Integrity is about doing what’s right, even when it’s difficult.
In a business environment, integrity shapes the way that decisions are made, how stakeholders are treated and how trust is built in and across departments. When organisations are led by leaders who act with integrity, a culture of accountability, fairness and transparency is created.
Without integrity at the top, even the best strategies can unravel.
Let’s explore how founders, executives and managers can model ethical behaviour in ways that shape organisational culture.
The Foundation
Ethical leadership starts by doing what’s right, even when no one is watching. For founders, executives and managers, this means aligning actions with ethical values such as; transparent communication and holding themselves to the same standard that they expect from others. The behaviour of leaders creates a ripple effect throughout the organisation influencing the way that employees conduct business as well as their standard of work and how they interact with other stakeholders.
Modelling Behaviour
The behaviour of those in leadership positions is contagious. When top leadership acts with empathy, fairness and responsibility, they establish a standard for the rest of the organisations’ behaviour. Here’s a few ways that leaders can bring ethics into their day-to-day responsibilities:
- Transparent Decision Making: When making important decisions, explain the “why” behind it whether it’s because of a simple price change or new partnership, or something more complex like a restructuring. Giving the “why” builds credibility, understanding and trust.
- Owning Mistakes: We all make mistakes, including those in leadership positions but those willing to admit to their mistakes and course-correct demonstrate the importance of honesty and transparency.
- Fair Treatment: Be fair throughout. Whether it’s in the recruitment process, deciding on promotions or resolving conflict, ethical leaders act fairly throughout and are guided by values rather than by bias or favouritism.
Embed Ethics into the Organisations Culture
You can’t rely solely on the organisations ethical values to trickle down from top management positions, stakeholders at every level of the organisation need to be reminded of these. Below are a few actionable ways that this can be done:
- Establish a clear Code of Ethics: Create, share and reshare the organisations code of conduct that reflects its core values and just like the organisation evolves, so should this code.
- Listen: Create an environment that encourages feedback without fear of retaliation.
- Incentivise Ethical Behaviour: Don’t just reward stakeholders for their work ethic, reward them for their ethical behaviour as well.
As founders, executives and managers, your actions set the tone for the organisation and leading with integrity isn’t a once off thing, it’s a daily practice. But when done right, it becomes a competitive advantage not easily attained by others.
