Make ethics your personal cause.
With March designated as National Ethics Awareness month, there is no better time to either craft a thoughtful strategy for strengthening the ethical culture of the organization you lead or assess whether your efforts to date are working. Your credibility as a leader depends on it!

Consider these factors that are critical to building an ethical culture:

The standard is set at the top.
In the mundane everyday activities, as well as in the challenging moments, you set the ethical standard or tone. If you want to inspire your staff to the highest standard of conduct, you must model the conduct you want to see in others. And when errors or missteps happen, you must demonstrate true accountability by taking personal responsibility and correcting the deficiencies.

Define your core values and the behaviors that support those values.
Work to develop organizational values that will reduce ambiguity and provide individuals with some essential guidance on what's expected and what's right. As you develop your group's values, use a process that engages elected officials and staff to achieve greater commitment to the values.

Assess the organization's culture: wouldn't some baseline information about attitudes and behaviors in the organization be helpful in crafting your strategy?
Does your culture expect staff to report questionable ethical behavior of others? Are staff members clear about where to go for advice about ethical issues? Assess your own conduct: do you think that members of your staff would say that you show appreciation when they bring forward bad news, or do you "shoot the messenger" if they do so? These questions are part of a short but useful assessment tool developed by ICMA and the California Institute for Local Government.

Challenge bad behavior.
It's an old but true adage that what we allow, we approve. Don't walk by something that is wrong.

Commit to ethics training, advice, and reporting.
Regular training builds awareness of common ethical issues, provides tools and strategies for effective problem solving, and, yes, can even inspire people to do the right thing when they are faced with a difficult ethical dilemma. Remember that it is a myth that good people always make wise choices. Make sure that staff members have informal and formal opportunities to raise any ethical concerns they may have about conduct or decisions in the organization. Create a safe and responsive environment outside the chain of command for those seeking advice or reporting an issue. Effectively providing for advice and counseling may actually decrease the need for someone to blow the whistle by giving leadership advance warning and the opportunity to address ethically troubling activities.

ICMA conducts training for all staff and elected officials using an interactive method focused on applying public service values to real world issues. For additional information, contact Martha Perego, ICMA’s director of ethics, at mperego@icma.org