It is a back to basics, all hands on deck, stick to the knitting kind of time. Superficially, it sounds like what we need. But have you looked closely at what is really going on?

There is a set of basic corporate values that some of us had started to almost take for granted. They feature in most mission statements and paper the walls of many a corporate lobby. The list includes words like communication, trust, loyalty, respect, honesty, kindness, care for customers and employees, growing people, and rewarding excellence.

Good stuff: could make you feel proud to be part of the corporate world, except that it is changing fast, and not for the better. How sad that crisis brings out the best only in a few.

It is sad that open and courageous communication has been replaced by closed door meetings from which little reassurance emerges.

Loyalty is mostly being rewarded with retrenchment.

Growing people has ground to a halt; first to go as usual when budgets are tight.

Self interest is taking the place of kindness and care.

Trust is going strong; at least in the sense that you can trust the people at the top to take good care of themselves.

We seem to be choosing the very opposite of the values and behaviours that might help us work together to get out of the current mess. Is that what we mean by going back to basics?

This too shall pass! When it does, it would be sad to find we have lost the integrity, however little it may have been, that we embraced in the good times.

Check how well your own integrity is holding up. Visit the Straight Talk blog <http://www.straight-talk.co.za/blog/>
for a set of issues on which you can assess yourself.