One of THE most misused words in the English language is integrity. I am so sick of seeing this word bandied about without any demonstrative indication that the user of the word has any concept of what it means.

I am not new to integrity or to a life where I have lived with conflicts around integrity. But they are stories for another day. I am however the evidence of how quickly a lack of integrity can lead to a hard and fast fall and also to how a commitment to integrity will lead to a commitment to purpose and fulfilment.

Integrity – a word so often used in marketing material. A commodity to be sold. In a former life I was employed by 2 national companies (yes 2 I didn’t learn my lesson the first time) where integrity was sold as a commodity and not as a core value of practice every day by every person in the organisation.

I really struggled because there was a conflict of values here. Our definitions of integrity were NOT the same thing. Now a values conflict is a whole other story – just quickly; to live with conflicted values is not healthy, but I’ll talk about that another day.

Integrity means you will do what you will say you will do. It means returning calls; it means doing things on time; it means paying bills on time; it means not being late; it means delivering on those things you said you would do.

And to have a practice that’s built on value of integrity isn’t enough. Being in private practice, integrity a basic expectation that you will do what you will say you will do.

To say that you work with integrity is not enough to be your point of difference. You have to do more than you say you will do – BUT too many health professionals in private practice blur the lines. A missed call here, not turning up there; being late for appointment; cancelling frequently; not paying bills…….

Without integrity people will not trust you. Trust has always been the currency of business, not money – without integrity you will not have trust. Without trust you will go broke.

My challenge to you is this – where does integrity turn up in your practice? Let’s start a real discussion about this and challenge ourselves professionally to step up and lead our professions so our prospective clients can get the care and services they want and NEED.

I would love to hear from you let me know where you see Integrity turning up in your private practice; write your comments in the comments section below.

Here’s to your success

Jo

P.S. Do you know someone who would benefit from reading this today – then please share the love.