’t answer all
of the questions or address some of the subtleties. For example, how a physician practice
or other healthcare organization comes to really see its primary purpose has implications.
Seeing it as primarily a business may suggest different "bottom line" measures
than would defining it as a professional association for promoting health in the
community, even though mission statements might be nearly identical. Or, as one client
asked: "are we in health care choosing to operate as a business, or are we a business
that is taking the form of health care?" The realities of the healthcare market these
days hardly make that a fair question, but posing it as a catalyst for dialog stimulates
important discussion that can lead to more clarity about the real mission and how to
measure success.
Knowing
who we are means we know what we value – what we stand for, and also how we define
ourselves in relationship to others. Should a business exist solely to maximize
shareholder wealth, for example? What is the nature and scope of its responsibilities to
employees, the community where it operates, others it impacts around the world and other
stakeholders? What are the core values?
Authenticity
If we
know who we are, we need to be who we are. I have witnessed physical and emotional health
problems when people who are one thing the rest of their lives feel constrained to act
differently at work. Other kinds of secrets can make people and organizations sick as
well. I think that often I am hired by clients consciously or unconsciously to flush out
previous "undiscussables" and make them safer to talk about.
One of
the things that puts people I work with in organizations off the most is when their
organization or leader acts inconsistently with who they say they are and what they value.
I think that Warren Bennis put it well a number of years ago when he said that the best
leaders are "all of a piece," or "tapestries of intentions;" they
"walk their talk."
Technology has given us many new capabilities, but has also made it more difficult to
distinguish what is real or authentic from what is not. NASDAQ’s recent plunge
reflects how many technology companies and investors lost track of what constitutes real
value. Authentic leaders need to see things clearly for what they are, and to distinguish
what is true and valuable from what is not. Authentic organizations facilitate truth
telling.
What is
true these days? In a global marketplace and multicultural settings, who is to say that
certain values or views are correct while others are wrong? On a smaller scale, I have
facilitated meetings where multiple factions each argued passionately for what it firmly
believed was the truth and only way to look at things. Sure enough, if I can help
them relax their assumptions and certainties, sooner or later real dialog usually reveals
common ground or at least a path forward that works for all parties.
Alignment
For organizations, teams and leaders that have integrity, everything seems to fit; there
is congruence, or a kind of harmony. Just as with fine works of art, architecture or
literature, every feature complements the main purpose or message. Occasionally I
encounter organizations that are out of alignment, or lose integrity, when they engage in
"the folly of expecting A while rewarding B" as Douglas McGregor put it many
years ago. A company I am familiar with, for example, touts the importance of teamwork and
desires to be an "employer of choice." Its performance evaluation process for
engineers in production, which it positions as a "development tool," is
primarily peer evaluation – so far, so good. The problem is that the company is now
going through downsizing, and guess what they use to a great extent for determining order
of layoff: peer evaluations. How far do you think that goes promoting teamwork? Do you
think using performance evaluation as a tool for learning and development has any
credibility? Another classic example of mixed signals, often encountered in the public
sector, is production of voluminous position descriptions and policy manuals while
expecting employees to be innovative and customer-responsive.
Integrity
and alignment do not mean staying the same or rigidly adhering to positions. Integrity
(Fr. Latin integritas, wholeness) and integration (Fr. Latin integratio,
a renewing or restoring) share the same root. To remain whole we must renew; to have
integrity we must integrate information about the world around us so we are "in
synch" with our environment and customers. While core values and purpose remain
stable, strategies should evolve to keep in step and continue being of service.
Organizations that are aligned with their external environments and customers are, as
Peter Senge put it, learning organizations; they are able to challenge their own
mental models.
Accountability
Integrity
means keeping promises. Mission statements, values and goals are important kinds of
promises, so staying true to those intentions is fundamental to integrity. Staying true to
our intentions means that we need to pay attention to the things that matter, and measure
them in some way if we can. Financial goals and budgets are among the easiest things to
measure. For that reason, as well as incentives and penalties for meeting or not meeting
them, financial indicators typically receive the most attention. We will die for lack of
food or water, but we will die quicker for lack of water. Likewise, the consequences for
missing financial goals may be quicker, but no more sure than for not living up to more
intangible promises like values.
inTEgro
has developed a "360°" survey for providing feedback to individuals, teams and
organizations around these dimensions of integrity – Identity, Authenticity,
Alignment and Accountability. Let me know, and I will be happy to provide
you with a sample and more information.
After 25
years of service in organizations and as a consultant to organizations, I have come to
agree with Suresh Srivasta and David Cooperrider in their Introduction to Executive
Integrity (Jossey Bass, 1988:) "Integrity is the pivotal force behind
organizational existence itself. Executive mind is impotent without power, power is
dangerous without vision, and neither is lasting or significant in any broad human sense
without the force of integrity." |
