A lack of integrity can devour credibility.

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Just think of how people without integrity are perceived:

• They're a hypocrite.
• They're a liar.
• They can’t be counted on.
• They're lazy.
• You can’t trust them; they say one thing and do another.

These character judgments are part of the reason so few people admit to mistakes and lean on weak excuses for lack of follow-through. The fear of being judged also undermines authentic connection and camaraderie in many workplace cultures. This is just one of the many reasons psychological safety is so important to a healthy workplace culture.

We also know integrity is crucial when it comes to building trust and confidence between team members.

So how do you instill integrity that's empowering, rather than judgement-inducing?

Try using our Whole Integrity Checklist that was inspired by and reorganized from a quote by Landmark Education. This checklist highlights individual behaviors that align with integrity.
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Whole Integrity Checklist

☐ Nothing hidden
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☐ Being truthful and honest
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☐ Doing complete work
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☐ Working from an empowering context.
This means you're coming from a place of commitment and alignment—you're not disparaging, undermining, or bemoaning the task at hand with something like:  
• “I’m only doing this because they said I had to do it.”
• “This is stupid, but I’ll do it anyway.”
• “I think this is a waste of time, but someone’s got to do it.”
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☐ Doing very well what you do
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☐ Doing it as it was meant to be done or better without cutting corners
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☐ Honoring one’s word
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☐ Doing what you know to do
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☐ Doing what you said you would do and on time

☐ Saying when you are not doing it as soon as you realize you won’t be doing it or won’t be doing it on time
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☐ Doing what others would expect you to do even if you haven’t said you would do it.
This is the one often surprises people. Not every single expectation is explicitly spelled out in our roles, yet we are still responsible for meeting them unless we've negotiated otherwise. Think of the child who tries to justify staying up far too late by saying, "Well, you said I had to go to bed. You didn't say I have to go to sleep." 

First check yourself and have compassion

As with all culture work, you have to be the change you want to see. First check yourself - where are you aligned and where are you out-of-sync with this list? This isn't about perfectionism. Rather here's a list that can help us get clear on where we're in alignment and where we need to close the gap. Remember we're all humans humaning and trying to do the best we can do. We’ve all failed to fulfill on a promise, arrived late to an appointment and had the best of intentions.

The Whole Integrity Checklist helps take integrity out of the realm of morality, ethics, and character judgements and instead makes integrity a behavior we can cultivate. If you're not exhibiting the integrity you would like—or if someone on your team isn't—simply identify the gap in behavior, and work to close it.

As the philosophers famously point out, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."