The 10 Commandments of Business – Establishing Internal Integrity

HR challenges rank as one of the top issues within business.  HR conflict resolution is a constant in business.

HR success manifests in bringing on and maintaining quality employees, developing and maintain a productive work environment, creating a business culture that inspires excellence, creativity, longevity, and productivity are the HR challenges of every business.  If you can win your HR battles, you can do business with the best of them.  But that’s a big if.

DEI and ESG among others have been globally-sized initiatives attempting to transform the HR landscape.  More recently, these initiatives have taken hits and ignited significant political and workplace clashes.

The degree of volatility surrounding these initiatives highlights the importance and difficulty of winning the HR battle.

In the 10 Commandments of Business, the first four commandments define how to win the most fundamental parts of who you are as a person, leader, and executive.  The next six define how to effectively integrate with others.  These define essential aspects of effectively dealing with HR.

The previous command dealt with honor – powerful for customer service and equally powerful for the workplace environment.

This command deals with the counter to honor, dishonor.

It simply declares, “You shall not murder.”  That seems like an excessively obvious quality for one’s workplace environment, but it goes well beyond ending someone’s life physically.

Again, these are the 10 Commandments of Business based on the actual 10 Commandments given to us through Moses.  A fully developed understanding of what they are declaring reveals ten of the most powerful principles of business.

Discovering what they mean is best realized by understanding what else God said in the Bible.  It would be accurate to say the Bible is its own best commentary.  Jesus, realizing we weren’t getting the point, helped clarify what this command was really saying. 

In his first public communication, Jesus clarifies that what was intended with this sixth command was more than not killing.  It included baseless anger, character assassination, libel, slander, and more.  

This principle is so powerful that it became the focus of numerous other letters in the New Testament including Ephesians 4:26-32, James 3:1-11, and James 4:1-3 among many others.

Based on these clarifications, what fundamental principles of HR is this commandment defining? 

These principles are essential for reducing and resolving HR conflicts

1. Candor is productive. Disparaging others is destructive.

The difference between candor and disparaging comments is intent and focus.  True candor has an intent to develop and discover the best solution.  Disparaging comments have the intent to undermine and are more focused on personal attack than pursuit of a solution.

2. Candor is a character strength. Unfiltered speaking one’s mind is a character weakness.

The proverb declares, “A fool utters all his mind:  But a wise man keeps it in till afterwards.”  Candor is not saying everything you are thinking or even everything you want to say.  It is speaking what is productive for the moment. 

Both an inability to speak out of fear and an inability to hold one’s tongue are weaknesses.  The corporate boardroom is no exception. 

3. While oversensitivity may be epidemic, character assassination is a serious issue.

Social media, shock jocks, politically charged broadcasting, and caustic pundits have made harsh communication in vogue.  When this kind of communication comes at the expense of a person, it does real damage.  It takes wisdom to understand the difference between necessary strong language and destructive personal attack.

There is a good way to fire, correct, and confront.  Quality HR doesn’t attempt to eliminate or neuter these.  Heated debate and forceful challenges can be acceptable and even necessary.  Personal challenges regarding character flaws are required to establish and maintain the most effective work environment.

A related biblical principle that helps define this states,

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.        [Ephesians 4:29]

A critical question to ask is, “Why am I saying this?  What productive result am I pursuing?”  If the answer is not clear and convincing, it is likely not candor.

4. Allowing belittling, demeaning, or ridiculing is like allowing murder to exist unchecked.

Caustic conversation is corrosive.  The more rampant it is, the more destructive it becomes.  “Trash talk” may be in play at the gym, but in the workplace it quickly becomes problematic.  Transparently, I enjoy a setting where guys challenge each other with “trash talk.”  That is only possible where true honor is understood. 

The moment that kind of communication is directed toward someone who is not confident in their own standing or in their understanding of your intentions toward them, it becomes problematic. 

Because of this, even well-meaning “trash talk” can undermine a workplace environment.  Know your audience.  Know yourself.  Absolutely error on the side of carefulness.  Understand the difference between casual and professional conversation. 

Words are powerful beyond what we know. 

Again, Jesus’ challenge equated destructive words with murder. 

If you have to say, “I was only joking,” you can guarantee your communication was destructive. 

Destructive communication patterns are morale and momentum crushers.

If you want your workplace and your own career to grow, having effective relationships is crucial.  Don’t destroy the very things you need to be productive.

5. Anger is a common weapon or power ploy. Left unchecked it is infectious.

Dr. Mark Cosgrove in Counseling for Anger describes a relational interaction,

They used anger and hostility to win recognition that was denied them in other ways.  What each needed was respect and self-control.  Both needed to stop their hostilities and begin doing something about their angers.

You don’t hire skills.  You hire people with skills.

People are human beings with limitations and past and present wounds.  It has been often said, “Hurt people, hurt people.”  If you are wounded, you tend to lash out at others much like a wounded animal. 

As an employer, you are not responsible for solving all of your employees’ issues.  You are responsible for knowing your employees.  Recognize when an employee is reaching an unproductive emotional threshold.  Recognize when an employee is using counterproductive relational techniques to bolster a faltering self-esteem.

We are all human.  We are all imperfect.  We all have issues or wounds of some kind.  These are never an excuse or a necessity for destructive communication or interaction.  Recognize both in yourself and others destructive relational and communication patterns.

6. Unresolved resentment is a litigation nightmare. Reconciliation is legal gold.

Tough and relationally aware are not mutually exclusive. 

If you perceive in yourself or in others unresolved resentment, deal with it.  Ignoring it is tantamount to ignoring cancer.  If you are concerned about the present litigious business climate, this is a prime area of focus.  It is so critical that maintaining employees who continue with unresolved resentment will guarantee future seismic issues.

Reconciliation is one of the greatest antibiotics to relational and cultural infection.  Reconciliation is not pampering.  It is not focusing on the victim and predator.  It is not a resolution built on blame.  It is the hard work of understanding individuals and underlying issues.

Reconciliation cannot be legislated.  It has to be lead.

If you want to read more wisdom about productive versus destructive communication, check out these biblical insights:  Matthew 5:21-26, Ephesians 4:26-32, James 3:1-11, James 4:1-3.