Breach
Acknowledging BREACH is an important step into INTEGRITY.
BREACH is failing to do what you said you’d do. Pointing out your own BREACH is treating your word seriously. When others point out your BREACH, they’re enrolled in and committed to a CULTURE of INTEGRITY.
BREACH is failing to act in INTEGRITY. For example, if you’re late to a meeting, after committing to being on time, your tardiness is perceived as a BREACH of INTEGRITY. BREACHES erode TRUST; they make you undependable and diminish you in the eyes of the group. You lose POWER, and teams up to something big can’t afford to have members, much less leaders, with diminished POWER.
The BREACH PRIME is noticed only against the backdrop of INTEGRITY. If you say you’re trying to quit smoking, and people see you smoking, they don’t consider your behavior a BREACH because “trying to quit” is a powerless idea, not one with INTEGRITY built into it.
Despite a commitment and a willingness to maintain INTEGRITY, it’s probable and perhaps even inevitable that a BREACH will occur. Cleaning up after a BREACH quickly, reestablishing INTEGRITY, and restoring an individual’s place in the group is in everyone’s best interest.
It isn’t the BREACH of INTEGRITY that a high performance culture doesn’t tolerate, but the failure to acknowledge it and reestablish INTEGRITY.
IN ACTION
When a BREACH occurs, acknowledge and recommit.
Acknowledge a BREACH: “I said I’d be here at nine o’clock, and I wasn’t.”
Acknowledging a BREACH, by the person committing it, is the first step to repairing it. If someone fails to acknowledge their BREACH, group members may do it for him or her without blame or judgment. Acknowledging creates a clearing for an individual to reestablish his or her INTEGRITY, and thus regain his or her power in the group. A timely stand for someone’s INTEGRITY, delivered without judgment, is one of the highest acts of love and caring that group members can give each other.
Recommit to INTEGRITY: “In the future, I’ll be on time.”
That’s it. No excuses. Excuses deflect accountability and waste more of the group’s time.
SO WHAT?
Acknowledging a BREACH and recommitting to INTEGRITY reinforce a CULTURE of accountability and responsibility, within which extraordinary outcomes become possible.