Recent headlines have highlighted a number of organizations that we think have been operating "in the Twilight Zone" of business as usual--business in the way of the world. (Our reference is to a famous TZ episode in which aliens were exposed as wanting people for an entree rather than as dinner guests.) In God's design, work is a vehicle for...
Gallup recently announced that we are in the middle of what they are calling "The Great Detachment". Like the Great Resignation, we believe at the heart of the Great Detachment are organizational cultures that are dehumanizing. God made us to flourish through work, and we are less fully human when not reflecting our God-given creativity and productivity through work that...
You could call this post the third in a "Safety/Surrender" series. It is about encouraging faithful leaders to trust God enough to answer the call of stewardship, and embrace fully the potential, of the Creation Mandate by crossing the Safety/Surrender Gap. We believe it is a call to lead with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing,...
A faithful leader seeking to lead an organization with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing must remember "DDD"--"Don't Do a Demas." You might be asking, "Who is Demas?" The better question is "What's 'doing a Demas'?" The best question is "How do I avoid 'doing a Demas'?" Demas was a Biblical character who didn't finish well. ...
In prior posts, we have talked about three "gaps" a faithful leader must cross in the journey toward leading with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing. These are "wisdom" or "knowledge" gaps. There is a fourth, and it is arguably the most important of all. We call it the Safety/Surrender Gap, and it is a "heart"...
Is the word "integrity" enough to guide a faithful leader on the ancient path to aligning the purpose, values and culture of an organization in a way that leads the organization and its people to do the right things, in the right ways, for the right reasons, without even thinking? There are two key aspects to the meaning of "integrity"--one...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Keep Controversy Within Your Mission COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Policies COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom We don't mean that an organization should have a controversial mission. "Keep Controversy Within Your Mission" is about putting in place policies and practices to ensure that the organization is prepared to take positions on...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Be Trustworthy COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community, Kingdom Americans trust in institutions, including businesses, has declined. "Be Trustworthy" is about putting in place policies and practices to ensure that the organization's stakeholders feel they can trust the organization and its people. ...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Clean Your Chain COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees. Customers/Clients, Owners, Community, Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Clean Your Chain" is about putting in place policies and practices to ensure that your supply chain does not...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Terminate with Gold COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. When we say "Gold", we are not talking about money. "Terminate with Gold" is about taking extra care in applying the Golden Rule...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Re-Imagine the Box COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Owners, Employees, Customers/Clients Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Re-Imagine the Box" is about re-imagining the traditional "Suggestion Box" by putting in place practices to ensure that the ideas, wisdom,...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Create a Cue Card COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Create a Cue Card" is about literally creating a pocket-sized card that helps employees remember values, principles or practices critical to ensuring...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Give "Horizontal" Thanks COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): People COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. While faithful leaders should always give "vertical" thanks to God, "Give Horizontal Thanks" is about faithful leaders taking the time to express their...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Don’t “Toolify” Humans COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): People COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. “Don’t Toolify Humans” is more fundamental, because it is a reminder of the most important priority shift needed for an organization to align...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Set Integrity Boundaries COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Policies COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Set Integrity Boundaries" is about faithful leaders identifying, establishing and communicating the integrity lines the organization will not cross in how...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Identify Your Beauty COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Products COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Owners, Employees, Customers/Clients, Suppliers/Vendors, Community Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Identify Your Beauty" is about identifying and communicating to stakeholders how the organization's products and services Beautify the World. ...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Recall Your Faithful Purpose COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert or Highly Overt STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Recall Your Faithful Purpose" is implementing practices to remind your stakeholders about your WHY--your organization's Re-Imagined Purpose...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Take Steps to PPP COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. “Take Steps To PPP” is about taking steps to Protect your Purpose from Profiteers. Part of implementing a bigger...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Thank Your Temps COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Thank Your Temps" is about acknowledging the contributions of, and thanking, your temporary and freelance workers at year-end. It's not complicated--theologically or...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Tear Down Those Walls COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Tear Down Those Walls" is not about Ronald Reagan, the U.S. border, dismantling offices, or moving to open-plan seating. It is about...
INTEGRITY IDEA: Fortify Family COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees/Community/Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Fortify Family" is about adopting practices and benefits that are specifically designed to encourage and support healthy employee families. It recognizes that God created...
ESSENCE: Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way. INTEGRITY IDEA: Provide "Plain" Pricing COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Customers Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Provide Plain Pricing" is about...
ESSENCE: Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way. INTEGRITY IDEA: Adopt a "77" Policy COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Policies COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Overt STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Adopt a 77 Policy" is...
From time to time, we are devoting posts to describing specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way. We are calling these Integrity Ideas. INTEGRITY IDEA: Hire a chaplain to be available for employees COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Prayer COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): ...
From time to time, we will now begin describing specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity®--actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. We will call the posts "Integrity Ideas". The Integriosity model organizes "heart change" along six Covert-Overt Continuums, and breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations that...
For a leader seeking to lead an organization to faithfully “do right” through business a better way, eliminating organizational silos must be a priority. In this post, we look at “wisdom” and “information” silos. Organizational silos are bad for the leader, bad for the organization and bad for its culture, which makes it bad for the people in the...
For a leader seeking to lead an organization to faithfully “do right” through business a better way or an investor seeking to invest in alignment with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities, eliminating personal silos must be a priority. In this post, we look at personal faith and wealth silos. The secular "world" view of faith and work is that...
Faithfully "doing right" is more than "doing good"--it means "doing right" by God, and that means "living generously through loving others and stewarding creation". There are many organizations that promote "giving generously", but what does it mean to "live generously"? It requires "vertically integrating" generosity and living sacrificially....
Faithfully "doing right" with integrity needs a WHY, and the WHY of faithfully "doing right" needs to have integrity in the form of "authenticity" (with authenticity having four components: identity, sincerity, consistency and transparency). In other words, the organization's WHY must be more than a pretty sign on the wall--it's WHY must be at the heart of its culture. ...
In addition to "Profit as Purpose", another aspect of "business as usual" that leads to brokenness is "Scarcity"--the assumption that resources are scarce and everything is a zero-sum situation (my gain is your loss and vice versa). Importantly for Integriosity, a scarcity mindset in an organization can have a profoundly negative impact on how people are treated....
At Integrous, we believe there are four key aspects of "business as usual" that lead to its brokenness, and the most important of these is "Profit as Purpose"--the idea that the primary or sole purpose of "business as usual" is the maximization of financial profit for the benefit of shareholders. This mindset, in turn, flows into several other aspects of...
There is no shortage of statistics showing that most workers feel disengaged and disconnected from the activity that was intended to bring flourishing and fulfillment by unleashing their God-given creativity and productivity. Central to the the red pill of Integriosity® is humanizing people by redeeming work and business-- bringing it closer to God's design in Genesis....
We made up the word “Integriosity®” to capture the goal of living out faithful integrity, including having a “Why” centered on loving and serving others with generosity. ...