Integrity Intensive for Public Officials and Government Leaders

The obligation to act truthfully is the highest duty of public officials; the maintenance of trust in leaders is the cornerstone of confidence in government. Ethics training serves this goal by identifying concrete situations in which an obligation of truthfulness is required and by clarifying responses required of the public servant.

The Integrity Intensive Workshop™ supplements standard ethics training by highlighting the overriding societal values served by ethical behavior. The principles of integrity animate the practice of ethics with an overarching and cohering sense of total principled behavior.

Serving this pragmatic purpose requires an exploration of the basic tension between "doing the right thing" and the practical realities of governing. Accordingly, integrity training for public officials and government employees focuses on three basic challenges:

• 1. Demonstrating the connection between ethical behavior and personal satisfaction

  There is a tendency to see the practice of ethics as an inconvenience and a cumbersome imposition of rules unrelated to the real life world in which government officials and their advisors live. Thus, the connection between personal values and duties and public ones must be clarified.

• 2. Understanding the risks of acting ethically

  Acting correctly inevitably involves disappointing some people and is often seen as threatening a career rather than advancing it. Developing a "taxonomy of risk" is necessary to approaching this dilemma clearly and emerging with decision making skills that serve ethical behavior.

• 3. Developing the vernacular of ethical communication

  Government officials can gain confidence in practicing ethics by sharpening the vocabulary that conveys integrity to colleagues, constituents and other stakeholders.

The Integrity Intensive for Public Officials and Government Employees Introduction™ is a three and a half hour survey of the exercises conducted at the full two day Integrity Intensive for Public Officials and Government Employees Workshop ™.

The Integrity Intensive for Public Officials and Government Employees Introduction™ is a complete experience in itself, focusing on the fundamentals of a personal ethical blueprint. It is offered for $199 which is applied as credit toward the full Integrity Intensive for Public Officials and Government Employees Workshop™ if taken within six months.