The Value of Integrity

One of the key ingredients in any successful individual is a stable values base. This stable values base is built on integrity. Integrity is crucial for every individual and it is crucial in the professional world. Without integrity an employer - employee relationship has no foundation on which to build and is destined for failure.

I ran into an example of this when Jed (not his real name), a newly hired employee, was placed on a design development team in Calgary. This team was working diligently to deliver a set of fully tested programs to another project team in Korea. The team in Korea was installing the programs and testing them on a system that would then be floated in Russia.

We hired Jed to be a controls systems expert. His resume looked good, he interviewed well, and his limited references seem to check out. His job was to provide quality assurance testing. During the first few weeks, he tested programming and completed the test sheets and signoffs as required. Then we had an urgent need for additional resources in our Korean office. Jed volunteered to go and we were happy to send him, as he seemed to be moving through his testing work rather quickly.

When Jed arrived in Korea, he began some on-site program testing. This work was similar to what he was doing back home, and he seemed to be doing well. However, a crack in the wall began to appear. We started to get reports about Jed having disagreements with the client in Korea. Then it was reports of people finding errors in the programs Jed had tested and signed off on in Calgary. These reports led to a complete reassessment of the work done in Calgary. It was determined that Jed had just been signing off test sheets without actually doing the testing. We did some more investigating, and discovered that the same thing was happening in Korea, where Jed was again signing off test sheets without doing the appropriate testing. Jed was subsequently brought back to Calgary and terminated for lack of integrity.

According to Paul Zane Pilzer in his book Unlimited Wealth, "....a new problem is emerging in the raising of preschool children, to which the problem of rearing more productive children pales by comparison. This problem is one of values - and it is threatening more than just the success of our public educational system; it is threatening the very fabric of our society. Simply stated, far too many of our children are being raised without a sense of the basic, common values that have enabled people to function together and survive as a society."

Integrity must be the basis of any employer - employee relationship. From this point, for you to maximize your performance - either individually, or as a leader, or as part of a team - you have to identify your values and understand how they affect you. You must ensure that you align your actions with your values, because you have to walk your talk. Failure to do this is a violation of your values, and will be seen by others as hypocrisy. This results in lack of credibility, and in a loss of positive influence on others.