Integrity and trust is what binds us at BNI. We are reliant on other members to carry our name and vice versa. This means you should treat all of the members’ businesses in your chapter as your own.
Integrity may seem to be a given in business and BNI but it should never be taken for granted.
Consider this maxim: We do not make any enemies for free.
This was passed onto Wally Bower, member of BNI Warkworth, in the 1980s and has served him well since then. When applying this adage to customers or businesspeople, it means making enemies can be costly to you and your business.
This is doubly true at BNI when we see our fellow members on a weekly basis and we are reliant on them for business. Bad blood can be hugely costly in business.
As a businessperson, your personal and business integrity is critical for getting and keeping the support of customers, staff and vendors. But in a practical sense, what does that really mean?
- Meet your commitments. As a businessperson, when you are late with a committed business plan or meeting, you lose integrity. If your customer feels you did not meet your product quality commitment, your business loses integrity. Your view or reason doesn’t matter.
Similarly, at BNI you need to meet all your commitments, be it one-to -ones or referrals. If you have been given a referral, call the person, set up the meeting and do whatever you need to do to meet your commitments.
- Honest to a fault. This term is usually used to mean honest as seen by other people. Some think honesty is only related to what is said, but not telling the whole truth is dishonest. If you can’t deliver a service because of your business’s mistake, integrity suggests that you include the real reason in your apology.
At BNI if there is something you are not being honest about, it will come back to you. Be honest at all times in all your dealings.
- Strong and consistent moral code. The target here is to meet the customer’s moral code expectation. If your product or process is marginal or worse, you will lose that customer.
Having a strong and consistent moral code at BNI really counts. Other members will recognise that you are a moral person who can be trusted.
It’s easy to take trust or integrity for granted, but without this you will not succeed at BNI. Treat all your BNI colleagues with integrity; be honest with yourself and your fellow members. Treat others’ businesses as your own and your chapter will thrive.
