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When people have stress in the workplace, it is more likely that it will be the result of relationships, rather than the work itself. The day-to-day tasks can certainly be stressful and difficult and people can get frustrated with challenging problems. However, what really bothers us sometimes is working with other people because it is such an open-ended quantity. The challenging relationship may or may not work itself out, even if people are intentional about improving. This probably goes double for relationships with the supervisor because not only does an employee have to work with this person, but this person also controls the employee's future to a certain extent.

Character matters

What most people will say about their "boss" is that they want someone that they can respect. Granted, the word "respect" has many different meanings and just because you respect someone doesn't mean that you like them or enjoy being around them. Sometimes people respect their leaders because they at least know where they "stand" and what they can expect. However, working with leadership can often come down to connections between personalities. After all, many people do not necessarily leave organizations. They leave people.

Trust

Integrity is also important because people want to have some sense that they can "trust" their leaders. We are again talking about subjective terminology, but the issue of trust usually comes down to keeping information private, or having a general sense that the leaders of the organization aren't actively hunting for people's jobs. In today's modern society fewer and fewer people can feel genuinely secure in their work, but it is nice to know that your supervisor will keep some part of your personal interest in mind.

Walking the talk

Finally, integrity is often about the idea of "walking the talk." This means that people want their leadership to do the things they say they will do. This is probably where most of the integrity problems start to happen. A leader tells someone something that they want to hear, and then they end up doing something different. Granted, sometimes leaders cannot forecast how certain things will turn out. That is the nature of interacting in an organizational environment. However, when inconsistencies between speech and action become a pattern, people start to lose respect for the person. Sometimes people would rather hear an honest piece of bad news than a piece of information that is unlikely to occur. Again, integrity often comes down to getting from someone what is expected. People don't always like surprises, particularly when it comes to integrity.

Learn more about this author, Todd Pheifer.
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