Importance Of Integrity

Integrity is one of those words that are thrown around casually and then when someone does something dishonest or wrong, they call that person a liar or a thief. But what does it mean to be honest in the workplace? I believe integrity means much more than what negative people who don't know any better are always saying. Integrity is not about masking your truth, rather revealing it for what it is. Integrity is your word being a bond between yourself and others.

Integrity has to do with you always do the right thing whether it is good or bad. Doing the right thing in the eye of the public is always the right thing. Integrity means standing up for what you believe in regardless of how others may feel about it. Integrity is always doing what is best for the team, the company, or the organization. Integrity means taking ownership and responsibility for our actions.

Integrity can be learned. Some may view this as an impossible task but consider this, if integrity was a skill or a virtue what would be the level of its importance today? I believe it would be at the top level in every arena of our lives including business, politics, religion, relationships, and much more. If integrity was something we were born with it would serve us well.

So how can we improve our integrity? One good way is to constantly ask ourselves if we are truly practicing what we say we are doing. We must also question what we are doing and then take action to correct it. Many people have heard the saying, "practice makes perfect", well if integrity is about practicing it then that is something we all should strive for.

The second way to help maintain integrity is to avoid situations that will jeopardize our integrity. We have heard stories over of politicians and others in high positions who end up getting caught in scandal. The damage that is done to the public's trust in the politicians is enormous. The public has a right to believe that they are dealing with someone who is not above using their power for personal gain. If integrity is no longer part of your core values then it is probably time to evaluate how you feel about that statement.

Last, but not least, integrity is important because it creates a level of trust. Trust is very important when dealing with others. Without trust there would be no interaction at all. Integrity is one of the greatest ways to gain and maintain that trust. It is not hard to practice or anything. Simply start with this simple act of doing the right thing.