Every well-intentioned public agency manager has a number of goals. Two of those goals are (1) to lead a high-performing agency that (2) enjoys a high degree of community trust and confidence in how staff perform their public service roles.

Conversely, having a scandal occur on a manager’s watch is every manager’s worst nightmare. Such scandals inevitably reflect poorly on the agency and its leadership. This frequently includes serious consequences for the community trust in the agency and the chief administrator’s tenure.

As a March 2023 article in PM explained, behavioral science helps us understand the powerful role that decision-making shortcuts and situational factors play in human decision-making. This includes the influential role that social forces, including obedience to authority and conformity bias play in shaping employees’ behavior.

The 2023 article noted that this is why ethics experts define the leadership task as fostering a culture of ethics in an organization. Put another way, it is a mistake to believe that individuals’ values and character determine their behaviors and decision-making in the workplace. The hard truth is that workplace environment plays a significant, if not determinative, role.

Creating an organizational culture that supports prioritizing ethics requires a multi-faceted strategy. Elements of such a strategy include:

1. Leading by example (including being mindful of the messages
   one’s words and conduct sends).
2. Including ethics-related values in an agency’s vision, mission,
   and values statements.
3. Adopting a values-based code of ethics.
4. Hiring for ethics.
5. Including ethics in the onboarding process.
6. Making ethics part of the performance assessment and
   feedback process.
7. Setting realistic goals.
8. Encouraging a “speak up” culture.
9. Promoting regular discussion, education, and celebrations of
   ethical decision-making.
10. Seeking feedback and engaging in self-assessment.

This article focuses on the first strategy: leading by example. It explores three elements of this strategy: messaging emphasizing the importance of ethics in public service, modeling ways to reason one’s way through ethical issues, and holding oneself accountable for walking the talk.

Setting an Ethical “Tone at the Top”

A leader’s behavior is key to infusing ethical values into the organization’s day-to-day operations. Sometimes referred to as “leading by values,” this includes demonstrating a commitment to act fairly, transparently, and in a trustworthy manner. It also involves treating people within the organization, as well as the public, with respect and compassion. Conversely, research indicates that if employees believe they are being mistreated, they are more likely to engage in misconduct and mistreat others, including those the organization serves.

It is natural for organizational leaders to be focused on performance; the public expects value for its taxpayer dollars. However, an organization runs a risk if its leaders focus exclusively on what gets done (the ends) to the exclusion of how the work gets accomplished (the means). Such a focus on ends may inadvertently signal that the means or processes by which people go about doing their jobs do not matter to the organization.

Some themes to consider emphasizing in one’s interactions with staff include the importance of the following in public service:

Public Trust and Confidence

Public trust and confidence are critical to the agency’s ability to do its work and fulfill its mission. Such confidence and trust depend not only on doing one’s work well, but also consistently demonstrating the agency’s commitment to putting the public’s interests first. Avoiding even the appearance of impropriety is a key dimension of signaling one’s commitment to serving the public’s interests. These concepts relate to the ethical core values of trustworthiness and responsibility.

Rule of Law

Respecting the rule of law is central to public service and professional public administration. State and local public agencies are creatures of the law, either constitutional or statutory. This is one of the reasons officeholders and employees frequently take an oath to support the constitution and laws.

To be sure, the laws governing agency operations can make the agency’s work more challenging. It can be tempting for leaders to both express this frustration and cut compliance corners. The challenge is, if public agencies want the public to respect and adhere to the rules that the agency promulgates, it is important for the agency to conscientiously observe the laws governing its operations.

In working with one’s management team and staff, it can be helpful for leaders to connect these laws’ requirement to important public service values (for example, the core ethical values of trustworthiness, responsibility/accountability, and fairness). Such messaging underscores the “why” of complying with the law, even if it can be frustrating.

Ethics Laws as Minimum Standards (Floors, Not Ceilings)

How one frames and complies with ethics laws matters, too. Such laws are designed to promote public trust in public agencies and public servants. Such laws create minimum standards. Particularly in local agencies and states with extensive ethics laws (as in California), it can be easy to get consumed with making sure one complies with the various laws designed to promote public trust in public agency actions.

As arduous as that sometimes can be, satisfying the requirements of the law is only the first step of the analysis of what the right thing to do is in a situation. The next step is to analyze whether the particular action also is consistent with the agency’s values and the public’s expectations.

As ethicists are fond of saying, the law is a floor for ethical conduct—the standard below which one’s actions must not fall. This means public servants can and should set their sights higher than what the law requires. This is not only because doing so is the right thing but is also consistent with the public’s expectations of public servants.

Conscientious Stewardship of Public Resources

Particularly for those team members that may be newer to public service, it can be helpful to stress the importance of viewing oneself as steward of the public’s resources. These resources include agency dollars, equipment, supplies, and staff time. The message needs to be as follows: the public’s money funds the agency. The agency therefore needs to hold itself accountable for stretching those dollars as far as possible in service to the public. It’s not okay to use agency time, equipment, or supplies for personal purposes.

A leader who engages their teams in ongoing efforts to maximize the value the public receives for its investment in the agency work will minimize accusations of “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Such conscientious stewardship of public resources relates to the core ethical values of responsibility and trustworthiness.

These messages (and others) are about authentically setting “the tone at the top” for the kinds of considerations that go into public service work. For the message to be credible and affect organizational culture, leaders’ actions must match their words.

Modeling “Slow” (Analytic) Thinking About Ethical Issues

In one of his Career Compass articles, Dr. Frank Benest observes: “The most powerful way that people change behaviors is through modeling. Therefore, you, your division managers, and other key influentials must serve as role models, not only communicating the desired beliefs but modeling the desired behaviors.” He argues such role modeling is a key element of fostering a strong and positive organizational culture.

Dr. Benest’s views are apparently shared by the ICMA community. In a recent survey of ICMA members about techniques to promote organizational ethics, some 64% of those responding “strongly agreed” with the proposition that top administrators need to emphasize ethics in both policy and decision-making.

People are understandably proud of their intentions to act ethically and do the right thing in situations. This frequently includes heartfelt declarations that they intuitively know right from wrong. Indeed, sometimes intuition can serve one well, such as when one gets an uncomfortable “gut feeling” about a contemplated course of action, which may be signaling that the action could be inconsistent with one’s values.

However, the science of human decision-making tells us that the obverse is not always true. The absence of a gut feeling does not necessarily mean that there is no ethical issue. This is particularly so when we are engaging in what Nobel laureate and bestselling author Daniel Kahneman calls “system 1 thinking,” which is fast, intuitive, and emotional. Kahneman explains that this is how we as humans do much of our thinking in our busy, demanding lives. He notes that the problem with such thinking is that it is error prone and doesn’t always allow us to behave like the kind of person we believe ourselves to be.

Another opportunity for leaders to engage in role modeling is for leaders to model how to slow down to engage their more deliberative, “system 2 thinking” processes. Leaders can demonstrate, by example, how to work through the process of looking for the values dimensions of situations and thinking (aloud) about what values are most important in a situation.

This “slowing down” process can be thought of as a three-part strategy involving awareness, analysis, and action. Visually, one can think of these elements as a tripod supporting ethical and core values related decision-making.

Awareness involves actively looking for the values dimensions of a situation (and avoiding the human tendency to not see the ethical dimensions of situation).

Analysis speaks to the question of “what is the right thing to do?” once one has identified a situation or decision as presenting values issues. Sometimes the answer is clear; often it is not.

Action, the third leg of the tripod, speaks to the fact that doing the right thing can be difficult and potentially involve personal costs.

This article will focus on the second leg of the tripod: analysis. For additional information on the other two legs, see these pieces on awareness and action.

A starting point for modeling how to analyze ethical dilemmas is to understand that there are two kinds:

• “Right-versus-right” ethical dilemmas involve conflicting positive (core universal) values that pull a decision-maker in different directions.
• Moral courage ethical dilemmas occur when a decision-maker knows the right thing to do but understands that acting on that knowledge may involve personal or professional costs.

Let’s explore each type of dilemma further.

Right-versus-Right Ethical Dilemmas

If a situation presents a “conflicting right values” ethical dilemma, a next question is which value(s) ought to be given more weight given the context. An agency’s values statement or code, if existent, may provide some guidance. In fact, the recent survey of ICMA members on strategies for fostering a culture of ethics suggest that managers find that agency values statements are a crucial tool for communicating an agency’s values and leadership expectations. These statements are typically embedded in agencies’ mission and goals statements. Examples of values that can be analytically helpful in reasoning through ethical issues are trustworthiness, fairness, responsibility, respect, and compassion.

Some team members can also turn to their respective professional codes of ethics. (Understanding that many of the professionals that serve in a public agency have their own code of ethics models the ethical core value of respect.)

For example, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Code of Ethics explicitly emphasizes the importance of the value of trustworthiness in the public finance profession. A strong theme of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks Code of Ethics is the value of fairness, expressed as neutrality and impartiality. This is also a strong theme in the ICMA Code of Ethics and Guidelines, which stresses being politically neutral, which also relates to the values of responsibility and fairness.

The “which value should have more weight” discussion also is a good opportunity for public agency employees to reflect on what core values are most important to them in their public service and why. Scholars suggest that it can be helpful for public administrators to ponder their own personal code of ethics. Similarly, Giving Voice to Values author Mary Gentile suggests being clear on one’s “professional purpose” as a strategy for positioning oneself to act on one’s values.

Of course, not everyone may agree on which values should be given more weight. As Gentile notes, values conflicts are a normal part of professional life. Helping employees practice having these conversations and consider (and respond to) those with differing perspectives helps build important professional skills. It also builds what Gentile calls “moral muscle memory” that can help people respond effectively in the future.

Moral Courage Ethical Dilemmas

Moral courage ethical dilemmas tee up a different line of conversation. Depending on the specifics of the situation, the cost of “doing the right thing” can be damage to relationships or can put one’s job or career advancement at risk. Behavioral ethics research indicates that a number of human tendencies come into play in such situations (including, for example, self-serving bias, conformity bias, status quo bias and obedience to authority bias).

Local government ethics thought leader Kevin Duggan counsels ICMA members that “suffering undeserved negative personal or professional consequences does not absolve you of failing your ethical obligations—particularly as a leader.” Duggan notes that it can be helpful to clarify the lines one will not cross before a values conflict arises. Duggan further suggests trying to anticipate the ethical issues one might face to help increase the likelihood one will make a decision consistent with one’s own values and the public’s expectations.

Circumstances may not always allow for this admittedly slow form of decision analysis. Like most areas, there are some helpful shorthand concepts. One is called the front page or media test (“what would happen if a decision were reported in the media?”); another is the mom test (“would my mom or other respected relative proud of this decision?”). If a situation isn’t suitable for this more extensive analysis, these heuristics can still be an effective form of analysis to model.

While not a part of role modeling per se, it bears noting that modeling such decision-making behavior will be easier and have more context if the ethics training the agency offers goes beyond the “do’s and don’ts” to include these kinds of analytic approached. As the Kellogg School of Management notes, it can also be helpful for trainings to include information on the types of situations where people are most likely to go astray and the types of justifications (what behavioral ethicists call rationalizations) that are commonly used when missteps occur.

This bears noting because ethics training scored highly (with over 80% strongly agreeing) in the recent survey of city managers on tools to promote ethical processes, leadership, and culture. Managers also agreed strongly with the statement that such training is a basis for further coaching on ethical conduct (nearly 54% strongly agreed).

The Importance of Accountability

Another important message to consider and model is accountability, including self-accountability. Again, employees take their cues from leaders’ behavior. If a leader wants to create a culture in which each employee holds themselves (and others) accountable, owning errors rather than denying or deflecting blame models the kinds of behaviors one wants others to exhibit. As Benest explains, role modeling also involves taking visible steps to acknowledge mistakes and commit to make situations right.

As Kellogg notes, the goal is to create an environment in which learning from mistakes is allowed. This involves creating a psychologically safe environment that supports responsible risk-taking and asking for help. According to Kellogg, leaders foster this by admitting their own missteps. The goal is to encourage organizational growth by responding to small ethical lapses in ways that promote learning rather than embarrassment.

This requires humility, which fans of Jim Collins’s Good to Great management tome will recognize as a high-level leadership attribute. The Government Finance Officers Association code of ethics (which has been revised in light of what behavioral ethics science teaches us about pressures to act unethically) explicitly encourages humility. Under the code section relating to being open to new ideas, GFOA encourages its members to embrace humility by recognizing that they may not always be right. Indeed, humility is the antidote for another behavioral ethics dynamic that can lead people astray, which is over-confidence bias.

Conclusion

There is a strong consensus among both public and private management experts about the importance of fostering a strong organizational culture, including one that supports values-based/ethical decision-making. Role modeling and leading by example is perhaps the most important tool in a leader’s toolbox for shaping organizational culture.

The techniques described in this article—messaging, modeling ethical decision-making analysis, and holding oneself accountable—are three effective ways to engage in role-modelling.

For more information on other leadership strategies to shape organizational culture, see the full version of this paper, which was delivered at a recent American Society for Public Administration conference session on ways public administrators can place ethics first in public service.

JOANNE SPEERS, JD, is principal of S2 (as in “System 2”) Ethics Strategies. She previously served as chief executive of the Institute for Local Government, where she developed and directed its ethics program.