Business Integrity
Having business integrity is a vital part of our world of business as it has much to say about ourselves and our values and let’s not forget about our reputations. Integrity has definitely become one of the most sought-after qualities in a company as a whole, from your staff to the morals of the company, which can be fundamental to the success of your organization.
Business Integrity is often defined as doing the correct thing, even when no one is around. This consists of having the ability to act with honesty and consistency in whatever you do, strongly based on your own values and moral compass. Culture also plays a big role in business and is based on trust at the most basic level as all business relationships are built on trust. This stands true for both the employee and employer as well as company-consumer relationships.
To trust someone or an agency expresses confidence in their ability to be respectful and fair as well as the ability to deliver on what was promised in a responsible manner.
When there is a strong understanding of trust within a business which results in an openness between the employer and employees and allows for the freedom of expression when it comes to sharing their views and opinions.
This type of communicative environment allows employers to give their employees independence, regardless of whether they work alone or in groups. Your employees in turn get to exercise a higher degree of creativity, which ultimately helps a company adapt to an ever-changing marketplace to stay competitive.
When employees get to express their creativity, they feel as though they have contributed which grows a sense of pride and forms a bond between the employee and business. The recognition alone can keep employees from looking for other employment or asking for extra perk or additional compensation.
Businesses are understandably concerned with matters of reputation and how the public views them as reputation is closely linked to operations. The better a company’s reputation, the more business you bring in and the reverse also holds true.
Integrity is the cornerstone of building a trusting relationship with customers and employees. When a company composes itself with integrity, the reputation rises as a result which
positively affects productivity and sales. When a business does not conduct itself with integrity, the all round perception of the business becomes negative, which leads to employees leaving, customers running to your competition and profit margins falling.
Integrity is not necessarily present in a business by default. So Increasing the level of integrity in your company requires you to be more proactive in the process of employee selection. For example, you could use more scenario/situational questions during interviews as opposed to just focusing on skill sets and educational background.
The journey towards a company’s integrity doesn’t end at the recruitment process as it is up to the employers to make a point of providing training, seminars etc on the topic of integrity. With the diversified business world of today incorporating people from a vast array of cultures under a single roof, giving examples of what integrity means to you.
There should always be an integrity-related formal handbook with your companies policies in place. Companies in need of greater integrity often find relief when employers have a system where employees can keep check on each others individual integrity.
An example of that is a solid system for
reporting offenses to your human resources department. Having employees work in teams for
increased accountability also works.
Even when you take care in the hiring process, provide solid training and establish systems for monitoring integrity, nothing is more effective for
moving a company toward integrity than setting a good example yourself.
People will follow the standards set by their leaders, so if you are an example to follow in terms of your beliefs and values, your employees will follow suite and build their own integrity over time.
Raising the Bar
Integrating a policy of integrity in your business will do more than just make your company efficient and stable. It
also raises the standard by which all companies operate. The integrity in your business that keeps employee and customer retention will force other companies to incorporate the same policies and systems. The inability to offer the same high standards will lead you to transform how business is done and result in you moving head and shoulders above the rest.
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