How to: Act with Integrity and Trust

What does this look like?

Managers who demonstrate integrity and trust:

• behave ethically
• give advice that’s objective, independent, apolitical and impartial
• always show respect to everyone
• speak truth appropriately and when needed
• keep confidences
• never misrepresent themselves for personal gain.

How can I do this?

1.    Be honest yet respectful

As manager, you often need to deliver information or take stances that others will object to. Always present them honestly and respectfully.

• Choose your words carefully and think about how they’ll be received.
• Stick to facts and problems. Be specific.
• Don’t blame.
• Come up with two or three statements you’d be prepared to defend and test your delivery with people you trust.

2.    Don’t exaggerate or overpromise

• Don’t promise something unless you can deliver.
• Choose to either promise or not promise. Avoid ‘I’ll try’.
• If you don’t know something, just say so. Offer to follow up with an answer within a timeframe.

3.    Keep confidences

• Keep personal information confidential.
• If you’re not sure whether something needs to be kept confidential, ask.
• Don’t agree too quickly to keep information confidential if it raises ethical, legal or safety issues.
• Be clear up front if you may not be able to keep information confidential. Say for example, ‘Before you tell me, be aware that I can’t keep matters confidential if they affect our unit’s performance or if they raise ethical, legal or safety concerns.’

4.    Act in the interests of the organisation

• Don’t use information or friendships for your own advantage.
• Make sure requests for information are work related and not personal.
• Only access information for the purpose of fulfilling your role.
• Don’t make decisions or be involved in decisions that you, your friends and/or family could benefit from.

5.    Take responsibility

Being willing to take responsibility is more important than being perfect or preserving your reputation.

• Admit mistakes early and inform those who could be affected by them.
• Publicly acknowledge mistakes if appropriate. Take personal responsibility.
• Demonstrate that you’ve learned from your mistakes and will do things to prevent them from happening again.
• Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Reflect then move on.

6.    Take action to address issues

It’s your job as manager to address issues, solve problems and take action. Do this proactively. Don’t say you’ll do something just to please people or avoid trouble. If you say you’re going to do something, follow through and do it.

7.    Deliver on your commitments

• Return phone calls and emails in a timely manner.
• If you tend to forget things, write them down.
• Give realistic timeframes for getting back to people when you need to.
• If you consistently can’t find time to follow through on your commitments, allocate time each day just for this.
• If you discover you can’t do something you’ve committed to, consider delegating the task to someone else.

8.    Be a team player

As a manager it’s important you interact with others and contribute to the team.

Don’t:

• hold back information
• keep everything to yourself
• leave people wondering what you’re doing and why.

Do:

• Communicate with your manager, peers and teammates and offer your support when needed.
• Signal that you think in terms of the team.
  • Use ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.
  • Talk about ‘us’ and ‘the team’ and ‘doing things together’.
• Share the credit and rewards.
• Help others get ahead and to advance their careers.
• Take opportunities to mentor and coach others.

9.    Know when and how to sound an alarm

If something doesn’t seem right, be willing to sound an alarm. Talk to the right person, being direct and straightforward. If it turns out you’re wrong, remember that it’s better to report false-alarms and near misses than to allow serious issues to go on unreported.

10. Re-establish rapport if you need to

If you’ve been untrustworthy, work at re-establishing rapport.

• Reflect on your past behaviours without trying to defend or justify them.
• Admit if and when you have betrayed trust and not followed through on your commitments.
• Talk with your boss or mentor about how you can develop in this area and include some strategies in your Professional Development Plan (PDP).
• Meet with people you’ve let down to:
  • ask for feedback
  • let them know what you’re going to do differently
  • ask if they’ll give you a chance to improve.

11. Think about how you’re seen

Think about how others see you and whether you’re considered trustworthy.

• Write down all the reasons you don’t trust others.
• Write down reasons why others might not trust you.
• Think about the people who are trustworthy and ask yourself:
  • What do they do that I don’t?
  • What do I do that they don’t?
  • Are there things I overdo or underdo?
• Write down some strategies for improving. For example:
  • ‘I’ll stop and ask questions, not give an immediate answer.’
  • ‘Instead of giving answers without much thought, I’ll offer to get back to someone after I’ve had a chance to think about the situation.’

You may find this challenging if you…

• treat others differently or indifferently at times
• are seen as inconsistent
• have trouble keeping confidences
• make promises you can’t or won’t keep
• don’t follow through
• blame others for your mistakes.

You may not be demonstrating integrity and trust appropriately if you are…

• too direct at times, making people feel uncomfortable
• are open and honest in situations where it’s not prudent to be
• so focused on the facts that you don’t consider people’s opinions or feelings