the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
"he is known to be a man of integrity"
the state of being whole and undivided.
"upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"
As I re-read the chapter by Brooke McGlothlin on integrity this month and pray for my sons on the topic, I also find myself praying for myself and my coworkers and everyone that works in healthcare... to have the integrity that is vital in creating a high quality healthcare system.
I am fortunate to work for a healthcare system that says it right up front, starting on day one of orientation, that we are an organization that puts INTEGRITY first...
"At Providence, we are committed to
'doing the right thing right'
and conducting ourselves with the
utmost
integrity.
The success of Providence
and the continuing heritage of the Sisters
depend on us building honest and trusting relationships with
our fellow caregivers/employees,
plan members, business partners, regulators
and the communities we serve.
To achieve our Mission, vision and core values,
we commit to conducting all business activities in an
honest, fair and ethical manner.
In today’s operating environment,
the rules that govern business practices
are more demanding than ever before,
and require us to keep integrity at the core of all we do.
It requires a
commitment from
each of us
to conduct our business honestly and ethically,
regardless of the situation."
-Providence Code of Conduct-
And that's great and everything... but...
we all know it is one thing to say something,
but a whole 'nother thing to DO IT!
I am reading another book this month called:
"The Florence Prescription ~
From Accountability to Ownership ~
Manifesto for a Positive Healthcare Culture".
Here is an excerpt from that book,
explaining what I mean by "saying" and not "doing",
and why I added my own emphasis on
"commitment from each of us"
in Providence's Code of Conduct.
"Enron had the word integrity in its statement of values,
but that's all it was.
Just a word.
If you have a culture like Enron that fosters a culture of greed and dishonesty,
even good people can be influenced to act in ways that lack integrity.
And unless you guard vigilantly against it,
the failure of a small number of individuals to act with integrity
can cause the entire organization to descend to the
lowest common denominator-
an Enron sort of climate where integrity is defined merely as
not getting caught
rather than
not doing wrong in the first place.
Your culture will be defined by
what you expect
and by
what you tolerate.
And over time,
what you tolerate
will dominate
what you say you expect.
To permit is to promote.
If you permit people to deviate from integrity, compassion and respect,
you will inevitably promote a culture where those values are just good intentions.
If your culture is not consistent with your core values,
you might possibly be good,
but you will
never
be great.
And so not only
can
you influence the culture,
you must
if you are to achieve that goal of being the best."
-Joe Tye-
So keep integrity at the forefront of your mind today!
Do what is right, especially when no one is watching.
