Recently, I was thinking about the many management “retreats” I have either attended myself over the years or have been a speaker at. It’s amazing to me that these retreats into special "mystical" places i.e. lodges, sanctuaries and even hidden mountaintop camps on high have all been done with one goal in mind—to define or refine the company mission, vision, or values.
After all the speakers, processing groups and flip charts filled with ideas, the leaders come down from the mountain with their stone tablet, chiseled and ready to present to all. And with an aah from the commoners in the trenches back at the shop, the tablets are placed in nicely embossed binders for all to refer to and the abridged version is placed on laminated wallet cards for all to carry with them. And everyone lives happily ever after…..right?
You see the problem is that within a short period of time, these commandments from “on high” are put to the test around the water cooler. The employees want to see that management follows these commandments first. Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson and ImClone all had ethics policies and procedures. And they probably looked pretty nice in their binders and frames. But the key is did they practice them? You know the answer to that.
The key to all of this is to not look to “the company” as being at fault. The key is to look at each individual within that company as being at fault. You see, integrity is a personal responsibility issue. It’s an issue that we have to take individual responsibility for. It’s the 1440 minutes of each day that we are accountable for. It doesn’t come from “on high,” it comes from inside.
Instead of asking the question “When will they walk their talk?” maybe it’s better for us to focus on what we have total control over—ourselves and the choices that we make. Personal integrity is making good choices not only when others are not watching BUT it is also when others might be making the kind of choices we know are wrong. Standing up for what is right is not always easy but it is the right thing to do.
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