Integrity is a loaded word for some who feel it is overused in the business world.  If you have worked for awhile you have known a few people like this. They disguise their violation of the law or company policies under the term risk taking.  And, they criticize your speaking up as a lack of creativity.

Savvy leaders and managers are not reckless risk takers or “corporate lawbreakers” however. Rather, they are smart risk takers.  They break patterns, challenge assumptions, and they think different.  They do so with integrity however and they find the balance between the end justifies the means and the means justifies the end.

A survey by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) shows the wisdom of these savvy leaders and managers.  Specifically it finds that corporate integrity positively impacts organizational performance.

Some of the findings are the following:

Based on a survey of approximately 500,000 employees in more than 85 countries, CEB found that corporate cultural integrity not only reduces employee misconduct, but can greatly improve business performance overall.

Significant findings from this study include the following:

• Companies with a culture of open communication have higher shareholder returns than their peers (an average of five percent);

• Managers who follow corporate values can improve employees’ performance by 12 percent; and

• Employees in high-integrity cultures are 67 percent less likely to observe significant instances of business misconduct.

CEB identified the following seven qualities as drivers of corporate integrity: comfort in speaking up; trust in colleagues; relationship with direct manager; tone at the top; clarity of expectations; openness of communication; and organizational justice. A major recommendation of this study is for organizational leadership to “evaluate and understand their employees’ perceptions and actions to reduce their risk profile and improve corporate performance.”

It is interesting that the drivers of corporate integrity are also the attributes of effective leaders. This survey reaffirms that it is perfectly reasonable to expect leaders to act with integrity.  Effective leadership is interconnected with integrity!