How to Audit Integrity in Yourself, Others, and Your Business

Hey, there, everybody, it’s me, Wanda Thibodeaux, and I am your host today for Faithful on the Clock, the podcast where the number one priority is getting your work and faith aligned. Today’s episode is one you’ll definitely want to share and pass along to your friends and colleagues, because I’m outlining exactly what it looks like when someone has great integrity. PLUS, I’m gonna show you how to audit your business to see just how much integrity is present in your organization. Let’s not waste a second, ‘cause every second counts.

All right. To kick us off, I’m just gonna throw a really popular definition for integrity, which is, doing the right thing even when no one is looking. And when you look at scripture, you see right away that integrity is one of the things that sets believers apart. If you read Job, for example, you know, God pointed Job out to the Devil and said, “Hey, this guy, you incited him against me, but he’s not budging. He’s still just, he’s still doing the right thing despite all you did.” And even when the Pharisees and the Herodians came to catch Jesus, to trick him, Mark 12:14 says, “They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.”

So when you’ve got integrity, people see it, it differentiates you. And people aren’t necessarily going to like that, they can try to get you to violate your principles. But having integrity, there’s a big reward in that. 1 Kings 9:4-5 says, “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ Now, those verses, God was talking to King Solomon, but you have to remember, if you are a believer, you are part of that history and that legacy. You’re a joint heir with Christ, you have the same inheritance to authority and protection. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord does not look at things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” So God is always looking for that integrity, whether you’re doing the right thing and working for Him. He’s always proud of you when He sees you walking the straight path.

But of course, the question in that is, what exactly is the right thing? Well, that might be up to interpretation a little bit, but people who demonstrate integrity or who have this trait, they usually show it in a relatively predictable set of behaviors.

So diving right in, trait #1 is direct and specific speech. People with good integrity are willing to give you real facts you can check and hold them accountable with. They offer you details that make it really hard to lie to you later on, rather than trying to hook you in with just emotion alone.

This ties to #2, language and behavior consistency. People with integrity stick to the the same story. You know, if they know their listener or audience well, then they might code switch a little so they can connect better. But they don’t change up the key components of what they say or do just to impress whoever’s in front of them.

#3, no lying. For someone with integrity, the truth has enormous value. So they’re not gonna try to manipulate anybody with something that’s false. They just tell it like it is, because they know it’s just gonna get harder and harder to keep up the web of lies if they start building one.

#4, they’re not defensive. You know, they’re not trying to deceive anybody, they know they still have plenty to learn and are fallible. So if you call them out, they’re gonna thank you for it and keep the conversation civil.

And this connects to trait #5, which is the ability to apologize or accept accountability. You know, we’re hearing a lot now in business about taking extreme ownership. People with integrity do this amazingly well. They don’t point fingers, they’re not egotistical, and they really have a sense of how they might hurt somebody else. So if they mess up, they admit it and say they’re sorry.

#6, reliability. People with great integrity are the individuals who know exactly where their loyalties lie. What matters to them doesn’t just change at the drop of a hat. So they’re really good about honoring the commitments they make and get a reputation for good follow-through.

#7, infrequent compromises. Everybody with a shred of emotional intelligence and compassion is gonna compromise a little bit. We all need to do that. But people with incredible integrity know exactly what they’re about, who they want to impress, and what their values are. So they don’t bend just to seem likable or smart. You know, they stand up for what counts, when it counts.

Now, linked right to that is #8, few arguments. Someone with integrity is going to think about other people first. They’re not gonna let their ego take over, they don’t dig their heels in and insist they’re right 100 percent of the time. They’re open-minded and they’re willing to learn from other people.

That leads to #9, no bragging. People with integrity have a strong sense of self, they know their self-worth and what they mean to God. They’ll celebrate what they achieve or are capable of in healthy ways. But they don’t boast. They’ll happily give others credit when it’s appropriate.

#10, emotional connection. Those with integrity usually are pretty dang good at picking up on emotional cues from others. They’ve got good emotional intelligence. And as part of that, they’re really aware, they don’t try to rewrite reality or minimize anything. They meet you right where you are, whatever the circumstances might be.

And then, finally, #11, forgiveness. Someone who doesn’t have integrity, they don’t see the point of cutting anybody any slack. But those who do have integrity, they’re well aware that nobody, including them, is perfect. They know this whole growth thing is one big journey and that you’re gonna screw up along the way as you learn. So even as they hold you accountable, they say, hey, you know, it’s OK. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off, you can try again. They don’t abandon you the minute you make a mistake.

So those are some of the key things you should be looking for in terms of how people act with others to gauge how much integrity they’ve got. And there are a lot of verses that relate to them, you know, about lying, controlling your anger, loving your neighbor, all those things. And you should be looking for these things ideally as early as the hiring process. You know, you can use role playing to kind of get a sense of some of these points, because some of them might need a little more history and whatnot. But it is critical to get people with integrity in the company because those are the people who are gonna model for you. If you don’t have people with integrity, it doesn’t just hurt your productivity and bottom line, it really can just poison the whole culture.

Now, as far as conducting an integrity audit for the entire company, a lot of the metrics people use to measure growth and make decisions can be used to measure integrity, too. For example, if quality is low or people aren’t following through, then that’s a big sign that you’ve got people who have the attitude that they don’t have to be accountable to themselves or others. Things like your employee satisfaction score, the number of referrals you’re getting, you know, even how many people file HR complaints, when and how people use your infrastructure or your applications, those all speak to how everyone is following the rules, how they’re treating each other and whether or not there’s respect and trust happening. There are other measurable things, like whether you’ve had any legal trouble, court filings…those things aren’t always, you know, they don’t necessarily have a base beneath them, but it’s still, you know, look at the statements made around those things, did you respond well, follow the right protocols. But the odds are pretty good that you already have the information there, you know, you don’t necessarily need to get additional metrics, you can use ones you’re already monitoring for other purposes.

Within all this, you can bring in independent auditors to evaluate your company, where you just give them access to your systems or your people, the data you’ve got, and you just let them look at all that information, they do interviews to uncover what’s going on, things you might have missed or that people might not have wanted to report. And there are 5 big factors that they usually look at–criteria, condition, effect, cause, and recommendation. Criteria, that’s just your control, what you’re comparing yourself to. Condition is what you’re doing, what exists, it’s your company’s current status. The effect is looking at, OK, here’s our condition, but what is the influence of you not meeting those criteria you want to meet. Cause, that’s why you’re not where you want to be. And recommendation, that’s what you’re going to do so that you can shift and improve to meet the criteria.

So you want to make sure that your employees understand what the auditor is going to need to do and access. They have to have a sense of the auditor’s timeline and process, just like with any other audit. But I think the biggest thing is communicating…make this a positive thing. You can paint a picture of what the company is going to look like when the integrity improves without coming in and saying, you know, we’re in horrible shape, I can’t trust you, or whatever it is. And if you put the integrity audit on your calendar regularly, you can emphasize that you’re using these audits to keep the standard high, it’s just the same as quality assurance or those kinds of things, to keep everyone feeling safe and feeling OK.

So now that you know what to look for and what a typical audit has to have, let’s do a quick prayer.

God, we know we can always come to you because of what Jesus did on the cross. But even in that forgiveness, you haven’t stopped looking at our hearts. You still want us to try hard, to do the best we can to be like you. So I pray that each of us will recommit today to the integrity you want to see from us, the integrity that testifies, the integrity that proves to others that yes, you are God. Stay with us just like you did with Job, so that even if we lose everything, that testimony never stops. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

That’s all I’ve got for you, folks. Hopefully, you can use what I’ve said to grow, find others who are going to be real assets for you, and I challenge you to audit yourself and your business if you haven’t and let me know the difference you see after you complete the process. I really want to hear your story. Next week, I’ll be talking about cancel culture and how to handle allegations from both inside and outside of your business. So join me for that, subscribe to the show at faithfulontheclock.captivate.fm, and until next time, be blessed.