The Importance of being You – trust matters

Sometimes the most important thing you can bring to work is you. Your experience, your values, your gut feelings, your passion, your caution, your knowledge and your perspectives. You are the sum of all you have learned and that has value so bringing the real you to work adds value to what you do. You should be able to look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and recognise yourself. Trust matters.

The link between honesty and trust

I spent last month working overseas, with people from lots of different countries. We formed teams and worked intensively for several weeks, interacting with other teams as we did so. All of us had deep knowledge and experience but we also brought our own values and perspectives. The best part of the work was learning and leaning on the strengths of each person in the team.

We were all independent consultants but we had to create the trust to form consensual opinions very quickly, maintaining professional standards and providing value for money to our client. It worked because we quickly shared who we were and our strengths and weaknesses. That enabled us to express our views with confidence while actively seeking other perspectives. Humour helped but the biggest reason it worked was that we all let our real selves be seen. None of us were afraid to share what we felt was important or to defer to the views of others.

Principles matter

Collaboration requires compromise and we each crafted some beautiful words…only to edit them out. We were evaluating a lot of evidence so we had robust discussions about whether one piece of evidence outweighed another. Time and again, we referenced our own knowledge and experience to find useful benchmarks. Often we deferred to whoever presented the most compelling evidence or had the deepest experience of a matter. It was evidence, experience and principles that drove debate. Ultimately the most important principles were always upheld. Principles matter more than words or fixed positions.

Being you means bringing ethical behaviour to work every day

Like many people, I belong to professional associations which have codes of professional conduct. Most employees also have a workplace code of conduct. For me, professional standards includes only doing work I am qualified or experienced to do, avoiding or managing conflicts of interest, respecting confidentiality and providing objective advice. It also means bringing my values to work and speaking up when necessary. I have walked away from work that would compromise my integrity. I have reported corrupt behaviour and I have counselled against courses of action that appeared unethical or illegal. That doesn’t make me special at all. It is simply professional behaviour that we all have a right to expect.

The recent revelations about the behaviour of the New Zealand Police Executive in persistently covering up illegal and unethical behaviour by a senior colleague over years is much less than we can expect. The Independent Police Complaints Authority (IPCA) has found serious misconduct by a number of very senior officers and other senior Police employees during 2023 and early 2024 that has undermined the integrity of the organisation as a whole. In any organisation, an executive has a responsibility to act ethically. That responsibility is even stronger when they suspect criminality, coercion, collusion or cover-up. That responsibility should be crystal clear when the Executive in question is running NZ Police. Every member of the Police Executive during the entire period of the former Deputy Commissioner’s tenure really needs to look in the mirror and ask if they stood up when it was necessary.