01 Sep 2022
The NAEO is currently looking to agree Professional and Personal Standards for Exam Officers. Standards play an vital role in helping us define how we operate. As The Steering Group begins this process I’m reflecting on the importance of Integrity, and how it shows up in who we are and what we do.
Being a person of Integrity is a key quality of excellence. It helps us operate as our best selves. It helps us gain trust. It’s just one important aspect of living a life based on high standards. Personal and professional standards.
We become known as someone who keeps their word. We are seen as someone who is reliable, trustworthy, consistent and dependable.
In my presentation on defining ‘Who We are’, I talk about the way we see ourselves. Who we are (we say to ourselves) is __________________. These are our personal self-set standards that we choose to live by. The ‘Who We Are’ conversation we have with ourselves lets us show the world how we think. We demonstrate our thinking and our values every day.
Living with Integrity may be part of ‘Who We Are’. It’s a high bar to set, and it can be tricky to maintain. I know I’ve broken my word to myself a few times when I’ve said:
- I’ll exercise every day before work
I’ll tidy up every night after dinner
Tomorrow I’ll …….
Is it any less of a let down because it is only ourselves we’ve disappointed?
Shouldn’t we be accountable all the time, to everyone involved, if we ‘Say’ we’re going to do something.
It’s easy rationalise our failure to meet a target, or not do something. But if we’re acting from a place of Integrity, we don’t rush to excuses, or point finger at others because this undermines us.
To my mind this weakens our position and doesn’t show us as acting from a place of Integrity. We’ve become unpredictable. And that’s a problem when we work with others.
Integrity means operating from high personal standards, whatever life throws at us.
When we’re not acting from integrity
This little word demands us to walk through life with strong values. We know when we’ve NOT come from a place of Integrity. We feel it. It weighs heavily on us, and we need to put things right.
For instance, I know I’ve not spoken from a place of Integrity when I upset a friend, or when I don’t do something I say I will do. It’s the old phrase “practice what you preach”. We need to demonstrate it. We need to be the living example of the values we Say we Are.
If you operate from a personal Law of Integrity, you’ll find yourself more productive an effective.
There’ a knock on effect if you fail to keep your word:
Perhaps you fail to meet a deadline. Everything down the line is halted. There’s a ‘cost’ in our failing to act from integrity.
Perhaps we had our ‘ducks’ in a row’ earlier on, but gradually we’ve stopped listening to our inner voice and failed to act from Integrity.
Of course, we know it before it happens and we begin to build a case for our defence (remember I work in an HMP Establishment).
If you were to tell yourself that you are a person of integrity. How would that make you feel?
- Would you Think Different?
- Would you find yourself Being Different?
- Would you Do Different
- And would any of these steps move you towards Having Integrity?
There’s often disagreement in the order of Do, Be, Have. But the certainty is that we have to BE authentically true to our personal standards to be able to demonstrate it’s part of who we are.
A challenge
So a little challenge. As you go through your day, check in on yourself every now and then as ask yourself if you are Acting with Integrity.
My own personal standards guide me. Before The NAEO standards are defined, why not define your own?
Love and light,
Geraldine
To get your workbook on Writing Personal Standards here.
Over the coming weeks I will be launching a new course for Schools on Developing the Exam Mindset –how to support your students with Mindfulness. If you would like to know more sign up here.
Please contact me for details of talks and workshops on hello@geraldinejozefiak.com