The dream of every entrepreneur is to run a top-notch, successful business. Numerous requirements are needed to meet this goal and one of the most vital requirement is integrity. Integrity in business is an essential ingredient for sustainable, long-term, business growth and success.
Integrity is the quality of being honest and having a strong moral principle. Derived from the Latin word "integer" which means "pure, honest, untouched and sound", it denotes that it's a state of being whole and undivided i.e void of hypocrisy. Integrity is not about the superficial norms of doing the "right thing" because it makes you look good or because you are under public scrutiny, rather, it is contingent upon doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. It's the same in business.
Business integrity is the practice of incorporating ethical behaviours throughout your organization. Operating your organization consistently by a strong set of moral values and ethical guidelines.
Business integrity can be hard to define and difficult to measure, but you know it when you see it and it's clear when it's not there. It is strongly correlated with financial performances hence contributing to the skyrocketing of the business's financial state. Integrity in business enhances the business's reputation which can help attract and retain customers, engender employee loyalty and become a more attractive proposition. It also enhances employees satisfaction and builds customers' trust.
Some specific values should be transferred from an attractive concept into practice to build integrity that can be built into day-to-day business situations.
Meet every commitment: Every customer or client have expectations whether you make promises or not. Understand these types of commitments and honor them at all cost. This means that your services or products should work correctly, solve issues and add value to meet the expectations of your customers or clients.
Be honest to a fault: As a business, you must not only tell the truth at every turn but also not hold back information that could be considered useful to employees and customers irrespective of whether it profits your business or not.
Treat everyone the same: Do you tend to treat larger clients better than smaller ones? Remember, integrity is void of hypocrisy and not doubled-faced and is about holding the same standard of moral ethics in every situation to everyone. This means that everyone gets equal treatment regardless of how much they may contribute to your bottom line.
Show respect: At a basic level, be considerate and courteous to people. Understand different perspectives, when it comes to positions, ages, races, and cultural differences. Aim to treat everyone with kindness and respect. The rule that works well with this is; to treat everyone the way you want to be treated.
Trust takes a long time to build with customers, but it can be lost in the blink of an eye. So once you've established integrity, your organization should do everything possible to hold unto it.
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