Fairness and Integrity

Leadership which is honest, transparent and consistent, where there is fairness and equity in decision-making and humble understanding of personal limitations and biases.

What is fairness and integrity?

Fair and honest leaders are transparent and consistent. They use equitable decision-making while being mindful of their personal limitations and biases.

Why is fairness and integrity important?

Fair and honest leaders:

• May enhance workers' trust in leadership.

• Can reduce and mitigate discrimination.

• Encourage proactive resolution of workplace issues.

• Help motivate workers to perform at their best.

• Can encourage high functioning teams.

FAQs

• How do I support the needs of workers with mental health issues who are trying to stay productive at work?

  • Assess challenges related to psychological, emotional, cognitive, and physical demands at work, and make adjustments as needed/required to support worker success.

  • Develop strategies that may best support workers in a collaborative fashion, and ensure you understand their needs and preferences and the supports required.

  • Ensure workers know the workplace is committed to supporting their success through an ongoing collaborative process.

  • Set up regular (ideally weekly or bi-weekly), one-to-one check-ins to review priorities and progress and troubleshoot challenges as they arise.

• How do I ensure team members are held accountable for every instance of inappropriate workplace conduct?

  • Develop and publicly share policies around appropriate workplace behaviour, conduct, and bullying and harassment prevention. Ensure there is clarity about the actions and behaviours that workers will be held accountable for, and what the consequences will be.

  • Identify organizational and personal barriers for taking effective action.

  • When having a conversation regarding inappropriate behaviour with a worker, inform the worker in advance that you wish to discuss something important. Schedule a private one-to-one meeting and allow for adequate time to ensure you are not rushed. To avoid unnecessary stress, avoid scheduling the meeting too far in advance.

  • When addressing an incident, focus on the specific behaviour and actions (rather than focusing on the person). Be clear, specific, and objective in describing the behaviour, and avoid making assumptions or laying blame, as this can contribute to defensiveness. Be clear in terms of expectations and next steps.

• How do I ensure workers have the skills and resources they need to meet the psychological and emotional demands of their job?

  • Conduct a review of the emotional and interpersonal requirements of each job and ensure these are stated in all position descriptions and outlined in job ads.

  • Consider involving employees in interviews for the same or similar roles or work group and allow applicants to directly ask employees questions about the role and the work.

  • Provide mentorship, coaching and training in interpersonal/emotional skills, particularly those required for highly demanding positions.

  • Develop a culture in which the concept of emotional intelligence is understood, valued, and used as a criterion for work recruitment, competition, selection, recognition and reward.

  • Where appropriate, consider a process that allows workers to explore internal positions that may better match their interpersonal/emotional competencies (e.g. via job-shadowing or career-development discussions).

Next Steps

Committing to enhancing fairness and integrity as a leader

• For fairness and integrity, there are many ways that you can improve and expand your skills, including:

  • Enhancing your personal resilience and emotional intelligence skills.

  • Adapting your communication style to workers’ unique learning styles.

  • Conducting productivity reviews with each direct report and determining areas in which they need support.

  • Seeking clarity about information you can share, and when you can share it, when broader organizational changes or decisions are pending.

  • Sharing concerns being expressed by your workers with higher-ups in the organization (while maintaining appropriate privacy and confidentiality) and asking for help to manage fears when they exist.

  • Creating a framework to eliminate stigma.

  • Having regular team discussions to generate ideas about what you can do to support and enhance workers’ engagement.

  • Recognizing and rewarding workers to ensure they feel appreciated for their efforts.

  • Helping workers identify workplace issues and challenges they are facing and supporting them in developing coping strategies.

  • Asking your team what they feel civility and respect means in your workplace, and ways it can be enhanced (both with coworkers, as well as customers and clients).

  • Helping raise awareness of the impacts of worker behaviour on others, particularly when those behaviours are uncivil or disrespectful.

  • Developing effective processes to resolve challenges and conflicts that arise, particularly between workers.

  • Being clear about what behaviours and actions workers will be held accountable for, and what the consequences will be.

  • Identifying and resolving any barriers to timely and effective actions and solutions.

  • Seeking worker opinions, input, and suggestions on a regular, recurring basis.

  • Helping workers manage organizational change.

Downloads

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