by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on November 11, 2023
Integrity in leadership is practicing a holistic perspective and disciplining yourself in all your current roles.
Integrity comes from the term “integer, ” meaning “whole”. So, an integrity-driven leader walks the talk and talks the walk in all of their areas of life.
Integrity has proven to be the highest value for companies in building a trusting work environment. Not only does it help the leaders establish their credibility in front of their associates, but it also helps promote a healthy work atmosphere for all employees.
Simply put, when leaders have integrity, employees can easily say what they say and model their behavior. Therefore, integrity in leadership helps build faster and more effective communication in doing what is supposed to be done for the team and the company.
How to Practice Integrity As A Leader?
Integrity is essential in leadership. That’s the reason why anyone must develop it over time. Here are some ways to practice integrity as a leader:
1. View Life With A Holistic Approach
This means that you don’t play multiple personalities in your roles. You don’t say and act good with friends and colleagues but play a miserable role at home as a husband or father.
You do what you say and behave as you talk whenever and wherever you are. Integrity is doing the same actions in every role of life.
Life comprises different domains – parental, physical, marital, spiritual, emotional, and social, to name a few. These domains are essential to bring anyone to grow in their potential.
Being an integrity-driven leader means that you take care of all domains of life. You don’t let neglect in any areas, as it would otherwise affect you negatively in the future.
Be an excellent person across all domains. And you’ll find yourself to achieve progress and become successful in your holistic life.
2. Be Vulnerable
Most people think that successful people never make mistakes in their lives. That’s not true. Most successful people have made more mistakes than others, but the only difference is that they learn from those mistakes.
Being vulnerable shows other people that you’re a human being capable of failing but learning and growing simultaneously.
Integrity in leadership is showing who you are as a person. And employees appreciate it as they can see the real you instead of the leader pretending to be somebody else.
3. Make Wise Decisions
The people you are leading depend on your leadership and decision-making skills. They move and take action based on your vision and direction.
If you make wise decisions, you model the correct type of leadership. And thus, it allows for better communication and harmony in your teams.
Think twice or more times before deciding on significant projects. Be a person of value and learn from others so you’ll have better options and different points of view before making a decision. This helps you avoid mistakes and be more powerful.
4. Develop Practical Disciplines
Discipline is what sustains people in the success area. Practicing disciplines daily helps leaders achieve results and build the right momentum in their leadership roles.
Practical disciplines lead to bringing that integrity into place in someone’s life. You can’t see a person of integrity without measured discipline. Either he or she relentlessly pursues his purpose in life and brings the highest value in the marketplace. Both of these show their practical disciplines.
5. Stick To Core Values
Core values are sets of principles that build the foundation of your life. It is what you stand for and guides your decision-making process.
Every minor and major decision is based on your core values. Your core values will set your leadership’s “why” or purpose.
Through these core values, you also guide and lead your team in making decisions and pursuing excellence and growth in themselves.
In companies, there are corporate values that every employee must practice in their corporate lives. These values aren’t mere statements posted on the office walls.
6. Excel in Coaching
Coaching is vital in elevating performance and engagement with direct reports at work. Through effective coaching, you understand your associates better, professionally, and in their holistic lives.
Coaching helps develop integrity in your leadership by strengthening relationships with direct reports. By understanding how they feel and behave better, you’ll identify specific leadership styles that can best work for them.
One advantage of regular coaching meetings is that you can identify performance gaps in your direct reports. You’ll then see what hinders them from achieving their KPIs: performance gaps. And by recommending methods to improve their work productivity, you can see more positive changes in their work.
7. Communicate Your Values, Vision, and Mission
Effective communication is one critical skill of integrity-driven leaders. They communicate their vision, mission, and values that encourage and inspire their direct reports to grow professionally and personally.
One benefit of being an effective communicator is handling conflicts effectively. As we all know, we can’t avoid conflicts caused by personality differences. However, we avoid unnecessary conflicts that might cause team division through coaching and effective communication.
8. Be Courageous
Courage is a visible trait of integrity-driven leaders. By taking risks and conquering mountains of challenges, they achieve progress and achievements in their career and personal life.
While others succumb to fear and self-doubt, courageous leaders take their lives to the next level of personal growth and significance. It may be daunting at first to try new things, but integrity-driven leaders start and discipline themselves even when they are not motivated to start.
Courageous leaders are disciplined enough not to be mastered by their emotions but the other way around. They learn how to control and manage emotions and take action immediately to achieve small wins and build the right momentum for growth.
9. Be Trustworthy
Trust is earned through excellence in actions and results. People won’t trust you only with your words but with your activities.
One true mark of an integrity-driven leader is trust. Earning it and sustainably achieving success by expanding their business networks.
Networking becomes more meaningful and effective within the boundaries of trust. As more people see your work of excellence, they tell it to their colleagues (word-of-mouth marketing), which enlarges your business networks.
10. Upgrade Yourself
Integrity in leadership helps you upgrade yourself to achieve new heights in your career. When you discover new things and apply these lessons in your life, you start seeing results in your mindset, performance, and productivity.
Continuous development builds more integrity in your life, as you can be more self-aware of your strengths and maximize them to the fullest.
11. Learn To Sacrifice
Integrity builds up when you learn to sacrifice. Success requires counting the cost and paying the price to achieve great things.
Integrity-driven leaders invest their resources (time, money, attention, and energy) in things that will add value to their success goals. They know it takes sacrifice to see momentum in life and are willing to pay for it.
12. Serve Others
Integrity has a significant impact on leadership. People of integrity serve others wholeheartedly. They seek first the needs of other people before themselves. By attending to the needs of their direct reports and serving them well, people appreciate the value and become more inspired by their work.
Key Takeaways
Integrity is beneficial in many ways, as it helps you become more trustworthy and gain the desired respect you need to do better in your leadership roles. Apply the tips I shared above on how to practice integrity in leadership. And you’ll be amazed at the results it could make in your character and competence.
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