What Do Integrity, Honesty, and Trust in Leadership Mean?

I spend a significant amount of my time coaching leaders based on the results of the 360-degree Feedback Survey. I find it encouraging that Integrity and Trust are consistently at the top of leaders' top priorities.

In the coaching work we have begun, I have found that if scores are higher than average, leaders often express how satisfied and satisfied they are with the results. Conversely, if scores in the area of trust are even slightly below the overall average, leaders see almost nothing else in the report.

A SHORT STORY

I would like to tell you about a recent experience I had, a manager I have been working with for a long time added new talents to his staff last year with the growth of . His team of eight people grew to eleven that year, and that year he added people who had joined his team just six months ago to the 360-degree evaluation process and asked them for feedback. But when he received the results, he was stunned. Because his trust scores, which had been above average for years, dropped that year. Every year, after receiving and evaluating the results, he had a meeting with his team to show them the results. First by making the environment safe for his team, then by getting feedback from them on the below-average scores, and finally by having one-on-one meetings with those who wanted to meet with him. This time, he followed the same method, even stating in the meeting that trust had dropped and he wanted to understand why. When the topic of trust came up, he noticed that the new participants were nervous and uneasy. I think their scores were low, although it is not clear who answered the questionnaire. As always, he told his team that they could talk one-on-one about their concerns if they wished.

The following week, one of the new participants asked to meet with him. In the meeting he said that he had given him a low score on trust. The manager asked him some questions to try to understand why and realized that due to the dynamic structure of the company, the weekly one-on-one meetings were delayed and sometimes postponed, which created a trust problem for this person. So for this person, changes such as postponing an interview, moving it forward, etc., were trust-breaking situations. I think this meeting was a good step to understand each other better. The manager explained to him that in their company culture, "customer" issues were their top priority and that all the meetings they couldn't start on time were due to some issues with customers.

After this meeting, other new members of the team wanted to have a one-on-one meeting with the manager. One of them felt insecure because he was new and felt that he was not equal in the eyes of his manager compared to the old employees. From the manager's intimate conversations with former employees, he concluded that "if the company downsizes, we will be the first to go"!

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THIS STORY

We need to draw two important conclusions here. First, when managers score low on honesty, trust and integrity in the feedback, this does not necessarily mean that they are lacking in these areas. Because each person can give different meanings to these concepts. The meaning of honesty, integrity and trust is different for each person, and people may give low scores when they cannot match the behaviors of managers with the concept of honesty and integrity in their own minds. Therefore, it is very important for managers to create a common pool of meaning about what honesty, integrity and trust mean within the company.

Secondly, people can write various stories in their heads based on what they see and hear. In other words, a person who feels insecure because he or she is new to the company (this is very human) uses the manager's sincere approach to a senior teammate as a piece of fabricated evidence to justify his or her story and to convince himself or herself that "here is proof that my suspicion was not wrong, this manager cannot be trusted".

TESTING THE MEANING OF THESE CONCEPTS

Think of a leader who demonstrates integrity, honesty and trust. What behaviors of this leader make you think he or she exhibits integrity, honesty and trust? I have asked this question to many leaders and the answers I received were as varied as the number of people I asked.

For example, as an example of these responses;

1. It can be seen ashonesty, transparency and openness. It is the extent to which you are willing to express your thoughts and feelings in any situation, even if you feel uncomfortable and even if they are contrary to popular opinion. Integrity can be seen as a willingness to listen and discuss issues even before the available data has been examined in detail, alternatives have been clearly identified and the right decisions have been made. It also means doing what you say you will do, keeping promises, delivering on time.
2. Integrity often means having the courage to express your ideas openly, even when you disagree with your manager or with the conventional wisdom about how things should be done. Integrity can also be interpreted as having a work ethic of arriving early and leaving late to get things done right and on time.
3. Trust is like having the back of someone who is not there. It is trust that you will defend someone else's views clearly and with understanding. Or you can build trust when you prioritize the interests of your team or company over your own personal agenda and act accordingly.

Ask these questions to the people around you and you will see that you will get very different answers. The reason I recommend this method is to understand how unusual people think about concepts. Once upon a time, when I was a manager, I was working with my team on concepts, and when we were talking about consistency, one of my employees said "this is the most important value for me in business life". I asked him honesty or consistency, he said consistency. I asked him if a thief doesn't bother you, he said I respect a consistent thief because he consistently does what is expected of him. When you first hear it, it sounds very surprising, doesn't it? But when you talk to people about what these concepts mean to them, you will hear more surprising things.

DON'T BE SILENT, SPEAK UP

Many people say that their leaders should exhibit honesty, integrity and trust, but they do not consistently define or understand these concepts and therefore do not clearly articulate their expectations of the behaviors that correspond to these concepts. It is critical that you address the differences in perceptions and build a common lexicon to more clearly understand what your managers, colleagues, subordinates and other key stakeholders expect when it comes to honesty, integrity and trust.

Simply telling the truth when asked or presenting your expenses accurately to the company does not make you a role model for honesty, integrity and trust, nor is it enough to create the right perception of you. In order to be recognized as someone who demonstrates honesty, integrity and trust, you may not only need to exhibit behaviors that support these concepts, but you may also need to be courageous to create an open and transparent environment where everyone can speak up and share their thoughts.

The next step is to openly ask those around you what they think about this - what do your employees expect from you when it comes to honesty, integrity and trust?

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