Integrity is not a compliance issue. It’s a leadership responsibility.
Yesterday, Curaรงao.Nu published the results of a recent SOAB study on integrity within the Government of Curaรงao.
The findings align with what we have been seeing for the past 5 years through our TeamCulture research across the Dutch Caribbean:
๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐.
๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ, ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐.
Most employees do not feel safe enough to speak up, share criticism, or hold each other accountable. At the same time, leaders often have a much more positive perception of the culture than employees do.
This can be linked to one of the biggest leadership challenges we encounter on our islands:
๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐.
Too often, people are promoted into leadership positions based on tenure, technical expertise, loyalty, or internal relationships rather than leadership capabilities. Yet we expect them to create psychologically safe workplaces, role model integrity, give feedback, and hold others accountable.
๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐จ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐จ?
I really hope this baseline study will be the starting point for investments in leadership development, integrity, and self-awareness, starting with those who lead our country.