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Integrity

Integrity Continuum?

by Ron Potter October 22, 2015

Source: Pedro Ribeiro Simões, Creative Commons

In an article for LinkedIn, Dr. Travis Bradberry, Coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 & President at TalentSmart says:

It’s easy for leaders to get caught up in their own worlds as there are many systems in place that make it all about them. These leaders identify so strongly with their leadership roles that instead of remembering that the only reason they’re there is to serve others, they start thinking, ‘It’s my world, and we’ll do things my way.’ Being a good leader requires remembering that you’re there for a reason, and the reason certainly isn’t to have your way. High-integrity leaders not only welcome questioning and criticism, they insist on it.

I don’t think Integrity lands on a continuum. You don’t hear people saying “Ruth scores higher on the integrity scale that Ralph does.” What you do hear is “Ruth has integrity. Ralph doesn’t.”

It’s amazing to me how visible this becomes. I have the opportunity to spend time with leaders of different businesses in different industries all the time. When there is lack of integrity in a company you can sense it from the time you walk in the door. It’s in the air. You can see it in the way people greet each other in the hall way or conference rooms. You can hear it during the conversations on the phone or more importantly in the conversations after the phone call ends. You can taste it in that sour feeling after difficult conversations. You get the point. Your senses know.

But, note Dr. Bradberry’s last sentence, high-integrity leaders welcome and insist on questioning and criticism.

One view of questioning and criticism is encapsulated in the term feedback. I’ve told the story in some of my previous blog’s that the term feedback was coined during the early days of rocketry when the scientists figured out they needed to develop good “feedback” systems in order to hit a target. Great thrust without great feedback is just an out-of-control rocket. High-integrity leaders accept feedback and develop great feedback systems for everyone.

Another view of the questioning and criticism quote is to view it during team discussions or problem solving sessions. Are the contrary views heard and even encouraged? Do the teams have a mechanism, dialogue being one of the best, for sorting through the contrary views? Is everyone heard, listened to and understood? You can feel the integrity when it exists during the team sessions.

Integrity is not something you either have or not. It’s something you build over time and for leaders who are getting higher and higher on the leadership ladder, it’s something you maintain and develop as it becomes easier for people to tell you what they think you want to hear rather than the contrary view.

Check out the Integrity chapter in our book, Trust Me. It’s one of the eight essential principles of great leadership.

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Character vs. Competence

by Ron Potter September 10, 2015

Source: contemplativechristian, Creative Commons

Tyranny of Competence

Bob Quinn in his book Deep Change introduced us to the concept of the “Tyranny of Competence.” This is a person that is so good at the skills of their job, leaders will tend to overlook their other flaws in character. They assume the character flaws would never cause enough negative issues to overcome the positive impact of being really good at their job.

Don’t ever think that. The destruction caused by lack of character is always greater than the competency provided.

Steven Covey gave us the image of leadership, being equal parts character and competency. You can be the most competent person ever, but without good character, you’ll never become a great leader. Conversely, you can be a person of utmost integrity and character, but without being competent at what you do, you’re no longer trustworthy and therefore will never make a trusted leader.

I’ve always been a little surprised at the lack of visibility around this issue. I’ve often thought that maybe I’m more tuned into the destructive aftermath of this character issue than the executives I work with. And quite honestly, the measurement systems of our corporate environments tend to be more competency based than character based.

Rock Stars of Competency

Then one morning I experienced a little incident that added some clarity. Because of a heart operation and subsequent complicating factors, I had been living in a hospital environment. Beyond dealing with my own personal health issues, the thing that occupied me the most was observing the culture of an operating hospital from a patient’s (customer’s) point of view.

Now, a hospital is certainly competency-based. Without a doubt, I want the most competent surgeon handling my heart so I can get healthy. But it’s amazing that even at this “rock star” level of medicine, how much of a difference character makes. From the patient’s point of view, the doctors I consider the best are the ones that treat me as a human being. I have been very blessed with great doctors but what’s even more interesting is how the hospital staff reacts to these surgeons.

The high character surgeon treats the staff with respect and relates to them as human beings, even as simple as using their name. The entire staff is very eager to provide to the patient whatever the doctor thinks necessary for the health and well-being of the patient. However, when the doctor forgets to exhibit that good character to the staff, the patient actually suffers. The staff goes back to a checklist approach. It’s clear that the overall care of the patient diminishes when the providing doctor doesn’t demonstrate good character, but assumes it is only great competency that gets the job done.

Character Based Environments

Below the doctors are the nurses and the rest of the caring staff. Down here, it’s character that makes the difference. Without exception, these nurses and “techs” (one nurse and one tech assigned to each patient) are there to help you get well. There are still competence issues of taking “values”—pressure, temperature, weight, etc. and administering meds—but for the most part they mainly want to know how you’re doing and what they can do to make your stay more comfortable. The most precious commodity is sleep. And while the timing of the system conspires against you, many of the nurses and techs will delay almost anything if they think it will allow you to sleep just a little bit longer. Except Alex!

Don’t Be Like Alex

Alex is a young, energetic tech who was new to me until one morning. At 5:00 a.m. (one of the few times during the day that I could actually fall into a deep sleep) Alex bounded into my room, turned on the lights, and asked if he could check my weight. My answer was, “No!” Undaunted, Alex wheels in the scale (light still on) and offers to help me out of bed. It’s obvious he’s not going to leave so I slowly bring myself to consciousness, drag myself out of bed, stand on the scale, and satisfy Alex that he’s done his job. He even encourages me to get some sleep as he departs with his poundage figures in hand.

My reaction to Alex’s overall performance?

Competent? Yes.

Showed character? No.

Overall, rude, obtrusive, failure as a tech.

In competency based environments, lack of character is always destructive but may be under the radar. In character based environments, lack of character is seen as complete failure.

The message in all of this is balance, balance, balance.

Regardless of which aspect is more valued in each environment the best leaders, the most cherished and valued people are the ones with both great competencies and the same time exhibit the greatest of character. They are respectful and treat others with great dignity.

If you yearn for success, be the best you can be and at the same time, care and respect those around you for who they are.

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Blog Leadership

Power of Integrity

by Ron Potter May 14, 2015

Image source: Phalinn Ooi, Creative Commons

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to join a very small elite group of people. Thankfully the number of members is small because we’re among the few that have contracted one of the rare antibiotic resistant bacteria’s found in hospitals.

A few well-meaning friends have asked if we will be suing the hospital over the infection. Without hesitating, my immediate answer has been “no.” However, it’s been necessary for me to analyze my answer. Why have I reacted to a legitimate and meaningful question this way?

Overall I believe our society as a whole has become way too litigious and it’s harmful to be suing so easily over every issue. (It’s not healthy that we graduate more lawyers than engineers every year.) But that’s not a good enough reason.

As I began to examine my response in more depth, it seemed to boil down to a single reason why I’m not considering suing over this costly error:

The personal integrity of my doctor!

I’ve been reading Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud. In this book, Dr. Cloud explains that integrity is something far beyond personal honesty. It includes the dimensions of:

Establishing trust
Being oriented toward truth
Getting results
Handling the negative
Being oriented toward growth

In his chapter on establishing trust, Dr. Cloud speaks to connection between people; listening to understand, empathizing and connection. Here’s a quote from the section:

“Medical malpractice lawsuits are avoided when a doctor listens and understands what the patient or family has experienced as a result of an error.”

Whether an error occurred or not, I don’t know. But I do know that our doctor has been with us every step of the way with full transparency, understanding, listening, empathy, and personal sacrifice on his part. This is a man of true and deep integrity. The power of that integrity comforted and calmed me and helped me through the hard times of dealing with this infection.

Have you ever thought about how much your personal integrity impacts the ability of your people to be productive and calm as they weather the storms of corporate life?

There is a chapter on integrity in my book Trust Me and I have always helped my clients understand the power of integrity by claiming,

“If I don’t believe you have integrity, I’m not interested in being influenced by you. Leadership is only influence. If you surrender your integrity, you lose your ability to influence and lead.”

Integrity needs more than just protecting; It needs nurturing, growing, and developing. Those of the greatest integrity will be the greatest leaders.

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Blog Culture

Genuine Integrity

by Ron Potter April 23, 2015

Jon Falk and Brady Hoke in 2013
Photo credit: Brad Muckenthaler, Creative Commons

A friend of mine loaned me a book that thoroughly entertained me. The title is If These Walls Could Talk by Jon Falk.

I’m a University of Michigan alum and had the privilege of being a student at Michigan during a very special time. I was in the stadium to witness Bo Schembechler’s first season when he knocked off the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes that started what came to be known as the ten-year war. This “war” between Bo and Woody Hayes, is still thought of as one of the more storied rivalries in college football.

But If These Walls Could Talk is not about Bo, it’s about Jon Falk, the young equipment manager that Bo hired. Bo has since departed football, the university, and life. Jon has remained the equipment manager—and, according to the players, more the heart and soul—through coaches Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriquez, and Brady Hoke, a feat likely unheard of at any other university. Jon retired at the end of last season. How does a man sustain that kind of longevity in the very volatile world of today’s college football? It would not have been possible without Jon’s personal Integrity!

Erik Campbell was a key player on the 1985 team as well as a summer student worker and, later, an assistant coach. Erik says:

“From each of those perspectives, I can emphatically say that there is never a change in Jon Falk. He treated me the same as a player as he did when I was a coach. He’s the same today as the day I met him.”

Brad Bates, walk-on player for Michigan to graduate assistant under Bo to his current position of athletic director at Ohio University says:

“He treated everyone the same. Jon never treated any player based solely on talent. He read your heart.”

Tom Brady, former Michigan player, quarterback for the New England Patriots says:

“Big Jon has a keen mind for history, he knows more about Michigan football than all the books written since the days of Fielding Yost (1920’s). He’s a cheerleader, historian, mentor, counselor, and friend. All players eventually have to leave the University of Michigan, but no one ever leaves Big Jon.”

And these are just a few of the quotes you’ll find in this book about Jon’s leadership and integrity. Every person regardless of position, stature, standing, or skill was a human being of equal value to be respected. That’s the image of Jon Falk that comes through the stories.

Now if you were to look at the organization chart for the University of Michigan football program, the equipment manager box wouldn’t look like a very prominent leadership position. But Jon has been one of the most influential leaders of the program for forty years.

It doesn’t make any difference which box you occupy on the organization chart.

With genuine integrity you can be an influential and remembered leader. And maybe more importantly, if you do happen to occupy one of the key leaderships boxes, right up to the top, and you attempt to complete your job without that genuine integrity or without treating every single person of your organization with equal value and respect, you will quickly be forgotten in history as if you had no impact, regardless of your accomplishments!

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