Have you ever been around someone or worked in a place where integrity was lacking? Well, I can tell you I have. I remember years ago applying for a position at a location and the hiring manager, calling my current manager and saying we will take your black girl if you will take ours. Sheer foolishness, and a lack of integrity and so much more. I was angry and very upset. Needless to say the trade never happened, but this incident stuck in my mind until this very day. I'm sure that some of you have gone through similar experiences in the workplace with racism, discrimination, and lack of integrity. As a former workforce diversity manager, I can probably say confidently that I've seen just about everything when it comes to integrity and honesty. So today I am sharing some information that I researched on workplace integrity and diversity and I hope that you find it helpful..
Ask 10 people to define integrity in the workplace, and you’ll likely get 10 different answers — most of which revolve around the quality as a whole (such as honesty, sound judgment, dependability, or loyalty).
And while those specific expressions are a big part of what makes up integrity in the workplace, they combine to form a principle of behavior that goes well beyond the sum of the parts.
Thus, integrity is doing the right thing through your words, actions, and beliefs when no one is watching. At its most basic, then, integrity is based on values — both yours and those of others — rather than personal gain.
More than that, integrity plays a significant role in making your business the best it can possibly be. Here are five ways integrity can affect your team for the better.
Builds And Maintains Trust
Exhibiting integrity in the workplace is key to building and maintaining trust among your employees and with your customers and clients.
Without trust in your business, team members, customers, and clients will gradually trickle away, leaving you short-staffed, always looking for new team members, or in jeopardy of closing down completely.
Promotes Strong, Resilient Employees
One of the main results of exhibiting integrity in your workplace is that your team has a set of guidelines — a standard operating procedure, if you will — under which they operate at all times.
This, in turn, promotes strong, resilient employees because they can rely on certain principles that influence everything from how they treat their coworkers to how they answer customer questions.
Helps Foster An Open And Positive Team
When your company operates with integrity and strong values at all times, your employees will feel more open — open to sharing ideas, connecting with their team, and being themselves.
Similarly, a culture of integrity in the workplace results in a more positive workforce. When your employees are comfortable at work, it is much easier for them to stay positive and upbeat even when things get difficult.
Promotes Better Leaders
Another reason why integrity in the workplace is so important is that it promotes better leaders. This, in turn, trickles down to the team members under those managers and gives them a role model to follow.
When your managers operate with a strong sense of ethics, your employees will, too. It all starts with building and maintaining integrity in your business.
Encourages An Ethical Approach To Decision-Making
With integrity as the foundation of your team’s behavior, you can then work to encourage an ethical approach to the rest of your business dealings — including the way you make decisions.
This can manifest in the way you create and develop new products, make moves to protect stakeholders, and develop policies to better serve your customers.
Value Diversity To Improve Integrity In The Workplace
Diversity in the workplace involves hiring people from different cultures, viewpoints, backgrounds, and personalities for your team.
The primary reason diversity is essential for success is because businesses are becoming more global every day. Even within a single country, the opportunity to provide goods and services to diverse ethnic groups is a very real possibility.
Whether you run a mom-and-pop restaurant, a 10-employee coffee shop, or a 100-employee call center, diversity will help you improve integrity.
Build Collaboration Instead Of Competition
Collaboration is a philosophical and practical approach that emphasizes teamwork, equal participation, and innovative thinking as a way to further the interests of your business.
The foundation of effective team collaboration comes down to the company culture in which your employees work and the integrity that culture promotes.
When you define the values, norms, ethics, beliefs, and habits of your business, you set the tone and mood your team members will experience with their teammates, managers, and clients.
Promote Inclusivity
Inclusivity encompasses the practices and attitudes of a business that ensure all team members:
Have equal access to the same resources and opportunities
Are treated fairly and respectfully
Can (and want to) contribute fully to the team’s and the business’s success
In simpler terms, workplace inclusivity stresses the fact that the thoughts, ideas, and perspectives of all individuals matter and that your business considers every point of view before it makes a decision.
The positive and healthy atmosphere this produces goes a long way toward also building integrity in the workplace.
This is a great article - credit https://getsling.com/blog/integrity-in-the-workplace/
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