Integrity and Respect

We continue to look at Baptistcare’s values, and will spend some more time looking at the statement: Integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour.

I’ve tried my hand at juggling on a number of occasions, but in most cases have failed to keep two balls in the air, let alone three. Yet when you watch a professional juggler it looks so easy. In most workplaces we find it necessary to keep several balls in the air and just when you’ve got the pattern going nicely someone throws in another ball or two just to keep you on your toes.

When the pattern of juggling falters and your ability to look like a professional is not going as planned, both integrity and respect come under a great deal of pressure. If we are not people of integrity when the juggling becomes too hard, we will not only depend on sleight of hand and other circus tricks to get us through, but at the first sign of failure the greatest threat comes to the people who are nearest to us.

People of integrity recognise that respect for those around us, whether they be family, friends, colleagues or clients, is of the highest priority, along with our ability to respect ourselves, not allowing our personal values to be compromised.

I’d love to hear your comments about how you maintain integrity and respect in a world of juggling balls.

Respect in our behaviour

Baptistcare’s second value is “integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour”.

I have been watching over a number of years the growth of a programme called “Choose Respect” that was developed by a friend of mine. “Choose Respect” has been introduced into a number of schools in Western Australia. A study that was conducted at Boddington District High School in 2007-2008 in conjunction with Murdoch University showed that referrals for serious disruptive behaviour were reduced by 90 percent during the time the “Choose Respect” programme was implemented.

Schools that adopt “Choose Respect” also adopt a code of behaviour which reads: To choose respect is to make a conscious effort to:
• Treat others with Respect, no matter how they treat you;
• Treat yourself with Respect;
• Forgive others who do not treat you with Respect;
• Resist your natural desire to pay back or take revenge;
• Apologise when you do not treat others with Respect;
• Support others who are not being treated with Respect;
• Ask for support when others do not treat you with Respect.

It’s a little word, but it holds a wealth of meaning. What does respect mean to you and what sort of behaviour do you expect from people who are showing you respect in the workplace?

Homeless Connect 2010

A group of Baptistcare employees volunteered their time to assist Perth's Homeless Connect 2010.

Integrity in behaviour

The second of Baptistcare’s values is integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour.

I’ve flown in a few light aircrafts in my time, but the most memorable was a flight in a Lake Buccaneer, which is a very small (four seater) amphibious aircraft. The flight from Derby to Cockatoo Island in the far north of WA was not without some trepidation but the most frightening part was trying to land and take off from the crocodile infested ocean around Cockatoo Island. People in the industry describe the Lake Buccaneer as having the aerodynamics of a dead cat when the power goes, and it’s probably just as well that I didn’t find out till after the flight that it had sunk on two previous occasions in its life.

I wouldn’t describe the aircraft as having integrity, but it worked. It got me to Cockatoo Island and back without crashing, sinking or falling apart, although the way it rattled and roared I had my doubts on a number of occasions.

The way we behave in the workplace or for that matter, in our family and social life, may be acceptable by some standards. We can get things done that are expected of us and generally speaking we get by without any major problems. But can we described as having integrity in our behaviour?

Quite often integrity isn’t obvious until there is a crisis. When the storm breaks or the seas are rough I think we can judge a person’s integrity by the degree to which they display a wholeness of character that doesn’t resort to defensiveness, anger or blame.

I’d be interested to hear your comments about how we can show integrity in our personal and organisational behaviour.

Dignity and Compassion

In my last blog we talked about dignity in our relationships, but it is worth noting that the first of the values espoused by Baptistcare is dignity and compassion in our relationships. What is the significance of having these two words (dignity and compassion) coming together in the same sentence?

The dictionary describes compassion as: Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. The question is, where does the emphasis lie: With me or with you? We can place the emphasis on me as the provider of compassion, or on you as the recipient of compassion.

As the provider of compassion I most likely want something in return, at the very least thanks or gratitude. As the provider of compassion, I will most likely assign some value to the compassion I am providing. In other words, I will sum up whether some situations or people are more eligible or more worthy of my compassion than others. The result is that there is a power imbalance. The provider of compassion has the power and is using that power to his or her advantage.

If the focus is on the receiver of compassion, the situation changes quite significantly. Now I will be trying to find out what the needs of the person are, rather than thinking about my own needs; I will be concerned about how the person feels about my involvement in his or her life, rather than imposing something against their will; I will treat that person with dignity so that compassion is not something that is imposed but something that is shared.

I’d love to hear some examples of how dignity and compassion work together.

Dignity in our relationships

In future blogs I want to reflect on Baptistcare’s values. These are the behaviours that we expect to see as we go about our mission and strive to reach our vision: To transform and enrich lives.

I will never forget the time I went into a real estate agency to assist an Aboriginal woman in her search for secure housing. The woman’s dress was dirty and she had sores on her face, but she had a basic right to housing. I had listened to her stories of repeated rejection and mistrust and offered to go with her, thinking (rather self-righteously) that my advocacy would help to overcome some of the barriers of race. I was a middle class Caucasian male who previously had no problems with negotiation, but as I stood alongside this woman to advocate on her behalf it was as if my skin colour had suddenly changed and my dignity was crushed by the words and attitudes of the person at reception.

In contemplating how to treat another person a question I like to ask myself is: “How would I expect this person to treat me?”. I would like to be treated with dignity, and no matter who I am or what I have done, or what my relationship with the person is, I would like to think that my basic humanity is respected. The least I can do is to return that respect.

One of the great poets of our time, Bob Dylan expressed the view of so many when he said:

So many roads, so much at stake;
So many dead ends and I’m at the edge of the lake;
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take to find dignity.

What are some ways that you would express dignity in your relationships?