Several readers of my monthly Municipal Ethics Tips and Trends newsletter suggested that part of this month's edition might have broader implications than just to local governments. Could well be. With that hope, here is a slightly adapted version:
Whose job is it to assure that this broader
approach to ethics training is put into place? Other than at a federal level, I often hear that it is
HR's responsibility to do it. However I hear from a good many government HR folks that they don't actually have the authority to even
offer this type of training let alone require it. (They can and should
heartily lobby for this type of training, of course, but may not
ultimately be have the power to assure that it happens.) In my
experience, more thorough ethics training usually needs to be set up by
agency or department heads regardless of the level of government, by city managers when at the local level, etc. Whether they can offer it versus
requiring it is different from place to place and agency or department to agency or department. However, they certainly have
the authority to put the training process in place.
If you work in government and have the
authority to set up more thorough ethics training than what your officials and employees are getting now, use it! If you don't have that authority, be sure to work
with those who do to help them see the value in ethics training that
goes well beyond what we usually see as 'government ethics'. The return
on investment in that training - for government officials and employees at all levels of government - can be huge. (And, of course, that's before calculating the even broader return for the citizens for whom those officials and employees are working.)
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