How To Build Ethics and Integrity

From walkthetalk.com 

Organizational ethics and integrity is a result of effective leadership and a critical mass of “Walking The Talk” behaviors at all levels. Here are a few of my favorites from Ethics4Everyone: The Handbook for Integrity-Based Business Practices:

• Honor Your Promises and Commitments. And that starts by keeping track of them. Set up a “What I Said I’d Do” section in your day planner or personal organizer, or in a small notebook. Record every commitment you make. Check the list daily as a reminder.

• Do Your Business “In The Open.” Unless it involves strategic, company-confidential information, do your business in a way that it is not hidden from those around you. Use this to set an ethics example for coworkers. If you’re comfortable “going public” with your actions and decisions, the chances are good that you’re operating in an ethical manner.

• Eliminate Offensive Words and Comments From Your Vocabulary. Simply put: Watch your mouth! Derogatory terms and off-color jokes have no place at work. They’re degrading and unethical, and they can have legal repercussions. The words you use, and the jokes you tell, say a lot more about you than the people you’re referring to.
   
• Maintain Confidentiality. If you agree to confidentiality, honor your agreement. If you can’t or won’t agree to keep the confidence, make that clear before you accept the information. 

• Be Truthful. Lying is often a gut-level defensive reaction to perceived danger. When you feel the desire to hide the truth, take the time to jot down what you will get out of the trusting relationship versus the short-term gain you might get out of evading the truth.

• Check BEFORE You Act! Check decisions and planned activities for “rightness” before implementing them. Use the questions below (or similar ones supplied by your organization) as your litmus test. Answering “no” to one or more of the following would suggest the need to either develop an alternative strategy or to seek counsel and advice from appropriate sources:

1. Is it legal?
2. Does it comply with our rules and guidelines?
3. Is it in sync with our organizational values?
4. Will I be comfortable and guilt-free if I do it?
5. Does it match our stated commitments and guarantees?
6. Would I do it to my family or friends?
7. Would I be perfectly ok with someone doing it to me?
8. Would the most ethical person I know do it?

Lead well ... LEAD RIGHT,