What does that mean. We seem to be able to recognize it when we see it, but definitions sometimes seem muddy. Dictionary.com defines integrity as “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” When we say someone has integrity it’s usually because we can attest to their having character traits that we value AND we can count and anticipate on their behavior to align with those traits.
A number of years ago I was part of a group discussing trust. The facilitator asked the question if we trusted people’s words or actions more. The discussion that ensued was very interesting. There was a 3-way split, though at this point I don’t remember how evenly that split was. But it was interesting to hear people’s answers, keeping in mind that this was a group that also had to work together as a leadership team.
Trust plays a big factor in the question of someone having integrity. I think the best explanation I’ve come across for knowing if someone has integrity is examining their words against their actions. When there is a gap between what someone says and what they do, there’s an integrity issue. Our public leaders are probably looked at most closely in this manner. Some spend over a year on the campaign trail saying a lot of things about what they are going to do if or when they get elected.
Is it unfair to single out politicians? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I know politics is a complicated world with layers, nuance, compromising, and yes a level of game-playing, like it or not. But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect our leaders to have integrity. Making big promises to deliver specific things or not do certain things is going to lead to an integrity gap. Remember “No new taxes?” I’m sure we have all heard some big, ambitious promise that we thought would be wonderful to make a reality…maybe like no new taxes, thousands of new jobs, no child left behind.
Unfortunately, when politicians and our leaders make such grand statements and then cannot deliver, trust starts to erode. The same thing happens with our everyday encounters. Don’t we all know someone who repeatedly says they will do something and then they don’t? I’ve known people like that. It gets frustrating trying to work with them as you come to realize that their words about doing something repeatedly don’t align with their actions of actually doing it. And there’s a key word to this. Repeatedly. We all at times say one thing and do another. Sometimes it’s out of forgetfulness. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. And sometimes life just happens and we just can’t.
Does that mean no one has any integrity? No. I trust we can tell the difference between a habit of words and actions not aligning; and when things happen that we didn’t anticipate. If a pattern starts to emerge, the person with integrity will make adjustments. If I find that I keep over committing, I will make adjustments and try to make different choices. People of integrity still fail, but they also try to do better.
So that discussion years ago about trusting words or actions more…what would you have said? I fell into the both/and group. People whom I don’t know, I give them the benefit of the doubt and trust their words. I don’t know them, so I have nothing else to go on. But if a pattern emerges that proves their actions don’t match their words, I will anticipate that their actions will be inconsistent, won’t come through, or will be partial in execution. Those whose actions I do know will align with their words, those people I trust the most.
Integrity matters. It matters because that is what trust is built upon. Words and actions are both/and in order to be trusted. The words and the actions have to match. The first followed by the second, repeated over time says you can trust my words to be true. Living in community (neighborhood, suburb, city, nation, etc) well, requires trust, requires integrity. That’s one reason I single out our leaders, local and national. A lack of integrity has a ripple effect. Integrity matters.
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