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What Should Your Ethics Code Do? (And How Will You Make Sure It's Really Doing Its Job?)
By Christopher Bauer
Regardless of what level of government you are involved in, you have - or need to have - an ethics code to guide your behavior as well as the behavior of your
colleagues, co-workers and employees. When it's time to write or update your ethics code, you will likely be faced with deciding between an aspirational code
(i.e. "To what standards do we wish to aspire?"), a conduct-based code (i.e. "These are the rules we all must follow.") or some combination.
There are plenty of pros and cons for all three models but in my experience, unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise, it makes the most sense to write
up three separate documents including an aspirational statement, a code of conduct, and a well-developed values statement. The last of these will be an extremely
clear and equally extremely concise statement of the most persistent, most important priorities for every official and employee in your government.
Why three separate documents? That way, each part of the ethics equation (aspirations, rules and values) will be in a form that officials and employees are far
more likely to be able to memorize and, short of memorizing, be much more able to effectively scan for a periodic review as needed. Keep in mind, the less that's
in those documents and the more plain the language, the more easily folks will be able to retain and, therefore, be guided by them.
You will know that you have, in fact, maximized the effectiveness of your ethics code and values statement when they allow every official and employee to be able
to evaluate the appropriateness of their behavior, as well as the behavior of colleagues, coworkers and employees, easily and immediately at any point during
their work day. If your current or future code doesn't allow that, it's really time to get back to work on honing it further.
Once you have a code and values statement ready to roll out, make sure that everybody is fully trained on it. That training needs to include not only what your
document(s) cover but also information on how officials and employees can think ethically on their feet when there isn't a rule for something, do's and don'ts for
confronting others about ethics concerns, and to whom one should go with concerns about others' behavior.
Here's a quick checklist of other things to be sure to do once your code is written or updated:
- Be sure everyone gets trained on the contents and appropriate implementation of the code and your values statement. Remember that the integrity of your local government is being judged all day, every day on the basis of everyone's behavior from the person answering the phones up through senior management and elected officials. Consequently, training on the code and your values is critical for everyone, not just managers, for example, or some limited group of officials.
- Strive to use the code as a model for desired behavior that should get noticed and conspicuously reinforced rather than simply as a tool for discipline.
- Be open to further revising the code and values statement if at any point it appears that it is not sufficiently clear, concise, comprehensive, easily, understood, easily applied or easily retained.
- When revising your code and values statement, be sure to include input from everyone who is to work under those documents. That doesn't mean that they ought to read like a 'document by committee'. Rather, it means that if you want everyone to govern their behavior by your code and your values statement, you better know that everyone really understands what they mean and how they can bring those documents to life through their behavior.
Depending on your position, you may or may not have the authority to directly affect the writing of the code or its implementation. However, no matter what your
position, you always have the ability to bring your concerns to those with the power to make changes. If your goal is to build ethics into the fabric of your
local government, don't fool yourself into thinking that building ethics is somehow someone else's job. Regardless of your title or job description, you can - and
must - take an active role to whatever extent you are able. This includes lobbying for the development of an effective ethics code and values statement in any
reasonable way you can.
A well-written code of ethics, paired with an equally well-written values statement, will be pivotal in the development and maintenance of a culture of ethics in
your local government. Too many organizations in both the public and private sector simply settle for something that meets the basic legal requirements. That may
be fine from a risk-management standpoint but, if you really want ethics to be the foundation of how your local government works, digging deeper to write and
implement a truly outstanding code and values statement will be a vital component.
Christopher Bauer helps local governments create and implement high-impact, high-ROI ethics and values training programs. In addition to
consultation on ethics code/values statement development, training and implementation, he also provides keynotes and seminars on how to reduce costly ethics
problems on the job. Information on his most-frequently requested keynotes and seminars can be found at
www.BauerEthicsSeminars.com and
www.MunicipalEthics.com. |
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League of Arizona Cities and Towns
1820 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone: 602-258-5786
Fax: 602-253-3874
http://www.azleague.org
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