How to Lead With Integrity

Over the last 25 years, I have had the privilege of personally coaching hundreds of business owners. And as such, there are so many things that go into teaching and training great leaders, one of which has to do with the ability to lead with integrity. Leading with integrity is so important to help set the right tone, and to help ensure that your leadership team creates helpful, healthy, empowering, meaningful stories for your company and your customer base. Now this skill set takes deliberate work every single day, but the payoff is worth the effort ten fold. So today, I wanted to share with you some ways that you can lead with integrity for your own team.

Be On Time

Being on time, all the time – sends a few messages to others around you. First, when someone is really punctual, it helps evoke a sense of trustworthiness about yourself. Others instinctively feel like they can rely on you to help them out and that you have their best interests at heart. Being on time also sends the other person a message that they are valued. That you value their time, and the effort that it takes for them to attend the meeting, and that you don’t want to waste their time by being tardy. So make sure that you are always on time whenever possible, and encourage your own key team members to do the same with their own teams.

Always Do a Wrap-Up

For every leader that leads with integrity, there are dozens of leaders who fall short. And many of your current employees have likely experienced what it is like to work for leaders that don’t really understand the implications of falling short. So if you want to lead with integrity, make it a habit to always do a wrap-up after a meeting. Clarify all action items and deliverables in writing in a post-meeting recap and send it to everyone in attendance.  Not only will this help you keep on top of your to-do list, but really shows your team that you value their time and effort. And again, encourage this to become a company wide habit whenever possible.

Beware of Phantom Deliverables

A phantom deliverable is something that somebody else thinks you’ve committed to, but you actually haven’t.  And if you fail to deliver on that commitment, it can really lower how others see you as a leader. Which of course, isn’t really fair, since you never committed to the thing in the first place. So, in order to lead with integrity, it’s important that you are mindful of what could be phantom deliverables by laying out the expectations early on. This could sound something like: “By the way, I am not going to be doing X.  We don’t need that to be done.  It’s not the best use of my time.  Instead, I’m going to be focusing on this other thing.” It’s important to communicate with everyone involved so that they understand where the deliverables really fall. And an after meeting email wrap up is a great place to again review what was promised during the call.