Working with Integrity

The other day I was discussing the issue of integrity with another consultant/coach. This was stimulated by the ILM’s recently completed a report on trust and leadership within the UK. They conclude that integrity is the foundation of trust and it grows in importance with seniority. The development of integrity “requires a high degree of self-critical reflection and honesty, the ability to see beyond your immediate circle, to recognise and reject acolytes and yes-men, to understand that how you see yourself is not necessarily how others see you”. (Campbell S. 2009)

In management and organizational literature ethical behaviour tends to refer to the values an organization may hold, but not how these translate into action. This may be partly due to the fact that consultants, and those working in organizations, come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds where these may not have been considered.

For example, if an organization’s mission statement is “We value people”, how will that organization find ways of demonstrating this? What are the implications for that organization when this is not demonstrated?

The belief system is an important part of Transactional Analysis. There are many people who know the theoretical concepts but do not put the underpinning philosophy into practice, begging the question whether or not this is “real” TA.

Beliefs are often unconscious patterned thinking processes and may, therefore, be hard to identify. Beliefs can be about the meaning of something, the cause, or about identity. The need to make meaning, find causes or maintain our identity, guide our beliefs, whether or not they are “facts” we may act as though they are.

Our beliefs will effect how we behave, and our beliefs are part of our identity. Changing either our beliefs, or how we view ourselves, will affect our actions. This will include who we work with and how we work with them.

Organizations which have alignment of shared values increase employee commitment, confidence and achievement.

Codes of Ethics

All TA member organizations have Codes of Ethics and Professional Practice Guidelines to which we must adhere. This offers clients a measure of protection. However, it is also important to develop our own awareness about our own ethical principles.

Awareness of three cornered contracting (English, 1975) is necessary as consultants have contracts with the commissioning agent as well as course participants. It is these relationships which can create ambiguity. For an organizational consultant/coach relationships are often complex, which has implications for contracting and boundary setting. It is therefore “........vitally important that the consultant have clear, conscious, and consistent ethical standards” (Garfield, 1993).

In any given situation we need to ask ourselves ethical questions including:

 What is the context?
 What is my contract here?
 How do I ensure I do not take advantage of any power position I might have here?
 What is ethical here?
 Does my gender and sexual orientation make a difference to whether this is ethical or not?
 Does being from the same, or different, nationality make a difference to whether my actions are ethical or not ethical in this situation.
 Does it make a difference that I am external/internal to the organization?
 Does the status of the person/people with whom I am involved in this situation make a difference?
 What assumptions or rationalizations about the situation might I be making which prevent good practice?
 Am I focussing on the health and positive strengths of individuals and the organization?
 Am I respecting the person’s position in the organization?

If you would like information on our various Organizational Transactional Analysis open workshops, our supervision and supervision of coaches, or coaching itself as well as our in-house training then contact us through the website: www.mountain-associates.co.uk or give us a call on +44 (0)1455 824475. The next Official Introduction to TA is on 7-9 September, 2010 and the Institute of Developmental TA one-day conference is on 30 October : www.instdta.org