Jen Rossiter on the power of integrity

In this weekly series of mentor minutes, I am sharing one insight from each of my mentors. Please note that I have learnt SO much more than one thing from each of them, but I wanted to share one important thing I learnt from each (for simplicity and to remain concise).

@Jen Rossiter is a leader in the health industry, and also has worked across many other governmental sectors as well (recently acting as Deputy Director- General for the Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors). Originally qualified as a chemist, Jen has worked her way through many areas and currently is with the Department of Health as the Director of Workforce Strategy. I met Jen when she was the acting Facility Manager of a southside hospital and have been blessed to share time with her in a mentee capacity. Wherever she has worked, she has left a stellar reputation and a team that miss her dearly (I have been one of them).

Integrity

When we think of integrity, we often think of people who are trustworthy. What I will be sharing with you (from Jen) is so much more than that. There are two meanings for integrity listed in the Oxford dictionary:

1.      The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles and

2.      The state of being whole and undivided

In the interest of capturing my greatest learning from Jen, it must be noted that she exemplifies both of these qualities.   

Being honest

In our very first interactions, I noticed how she spoke using plain words (when fancy ones could have been used) and how effective this was. Jen has the ability to speak at any level (and would if the situation called for it), but she understands that people can understand things best when they are discussed plainly. Some executives use ‘management speak’ in all their interactions but Jen is different. 

This is something I have tried to emulate from her. Being a person who had heard a lot of long words from my leaders, I realised how distancing the language can be. For those of us who hear those words all day long, it is easy to fall into the habit of continuing that language with our direct reports. When our team are listening to us, using words which are aligned with management are not necessarily familiar to them and can cause confusion.

The other point to note here is that choosing to speak plainly promotes trust in Jen and between members of her team. In our sessions I bring a question or two, and more often than not- she will ask me for my answer before giving hers (or try to coach it out of me!). When I asked her how to deal with bad news for the team, she gave incredible and simple advice: Be honest. If you don’t know something, say what you do know and what you don’t know and if possible when you will be able to find out. 

An example of when I needed to use this was when our team was facing an enormous challenge and we were not sure what resources we would be able to count on to overcome these. Remembering Jen’s advice, I said to our team: ‘What I do know is that our concerns have been heard, and our organisation are aware of the pressures we are facing. I also know there are upcoming meetings this fortnight to figure out how we can face these and that support for us is being considered. What I don’t know is what that support looks like, or the time frames which will be possible for those support. I can tell you that as soon as I hear something, I will tell you all so we can all prepare together.’

In this instance saying something is still better than saying nothing. Saying nothing makes the team confused about if anything has actually been done, or where we are in the process. A bad outcome that can result from this is the team thinking that we have done nothing (subtext: we don’t care). In this example, the team knew that we had escalated the concern, and that there were actions being taken to try to address this. Even though I couldn’t say the likely outcomes or timeframes it was better than having the team think that nothing was happening- or that things were happening but I just wasn’t telling them. 

Emma Versluis has written a post on integrity and vulnerability here which acknowledges that it can be hard to say ‘I don’t know’ when our teams are looking to us for guidance. However, if people understand we will tell the truth then they can trust more when we do have something to say.

Having strong moral principles

As a part of our mentoring relationship, I have confided in Jen about challenges I have faced, and she has shared with me some learnings she has taken away from past situations. Another quality she demonstrated was being strong with her morals and ethics. In our professional lives we will all face challenges, decisions will be made (that we cannot change) and sometimes the unexpected can occur with bad results. In these times, the most important things for us to remember are:  

A)     that we have advocated for what was needed,

B)     that we have done everything we could to direct the best course of action, and

C)     that we will not always be successful.

Sleeping at night with a clear conscience is the reward for living in this way.    If others take the easy way out, we may feel disappointed for a time. If we are unhappy with our personal decisions or behaviour, that is something we need to live with forever. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin have a book called Extreme Ownership, and in it they talk about understanding our place in difficult times like this. While it may be easy to blame a questionable decision on executives, Jocko highlights that we need to own the responsibility to provide good advice to the senior leaders in our teams to help them make the best decisions.

At these critical points, personal reflection is essential to help us grow from the experience and prepare better for next time. Jen advocates strongly for reflection as a powerful way to grow. The types of questions she might recommend are:

·        What happened?

·        What action did I take?

·        What outcome did I seek?

·        What outcome occurred?

·        What could I have done differently or better to influence the outcome?

·        What have I learnt from this?

·        Did I do the best I could with what I knew at the time?

·        What would I do the same or differently if the same situation arose again?

Asking ourselves questions like this can lead to helpful insights and can prevent us from repeating errors.

Being whole and undivided

What sets Jen apart is her ability to show up by bringing her whole self to work.

An aspect of Jen that I find interesting is that she has mentored a lot of people in very different areas, but we all know her and describe her in a similar way. Jen is consistent because she is authentic. 

Jen treats all people with the same level of respect, regardless of their status. She critically analyses ideas on merit and says what she genuinely believes. When there is constructive feedback to be given, she is happy to deliver it, and the same goes for praise. There is a lot of discussion these days about ‘allowing people to bring their whole self to work’, and Jen does this by role modelling that behaviour. Jen helpfully lets people learn from her past mistakes and is humble in the way she conducts herself.

Consistency is an underrated quality. When it comes to leadership and being effective in our work, being consistent is almost a superpower. I have known inconsistent leaders in the past and the inconsistency permeates the team and the environment. These are people that you are known for instability- the type when you need to wait for a good time to approach them. Consistency ensures that your team, seniors and peers all know what to expect from you- and can expect that every day. Consistency arises from knowing ourselves and being ourselves, in addition to knowing what we can and can’t influence. Consistency helps to create psychologically safe work environments.

Even in her personal presentation, Jen demonstrates wholeness. Always professionally dressed, she had mastered the art of wearing work appropriate clothes while preserving her personal essence. This might be an artistic necklace or statement piece. 

When we met I was resolutely only wearing pants (to look more professional) with my hair in a large bun (to seem stern) and wearing primarily black (so people would know I meant business… I don’t even like wearing black). It may seem simple, but positive role models like Jen proved we can dress in a way that shows our unique interests and still be acceptable in the workplace. I have since changed my work attire to show professionalism with individuality (and feel much better and more authentic for it).

The main lesson I have learnt from Jen is the power of integrity- honesty, ethics and authenticity. Thankyou so much Jen for all you have taught to me and many others. I am grateful to have shared time with you.

Have you known a person of integrity in your workplace? What about them stood out? I love to hear about positive role models so please shout out to them in the comments below.