It was a late in the day phone consultation with an upper level manager in a large company. As always, I asked “How are you doing this week?”
“I am hanging in there” was her reply. She then explained to me that the problems she was dealing with were overwhelming. For example, her division was experiencing extremely high turnover amongst new employees during the first 90 days of employment. They were now just trying to fill shifts and deliver appropriate care. The company also was restructuring a wide variety of departments but no one knew why, when, or how it was going to impact service delivery.
Meanwhile, she was trying to figure out realistic goals for her division and to make sure they were in alignment with the new strategic plan. With lack of input and connection with the current strategic plan, this made her plan seem abstract and not in touch with the day to day reality of the current service delivery problems.
Furthermore, her own health challenges were getting worse due to long term stress. She was just trying to figure out how to create a healthy family life in the midst of a never-ending global pandemic.
Her question to me that afternoon was simple and direct: “Where do I begin, and what do I do when it all seems like too much?”
“I am so sorry you are going this,” I replied. “There are no quick fixes with problems this big and complex. Therefore, in the beginning and through it all, you must conduct yourself, professionally and personally, with the utmost integrity.”
We don’t talk much about integrity, character, and authenticity these days. These words seem like they are from a different century, a simpler and less complex time period. Still, the wisdom and words from the past can be applicable and helpful to us in the present.
For example, let’s explore the word integrity. “The word integrity … comes from the Latin word integer, which simply means intact,” writes Martha Beck in her book, The Way of Integrity: Finding The Path To Your True Self (The Open Field/A Penguin Life Book, 2021). “To be in integrity is to be one thing, whole and undivided…. [it reflects a] complete alignment of body, mind, heart, and soul.”
When I reflect on the leaders I know who are people of integrity and have moved through or are currently moving through times of complexity, their ability to stay aligned, body, mind, heart and soul, is reflected in the way they listen, communicate, and act. Their personal core values are never compromised. They treat everyone with respect. They aspire to do their best even on the days that they are feeling overwhelmed. By living, acting and role modeling integrity, they are making a choice. As Stephen Covey wrote years ago, “A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It’s the testing point of our character and competence.”
This week, choose integrity. It is the right way every time no matter what is the situation before you.
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