Your integrity is apparent in everything you do, and often when you are least aware of it. It is most clearly evidenced by your behaviour in situations that involve power, conflict and where the stakes are high.
Think of the personal values you hold and ask yourself how closely your recent behaviour has reflected those values in each of the following situations. You could rate yourself on a scale of 1-5, where 1 means your behaviour does not support your values closely and 5 means that it does.
Had you completed this assessment six months ago do you think your behaviour would have been any more closely aligned with your values? What are your answers telling you?
- Your manager has made a decision that you believe will prove to be foolish in the long term. You could voice your disagreement, or keep quiet and allow him to take whatever consequences come his way.
- One of your colleagues is showing signs of stress and depression. You could spend time and energy supporting him to help him back up to his usual standards of performance or let him fend for himself.
- Right now, you are unsure as to the tactics your section should be using. You have a choice of sharing your uncertainty with your people and asking them for their ideas: or you can stay aloof, sure that you will soon find the path by yourself.
- You have been told to reduce head count. It could be an opportunity to remove people who have not been your best performers.
- You work in a close knit team. You are feeling anxious and insecure about the changes taking place and know you would be better able to cope if you could share your concerns. Do you talk to your colleagues? In the same situation do you talk to your manager?
- Your team has been pulling out all the stops for months now. Energies are flagging and you know you should recognise their efforts, but you don’t want to give a wrong impression about how seriously you take current business conditions.
- One of your team members is not performing, in spite of your efforts. You can keep trying to get to the root of the problem or let the disciplinary process take care of it.
- You are negotiating some new business with one of your regular suppliers whom you know is now under pressure. You can stay with your regular contract or you can take the opportunity to squeeze him on price.