If you ask anyone what integrity means, you will almost certainly get the answer: “Honesty.” If a person has integrity, they are honest. There is nothing wrong with that answer, but there is so much more to integrity than just honesty.
Dictionary.com has a couple of definitions: “Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”
This brings into account more than just honesty and implies several other principles as well.
The second definition from Dictionary.com is: “The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.” Now, we are talking! We are currently defining more about how people behave when they exhibit integrity.
In his book, “Integrity,” Dr. Henry Cloud talks about integrity as something far more comprehensive than just being honest. He compares checking the integrity of a person as if you would a piece of metal, and it’s interesting. If we were looking at a piece of metal and checking its “integrity,” we would check to ensure it was “whole, entire, undiminished, sound, unimpaired or in perfect condition.” If all of these things were present in a bar of metal, we would say its integrity was solid, stable, and good. However, if most or many of these qualities were missing, the integrity would be poor. The metal might be brittle, too soft, and unusable for specific construction considerations or machine work.
It seems a man or woman who wants to be a decent leader would have several of the same or similar characteristics as a solid piece of metal for their integrity to be good. We might have to exhibit the same attributes of a solid piece of metal, such as whole, undiminished, or unimpaired, but we would also have human attributes that would be tested. For a person to be “whole,” attributes such as truthful, disciplined, competent, sense of humor, humility, empathy, courage, straightforwardness, thinker, decisive, charismatic, mature, self-assured, positive, and original would more than likely be part of their character.
(Note, intelligent or smart is not listed. You don’t have to be brilliant to have integrity.) Someone’s integrity is difficult to evaluate due to all the possible qualifiers. But, out of all the virtues just mentioned, which one or ones could be missing, and the person still is said to have integrity? Would they still be, as the definition implies, “Whole, entire, or undiminished?” The reason for the questions is to point out; that it takes some time to know if the man or woman in question has integrity. You have to know them before you can make that decision. And it works both ways; you have to know your people, and they have to know you to ascertain integrity.
However, another old statement helps here: “Integrity is what you do when nobody is around.” So, will you do what is right, not only for you but for those around you?
Because if you do, you are honest, and according to the dictionary, honesty is “being honorable in principles.” So, the simplest answer of “Integrity equals honesty” is true, but, as we have seen, there is so much more going on when we say someone has integrity.
To be sure, as a supervisor, as a “leader,” your integrity must remain intact if you desire the respect and veneration of those who work for and around you. And keeping it is a full-time job.