Good morning, team,
The word “integrity” is used a lot in business. It’s how we refer to people who exhibit the wonderful qualities of trustworthiness, dependability and honesty. Sometimes we use it to describe a process or purpose, such as “the integrity of a work product” or “integrity of purpose.”
Though we esteem integrity and recognize it in action, it’s often difficult to put into words. Here’s my definition: To have integrity means to act in alignment with your values. For example, if you value respect, then you experience it within yourself, and you treat yourself and others with respect. Simply put, who you are internally becomes who you are externally. Thus, your external life becomes a reflection of your inner life, and the two are integrated, connected, mirrors of each other. Once you begin to act with integrity in your life, it becomes increasingly difficult to act without it. As Tom Peters wrote, “There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.”
This week’s challenge is to think about what you value most and then make efforts to live in alignment with those values. Do your actions portray who you really are and what’s most important to you? If freedom is important to you, how does that show up in your life? Do you feel free in your relationships, free at work, free in your thinking? Maybe it’s family that’s most important to you. Do you make enough time for family? And if you can’t give them a lot of your time, in what other ways do you show your family that you value them highly? If you value your co-workers, how do you demonstrate that inner priority? Maybe it’s as simple as always making the effort to show up on time for meetings with them.
If we don’t live in accordance with what’s most important, we can find ourselves angry and frustrated. This week, begin to ask yourself how you can live your life with more integrity and to make small efforts each day to do so.
“You don’t need to train people in all these competencies of leadership. You need to help them identify their values, develop “who” they are, and then share and act from their values within the organization.” Kevin Cashman, President of LeaderSource Co.
Have a great week!
Kathleen
Kathleen Doyle-White
Pathfinders Coaching
(503) 296-9249
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