Raising Your Integrity & Standards.

“The Higher your integrity and standards, the fewer problems your will experience in life.”

Integrity

There is an old saying, “What you do speaks so loudly, that I can not hear what you are saying.” Integrity is a personally defined matter based on values and beliefs. There is no universal standard. It is experienced and perceived as an integrated wholeness within the person. Integrity is demonstrated by the ability of a person to fully respond to a situation and to be responsible for his or her actions and inaction's. When a person is out of integrity there is a gap between what they say and the way they behave.

Intention is a critical component of integrity. Hidden agendas or intentions, show up when a person says one thing but, your are aware that, there is something else or more going on that the person is not saying. When people are out of integrity, upsets occur regularly around them and they tend to blame, criticize and react to others a lot.

Integrity is closely aligned with good boundaries. It takes a willingness to say no, to the things that are not in harmony with your values. It is also much easier to have high integrity when your needs are well met and your have more reserves, such as money, friends, love, acknowledgment and time in your life than you need.

Actions you can take to be more in integrity with yourself are to change your conversation from “I have to or should …” to, “I want to or I don’t want to …” from “I could, would, ought to …” to, “I am willing or I’m not willing to ….”
Pay attention to your inter promptings, if something doesn't’t feel right it probably isn’t. If you are not sure talk it over with a friend until you get clear about your true desires and intentions in the matter, then take appropriate action.

Standards

Standards are a choice not a requirement. Let go of standards that you think you “should” have and choose the ones you really care about and that make a difference in your life, success and well-being.

Some years ago, I had a client who kept talking about needing to clean up and organize her office and bedroom. She would set a goal to take some action but after three months had done almost nothing. I observed that, since the disorder in the bedroom did not seem bother her or her husband and that the disorder in her office did not seem to affect her effectiveness in her businesses, perhaps this was a “should” not a real need. We agreed to take organizing the office and bedroom off her goals list. She gave a great sigh of relief. She had been trying to live up to her mother’s standard of neatness not what was true for her!

It is important to understand that others are right and so are you. My client’s mother and my client were both right, they simply had different standards in regard to order.

To upgrade your standards, pick 10 people or businesses that you admire; identify qualities, natural behaviors, how they handle tough situations and people. What standards could you raise to be more like them and still be you?
Assume that you have something to do with everything that happens in your space. When things are not going well, don’t “blame” yourself or others, just handle it and raise your standards so that it does not happen again.

Employees will treat customers no better than they are treated. Consider a staff discussion about how standards could be raised in regard to how management and employees treat each other in the work place and how that spills over to the customer. Setting a goals to always be considerately constructive with everything said and putting people ahead of results, may be areas where improved standards could pay big dividends in customer loyalty.

It is very hard to raise the standard of performance in the eyes of customers, without making changes in the internal systems and standards, which support higher effectiveness and performance for employees.

Raising a standard could be as simple as returning all calls within two hours or by close of business each day. Making sure all paper work is 100% complete and accurate. Giving up gossiping or tolerating it in your place of business is a plus in any environment.

Ask employees what ideas they have for improving turnaround time or preventing common customer problems. Implement their good ideas and give them credit for the improvement. Everyone can use an over supply of appreciation.

Most importantly, always put your integrity first, needs second, and wants third. Build reserves of time, money, love, friends, appreciation and well-being. Trust your internal guidance and do what seems to be in the best interest of all concerned. Make the best decisions you can in the moment and forgive yourself for any mistakes. Mistakes are just feedback and without them we learn very little.

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