Walking the Path of Integrity
Review by Ann Bernstein
The Integrity Dividend
By Tony Simons
Jossey-Bass © 2008, 244 pages, $27.95
(ISBN 978-0-470-18856-7)
When Stan Myers (now SEMI president/CEO) was CEO of Mitsubishi Silicon America, he decided to move the R&D department from San Francisco to Salem, OR. As many employees didn’t wish to relocate, he offered a retention bonus to those staying the full eight months until the move and helping to recruit and train their replacements. Those leaving prior to the move got only their severance package. One employee, Alan, got another job early and left, but never received his severance of several thousand dollars. Almost a year later, Myers found out about the oversight. Rather than letting it go, he personally delivered the check to Alan at his new job. Fifteen years later, Myers received an engraved iPod Nano from Alan, now involved in an electronics startup, as a thank-you.
Alan remembered Myers’ gesture long after the fact because Myers went out of the way to keep his commitment to a former employee.
Theory Into Practice
What Myers did, as well as its long-term result, is the core basis of Tony Simon’s new book The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word. Leaders are challenged to seamlessly maintain their values and keep their promises.
The days of “Do as I say, not as I do” are over. Simons’ basic four-step formula outlines how managers who keep their word generate deeper employee commitment,which in turn causes lower turnover and superior customer service. This ultimately leads to higher profitability. To underscore his point, Simons held focus groups, looked at operational and financial sheets, and interviewed a total of several thousand employees and executives in all types of industries, from hotel chains to investment firms to airline catering companies.
Internalize, Then Externalize
A critical element of behavioral integrity, Simons notes, is to create trust and credibility among employees. “A perception of integrity, like trust, is typically slow to build and quick to fall,” Simons says. To create the needed trust factor involves work. Employees constantly evaluate their bosses’ integrity on many levels. Some of the key factors are following through on all promises, exhibiting true caring about employees and acknowledging uncertainty. Simons also mentions the idea of reducing one’s values to an essential
minimum, then sticking to them on a constant basis.
Personalize It
Another element Simons talks about is making behavioral integrity a personal discipline. Managers must teach themselves how and what tasks to delegate and how to handle disagreement; commit to honor all commitments; and learn how to admit mistakes and apologize when necessary.He admits up front that some or all of these may be awkward and uncomfortable at first, but they must be accomplished in order to maintain integrity.
Challenging but Not Impossible
Upon first getting into The Integrity Dividend, some readers may feel it’s the kind of book that dresses up basic common sense as a business thesis. But once past the first chapter, Simons makes it clear that there is more substance. Sure, encouraging employees’ trust is something we’ve all heard about before, but it’s done in a way here that explains, in easy-to-digest examples, that integrity goes beyond a simple reputation; it must penetrate all aspects of a company in order for it to have the desired effect on employees.
By taking the time to foster employees’ faith, a better and more profitable organization is almost guaranteed.
www.barrysilverstein.com/articles/speedreviews0109.pdf
Integrity only SEEMS to start with “I”
In reality, it starts with “U” (you). What I mean is, you need to start with a deep and abiding appreciation for the point of view of the other.
Because behavioral integrity is about being seen as living by your word. That may sound like an invitation to scam, but it isn’t. Sooner or later, people figure it out when you are scamming them. Especially people who work for you, because they watch you like a hawk. A colleague, Rod Kramer, calls employees “intuitive auditors” of their bosses.
Yes, authenticity, or internal alignment, is a critical driver of integrity. And it is about you, in the sense that a good hard look in the mirror is a good idea as one seeks to earn the integrity dividend. But in some deep way, integrity is not about you. it is about respecting how your words and actions look from the perspective of the people to whom you relate.
Communication is not what is said, but rather what is heard. And as I have learned from a few hard knocks, bad communication and bad coordination look an awful lot like bad faith, and they can draw forth the same consequences.
I am not saying it is necessary to actually be benevolent, although I think that would be a good idea. It would enhance your trustworthiness, which would enhance others’ trust in you and thus your effectiveness. But I believe that integrity can exist absent caring about others’ well-being — as long as you make it clear that is where you stand. But you have to care about their perspective if you are to earn the integrity dividend. You have to choose your words and actions with awareness of how they seem.
Leaders of all stripes are often asked to avoid not merely impropriety, but also the appearance of impropriety. Conflict of interest is sometimes defined thus.
In fact, I would suggest that Integrity starts with both “I” and “U”: Self-knowledge and self-control are necessary for the actual living by your word. But a profound appreciation of the other’s perspective is needed to support your ability to craft your behavior and your communication so that others “get” that you are living by your word. Since those who you relate to are mostly not idiots, the genuine living by your word is crucial over time. But it is not enough. You have to help them see it. To do that, you have to be able to see through their eyes.
I broke a promise the other day…
An old friend was coming for a social visit last Sunday. In finalizing our plans, he asked on the phone whether he could bring “Asia” along. I knew he had a housemate with a five year-old daughter, and I thought Asia was the daughter. Big win for my six year-old son; a playdate. I believe I asked confirmation that Asia was “the girl” and received an affirmative answer.
If you have a six year old, you will know that all morning my son asked when his play date would arrive.
Turns out Asia was the mom, and the daughter was not in attendance.
We included my son in our activities, and he even beat us in a few boardgames. We all had a good time.
But he was disappointed. And I broke a promise.
What a fragile thing our word is.
