Why Integrity is So Important to Your Business

Integrity is key when it comes to sustainable, long-term business growth and success. 

It’s all about doing what you say you're going to do, even when no one’s watching. It’s all about taking accountability for your mistakes and staying consistent with that responsibility.

It’s important to reflect on this when you’re a business owner for a variety of reasons, and today, the business gurus at ActionCOACH RGV are going to explore them--and the benefits they bring--down below.

The Importance of Integrity in Business

Integrity requires more than something catchy on a corporate website or marketing item. Many companies claim to have integrity but don't prove their words through action.

In actuality, practicing integrity can be very beneficial to your business. When you, your employees, and your business acts with integrity, you start to notice positive results come your way, such as: 

1. A Better Reputation

In the business world, your reputation is essential to your success. Clients, suppliers, business partners, and investors all need to have faith in the fact that you know what you're doing and are running a bountiful business.

When you choose to act with integrity, this helps establish your reputation. On the flipside, if you do things that lack integrity, it can hurt your business and the faith that the above parties put in you.

2. Satisfied Employees

Employees are more content when their company has integrity. A publication from Adelphi University concluded that employees who perceived their managers as those with high integrity also had better engagement levels with their job, satisfaction with the job itself, health, and contentment with life.

3. Improved Quality and Productivity

It often follows as a pattern that happier employees will also have greater levels of productivity. This works in tandem with many other aspects in production.

A company that is showing acts of integrity is more likely to create better quality products and services. This is especially true when that company is committed to tackling any problems to enhance the customer experience.

4. Greater Results

Consumers value companies known for their ethics and will oftentimes that comes with rewards. Ethical Consumer, which has been monitoring how much consumers spend since 1999 in the UK, found that spending through companies that are deemed "ethical" has practically doubled over the last seven years.

Integrity in the Business World

So now you’re probably wondering how you can build integrity into your daily business situations. Several practices you can take on to incorporate acts of integrity include:

• Being fully transparent. As a business, you’re required not only to be honest at every given moment but to also not withhold information that may be useful to employees and customers. And if an error is made, own up to it!

• Making promises that you know you can uphold. Customers are always going to uphold expectations. This means that your products and services function properly, resolve a problem, and bring in value. Become familiar with these kinds of commitments and meet them every time.

• Providing equal and fair treatment. Integrity is about being the same individual (or company) in each scenario, meaning that everyone is treated equally no matter how much they are able to contribute to your bottom line.
  
• Being respectful. It’s always fundamental to be considerate and courteous of others. Be aware of various perspectives in regards to positions, ages, races, and cultural differences, and try to treat everyone with the same kindness and respect.

It’s Different From Having Good Intentions

Integrity is often mistaken as doing what’s best for customers. In certain cases it is, but if you're deceiving your customers with lies or hiding information from them, these are not acts of integrity.

To put it simply, if you’re given a decision where someone might benefit, and while another might be harmed, integrity is what inspires you to pick the one where no one gets hurt, even if there’s nothing in it for your business.

Upholding Your Company or Organization's Integrity

By the time you've built integrity, your organization should put all their efforts into maintaining it. It takes time to build unwavering trust with customers and investors, and that trust you worked so hard to earn can be lost faster than you know it.

In today's digital age, it takes displaying full authenticity in order to earn and maintain the public's assuredness. Consumers are overwhelmed with options these days, so if you do anything to compromise your integrity for money or reputation, you could find yourself losing potential customers to competitors.

And nothing speaks louder than discontented customers taking their business elsewhere.

Build Your Business’s Integrity by Learning the In’s and Out’s of Business With ActionCOACH RGV

Whether your business is just getting started or you want to take a leap of faith in your entrepreneurial career, the ActionCOACH RGV team of business coaches is happy to share their wealth of business strategies in order to help you build a business successful enough for you to have more control over how you spend your time. 

Join ActionCOACH RGV now to discover more helpful resources that influence growth, improve cash flows, and earn you the time and freedom you deserve. If you’re new around here and are still hesitant about taking the plunge, sign up for a complimentary business plan to see the value we bring to businesses firsthand.

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