Publisher’s Note: Do churches run like businesses? That’s a debate for another day. Today, Dr. Rick Franza shows us how principles we learn at church carry over to the business world.
Earlier this month, my Augusta church held a day-long Men’s Conference, entitled “Dare to Be Different: Men of Courage, Integrity, and Service.” More than 150 other men attended the spiritually fulfilling day.
We enjoyed fellowshipping and listening to three young pastors who had grown up in our church. They discussed how integrity, courage, and service are important attributes of how we should live our lives.
However, as I reflected on that day, two things struck me. The first is my disappointment that if we are men (or women) of courage, integrity, and service, we “dare to be different”. While I was heartened by the encouragement to more fully engage integrity, courage, and service in my life, by doing so, are we really “daring to be different”? Should we not all be aspiring to be the same when it comes to these attributes? In other words, living lives of integrity, courage, and service should be a standard for all, not a way to differentiate ourselves.
The second thing that struck me was that while being people of integrity, courage, and service is important to how we live our lives, those attributes are particularly important in the world of business. To be successful in business, particularly as an organizational leader, it is essential that you be a person of integrity, act courageously, and be dedicated to serving your various constituencies. In today’s column, I will discuss why each of these attributes is essential for your business success.
Integrity is a foundational attribute of all successful business leaders. Integrity is acting with honesty and holding yourself accountable for your actions. It means consistently adhering to high ethical standards. Integrity is the ability to tell right from wrong, treat people with respect, and make ethical choices. Integrity is a business essential no matter your position in the organization, as it allows others to trust you, strengthening workplace and network relationships. You can best demonstrate integrity in the workplace by being honest to a fault, meeting all your commitments, showing respect to all, and being accountable for all of your mistakes. Integrity is a business essential because it:
- Builds credibility, reputation, and trust with employees, customers, partners, and investors;
- Creates strong relationships and organizational culture as honesty, respect, open communication, and accountability lead to more collaboration and a cohesive work environment;
- Increases quality and profitability as a focus on integrity encourages higher quality products and services, and is linked to better financial performance; and
- Attracts and retains talent as integrity/ethical people and companies attract more like-minded employees who are more engaged, satisfied, and productive.
Courage is defined as the ability to do difficult or fearful things. An action is deemed courageous if it is an attempt to achieve an end despite penalties, risks, costs, or difficulties of sufficient gravity that would deter most people. That is why courage is another business essential and why it is often closely tied to integrity. Business requires many difficult decisions and actions, and many such decisions and actions can challenge one’s integrity and accountability. Courage in business is overcoming fear to make difficult decisions. Many times, that means admitting mistakes, taking ownership of failures, and learning from them (i.e., accountability). The easy thing to do would be to “hide” from one’s mistakes. Admitting one’s mistakes risks future raises, promotions, and job opportunities. Other courageous actions in business include challenging the status quo, identifying and challenging unethical behavior, and making difficult personnel decisions. Demonstrating courage in the workplace has been shown to:
- Build trust and innovation in the organization through the development of a culture that encourages risk-taking and accountability;
- Enhance performance as high-trust, courageous cultures often outpace competitors; and
- Improve organizational resilience as courageous leadership builds confidence in organizations
Much of what was discussed at the Men’s Conference in terms of service was related to how all of us can serve others better. This discussion clearly resonated with me in terms of how, in business, we all should be servant leaders. That is, we need to be focused on serving all our constituencies, in particular, our employees, customers, and suppliers/distributors. In terms of employees, this means being willing to do many of the tasks they do, accepting feedback from them, being empathetic and humble, and treating them with respect. Similarly, we need to actively listen to our customers and provide them with better customer service. Business partners and investors should also be dealt with honest, open communications. Serving all our constituencies well leads to:
- Higher levels of employee performance and retention;
- Higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty; and
- Better relationships and terms with suppliers and distributors
While integrity, courage, and service are highly desirable traits in all aspects of our lives, they are particularly important and valuable in the business environment. In addition to being admirable traits, they prove to provide positive returns to your business. So, “dare to be different” and demonstrate these important traits in your business. In next week’s column, I will share a personal story that I hope will demonstrate how these attributes led me to an important career decision.
