Let's Get Ethical

Ethics has always been an important subject to me. It was a subject I loved in college, and I have had the privilege to serve on the Ethics committees for two state/city management associations. I previously served on the City Management Association of Oklahoma's Ethics Committee, and I currently serve on the Texas City Management Association's Ethics Committee as the vice-chair.

My time on these committees has allowed me to present several times on ethics and teach classes on the subject.

A few weeks ago, I was tasked with teaching an ethics course to a group of my colleagues in Austin, and I have to tell you, every time I get to do this, I come away excited and motivated.

I think the reason I feel that ethics and the discussion of ethics are so important is based on how I see our jobs as local government professionals.

As stewards of public resources and services, we must serve the community with a high degree of ethical standards. We owe it to our stakeholders to do things in a fair and honorable way that provides equitable services to those we serve. We must conduct ourselves in a manner that serves the public and the community's needs rather than trying to benefit ourselves and leverage our positions.

A strong sense and understanding of what is ethically acceptable helps us achieve this.

The ethics of our organization are not only reflected in the Town's Ethics Ordinance or behavioral expectations in our personnel policy, but they are very much a part of our Culture and Core Values.

Although I believe that strong ethical standards can be associated with, and found in each of our Core Values and our definition of Servant Leadership, our Core Value of Integrity is where our strongest ethical statement is made.

Our definition of integrity is "We are honest, loyal, transparent, fair, and open-minded, and we have a culture of accountability. We keep our word, and we admit our mistakes. We stand up for what is right, even in the face of a challenge, and we do what is right, even if no one notices."

Our Cultural Road Map has this definition and a great list of examples of integrity to review and think about how it applies to you and how it applies to situations you might encounter.

Although ethics and integrity are two separate things, our commitment to integrity gives us the strength to stand up for what is right ethically.

Unfortunately, not every situation that we encounter has a straightforward "right" or "wrong" answer. Often, we are faced with decisions where there is some ambiguity about what is ethically right. However, the more committed we are to our Core Value of Integrity and the more knowledgeable we are about the ethical standards of this organization and our professions, the better equipped we will be to do the right things in service to our community.