[Peetwo]

Vote 1 for Ben Cook as PAIN BRB committee member -

Love this from BC's LinkedIn webpages...

Politicians, perks and professionalism: when good things don’t come in threes

Published on March 16, 2017
 

Ben Cook

Chief Executive Officer at Human and Systems Excellence

In the many years I’ve spent working to enhance the performance of elite teams and high reliability organisations I’ve learnt one key lesson: When it comes to rules, what’s more important is the culture of the workplace rather than the rule itself.

A well-written rule or policy for a diverse team can only provide broad guidance in a workplace. Around the rule itself, the culture of the workplace is what really shapes how people interpret and apply that rule.

This leads to a tried and tested adage: truly professional workplaces need fewer rules. Fewer-rule workplaces lead to more empowered and engaged staff with higher levels of trust and an ability to get on with the job. Staff are allowed to think for themselves and make good decisions, which fosters innovation.

And yet, recent headlines from our politicians highlight what appears to be a deeply ingrained culture of entitlement and reckless disregard for rules in their workplaces. In my experience, this is a by-product of sloppy professionalism at best, and rampant malpractice at worst.

---

“Victorian premier Daniel Andrews asks High Court to block inquiry into MPs' rorts.”

“MPs used chauffeured ministerial cars to get to and from a Bruce Springsteen concert.”

“Speaker Telmo Languiller to repay $40k over 'second residence' allowance perk.”

 “Minister Sussan Ley billed taxpayers for a “spontaneous” $795,000 real estate purchase.”

 “Foreign Minister Julie Bishop charged taxpayers $2,716 to attend the Portsea Polo.”

---

Every time I see these headlines, I wonder who is actually taking charge of these situations? How are they allowed to happen? I have worked in the public sector enough to know that people there are hard-working and serious about their jobs; so in many ways I just don’t get it. But unlike other people I’ve heard talking about the hallowed halls of Canberra, I am not content with the view (it really exists) that ‘just because they’re politicians different rules apply’. In my view whether it's the politicians themselves or their administrative assistants, the bottom line is that people are making these mistakes all too easily, and frankly they should know better.

In essence, we have been fed the line of an incompetent bureaucracy for too long. I can tell you from experience that these errors are not the result of the rules not being followed; they are the lack of a strong workplace culture that stands up for, and lives by those rules. As we know, these errors are not one-offs, they are fairly regular. To this end they are representations of a habitualised lack of staff empowerment and a culture of apathy towards professionalism in the public service and beyond.

These are not just the views I believe - they are views I have experienced first-hand. Not so long ago, I was required to sign a declaration for myself and a small team at a government agency to travel in Economy class instead of Business. That’s right, you read correctly, we had to fill forms out to downgrade our expenses, rather than upgrade them.

I needn’t tell you the reasons to do so were obvious. Travelling Economy meant we could send a team of three to a specialist training course rather than just one person, significantly speeding up the time to deploy a culture program for our organisation.

It didn’t end there. As a team, we got together to consider the excessive food and travel allowances available to the staff who were to go on the trip. Believe it or not, again we were required to fill out paperwork to reduce these entitlements, in order to enable us to do more for our organisation with less. I couldn’t believe this was the public purse that we were talking about; the money of Australian taxpayers that was pre-assigned to allow these perks. It made my blood boil.

So I ask the  politicians, and indeed anyone else with this sense of entitlement at work: it’s time to be honest with yourself. Are you the type of person that uses the rules to get all of your workplace entitlements? What about when those entitlements well exceed your out-of-pocket expenses? If you answered yes, you’re part of a process that means someone in your business is missing out on their opportunity to do their best for you and your team. Your possibly self-centred work ethic could be moving you in the same direction as our politicians! And I can guarantee it's breeding a culture that inhibits your organisation from being the best it can.

Practising deliberate professionalism in your workplace means your staff, including senior management, are not always chasing perks. It also saves you time because you don’t need to set out the rules step-by-step. People in a professionally-led workplace are empowered and actively seek to meet the intent of your policies, not because the rules are there, but because people believe in them before they go looking. That is what it means to be truly professional.

I want the businesses and public sector agencies of Australia to get back to basics to tackle our deeply engrained cultures of entitlement. Stop taking our public funds for granted, and start focussing on setting clear personal and ethical standards regarding what it means to be a true professional in your workplace.

For further information on Level III professionalism: http://www.hse3.com.au/wp-content/upload...ro_WEB.pdf. And for those poor 'pollies' that feel lost in this space I’m happy to help you get you back to where you need to be

 

MTF...P2