Part 5: The visible demonstration of integrity

When people interact with a public organisation, what they see, feel, and experience is, in effect, what the organisation stands for.⁵⁸

It is important not only to design, maintain, and lead an organisation that has integrity at its core, but integrity also needs to be demonstrated in ways that are meaningful to everyone involved.

Treating people fairly

Treating people fairly means not showing any favouritism, bias, or self-interest. Fairness is at the heart of the democratic process, which everyone in the public sector has a responsibility to support. Public organisations are required to administer the law and to give effect to policy fairly and reasonably, and with respect for the people they serve.

Decisions must be based on accurate information, taking into account only relevant considerations and deciding cases on their merits. It is also requires managing any perceived unfairness that could arise from having any personal interest in decisions made, or from working on matters where there is a close relationship with those involved.

A commitment to being fair does not constrain the duty to give effect to legislation. It is not unfair to enforce obligations imposed by law.

Acting honestly

Honesty means being truthful and open, responding to what is believed to be true, and acting with accuracy and authenticity. Being honest requires setting out facts and relevant issues truthfully and correcting any errors as soon as possible. Honesty is frequently associated with professional courage.

"Embracing integrity requires a commitment to courage. Choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.”

Dr Brené Brown, Dare to Lead

People working in the public sector are expected to act honestly. This obligation is not only work-related. It arises at any time when the consequences of dishonest conduct may affect public trust or the confidence that people, communities, councillors, Ministers, Parliament, or others in the public sector have in a public organisation.

"It only takes one incident of fraud to set an organisation back years in terms of its culture, integrity, and trust and confidence in the community. So we regularly remind people about why this stuff is important.”

Crown entity integrity specialist

Public trust in the public sector will be determined primarily by the degree to which New Zealanders believe that public organisations and all their staff are always acting honestly.

Being accountable

Being accountable means taking responsibility for work, actions, and decisions. Accountability requires openness to scrutiny and a willingness to be questioned. This means:

• explaining actions and decisions to the people who are affected by them;
• taking responsibility for decisions and actions; and
• owning, fixing, and learning from mistakes.

"We have a customer advocacy group, which is a forum [through which we can] gain feedback from communities about our organisation.”

Crown entity integrity specialist

Being accountable is not just about a particular point in time, but about the collective accountability of an organisation over the long term. Organisations must consider how their actions in the present are shaped by their history and how they will affect the future direction of an organisation.

This is particularly important for Māori, who have a relationship with the Crown as a treaty partner going back more than 180 years. Stewardship is not only about safeguarding assets, but also about ensuring that people, institutional knowledge and information, systems and processes, and any legislation that they administer are protected for future generations.

"Integrity looks like someone who walks the talk. Having front-line staff engaging with the public being responsible to call out internal integrity violations.”

Crown entity manager

When trust or promises are broken or when expectations are not met, there needs to be tangible and visible consequences that acknowledge and address the fault and work to achieve resolution. Until this is done, productive and trusting relationships cannot progress.

Most importantly, organisations should regularly engage with those they serve and ask them whether their practices match their commitments to upholding integrity. Asking for feedback on whether practices reflect these commitments helps to uphold trust and accountability.

Being transparent

Being transparent strengthens trust in the public sector by ensuring that people can understand and actively contribute to what the public sector does and how it does it.

Accountability relies on transparent processes and decision-making, enabling the public to be assured that public authority and funds are being used appropriately. Organisations should also share data and insights about their performance with the public.

Transparency helps to raise public understanding of the public sector. By being transparent about the work the public sector does, the public will learn more about how public sector works and how it is relevant to them, building trust.

Transparency also promotes participation. With a deeper understanding of relevant issues, the public can provide a richer contribution to discussion. This in turn supports the public sector be more responsive and able to develop innovative solutions.

Transparency must be balanced with legitimate needs for keeping some information confidential. Disclosure of information still needs to occur within an organisation’s information management policies and procedures, and within the law. However, the starting position should be “What information do we need to withhold, and why?” rather than “What is the minimum amount of information that we need to share?”

Investing in relationships

Integrity requires open, honest, trusting, and respectful relationships. These relationships enable difficult conversations where needed and encourage diversity of thought.

Investing in relationships is an expression of aroha and of manaakitanga – to look after the status of others by showing respect, hospitality, generosity, and care for others. Manaakitanga is grounded in working with and for each other in the spirit of reciprocity and demands a high standard of behaviour toward each other.

Relationships with all stakeholders and communities, including hapū and iwi, need to be more than transactional and need to take account of and respect the knowledge and expertise of those groups. Where possible, work mana to mana by ensuring that there is an appropriate equivalence between each party for meetings and discussions with stakeholders.

"We are more explicit about the journey we are on as an organisation, our role in the community, and the need to continue to develop and foster enduring relationships with iwi.”

Crown entity senior leader

When planning to meet with or talk to stakeholders, organisations should think about how the interaction might be affected by the history of the public organisation and how trusted the public organisation is by the stakeholders.

When building relationships, it is important to make time for whakawhanaunatanga – getting to know each other. It is important to recognise the interconnectedness of people and the importance of relationships to their mutual well-being. Organisations need to consider what these relationships mean, consider the duration of these relationships further than a single piece of work or project, and appropriately invest in them.⁵⁹

It is also important to recognise that settlements under te Tiriti might include specific relationship instruments and agreements that need to be considered and adhered to.

58: This section has drawn heavily on guidance produced by Te Kawa Mataaho to support public servants to perform their roles in ways that demonstrate the values in the Public Service Act 2020.

59: McIntosh, T (2024), “A culture of integrity: Public sector challenges in a post-Covid-19 world”, Integrity Day webinar, available at oag.parliament.nz.