HOW GOOD IS YOUR INTEGRITY COMPASS?

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Approximate reading time: 2.3 minutes

Imagine you are in charge of an international aid organisation whose focus is helping to rescue children from danger.

You have just learned that two dozen vulnerable children are trapped inside a war zone in a third world country. You now receive a phone call from an arms manufacturer who is supplying weapons to both sides in the war. He says he has his own fully equipped task force on the ground and would be willing to send in his team to bring the children to safety, but not the adults.

If you want him to execute the rescue you would have to agree to publically acknowledge the arm’s dealer’s action as part of their PR campaign to improve their public image.

• YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO DECIDE YOUR RESPONSE. WHAT WOULD IT BE?
• YOU MUST CHOOSE TO SAY OR NO TO THE PHONE CALL!
• MADE UP YOUR MIND?

TO FIND OUT WHAT THE REAL LIFE DIRECTOR DID
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This real life ethical dilemma was posed at a recent Inspirations@breakfast seminar at Maynard Leigh Associates, attended by representatives from Westinghouse, Cancer Research, M & G Investment, ActionAid and Allen & Overy.

Jointly run by this blog maker and Professor Paul Palmer of the Cass Business School the seminar explored the whole issue of integrity and leadership. (See also my earlier blog on Leadership and integrity—click here)

Those attending shared their own thoughts and experience around the issue of integrity and had fun doing a personal drawing that summed up their view of it. Several illustrations included a heart, one showed a brick wall representing something solid and unmoving, and yet another sketched a person with a strong backbone.

The facilitators offered a formal definition of integrity which consisted of: discerning what is right and wrong, acting on what you have discerned even at personal cost, and saying openly you are acting on what you understand to be right or wrong.

The group next encountered “The Integrity Diamond” a way of showing various facets of integrity, including moral and ethical purpose, standing for something, consistency, and being lawful. The diamond metaphor resonated with participants as a powerful way of both explaining and exploring the whole integrity issue.

The group also worked to identify the sort of questions a leader should be asking about his or her organisation in pursuing the issue of integrity. The seven questions suggested by the facilitators were:

SEVEN ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS

• Is integrity part of the vision, mission and values of the organisation?
• Do I set appropriate goals
• Are high ethical standards built into all processes and systems, with effective controls?
• Do I search for and welcome the truth
• Are there channels for reporting issues through openness, internal audit, ombudsman etc?
• Is integrity built into senior managers’ job descriptions
• Do appraisals hold people to account for lapses in integrity?
• Do we benchmark practices internally and externally, using independent help to review company governance?
• Are there regular staff surveys on ethics and regular checks on how leadership is perceived?
• Is decision making consistent with organisational values?

Maynard Leigh Associates Way Ahead Series paper: Integrity: Are Your Leaders Up to It?

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently."
Warren Buffet, CEO Bershire Hathaway

"Just being honest is not enough. The essential ingredient is executive integrity."
Philip Crosby, consultant and author, Quality is Free.

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www.maynardleigh.co.uk