Values and Behaviours

ACTPS Values and Signature Behaviours

The Employee Values

The ACT Public Service (ACTPS) Employee Values and Signature Behaviours define who we are as an organisation. They are the touchstones by which we should measure our own – and others’ – behaviour. In a service as diverse as ours, how those values and behaviours are given life will look different depending on our particular professional and organisational context, but those unifying Values and Signature Behaviours will still be recognisable.

The ACTPS Employee Values of Respect, Integrity, Collaboration and Innovation are enshrined in the Public Sector Management Act 1994 and carry the endorsement of the Head of Service and the Strategic Board.

Respect

Respect in the ACTPS means treating others with the sensitivity, courtesy and understanding we would wish for ourselves, and recognising that everyone has something to offer. It means thinking “would I be happy if this was happening to me” and rests on a foundation of fundamental decency in our dealings with colleagues and clients alike.

Integrity

Integrity in the ACTPS means being apolitical, honest, dependable, and accountable in our dealings with ministers, the Parliament, the public and each other. It means recognising achievement, not shirking uncomfortable conversations and implies a consistency in our dealings with others.

Collaboration

Collaboration in the ACTPS means actively sharing information and resources, working together towards shared goals and asking “who else do I need to talk to to get this right”. It means actively seeking opportunities for breaking down unhealthy silos and relies on genuine engagement with colleagues in the ACTPS and with the broader community.

Innovation

Innovation in the ACTPS means asking “but why”, actively seeking out new and better ways of doing what we do (as well as better things to do), and not settling for how it has always been. It means empowering colleagues at all levels to raise new ideas and necessitates sensible and thoughtful engagement with risk.

While managers and senior staff have a heightened responsibility to model the values and signature behaviours, the obligation on all of us is to continually test our own behaviours against the descriptions set out in this Code. It gives both permission to raise concerns and a language in which to have a conversation about improving our workplaces. These should be ongoing conversations, as well as a focus of regular performance management and professional development discussions.

All the values and signature behaviours are equally important, but at times we may need to give one value more prominence than another. That said, we should try to avoid giving one value so much importance that we cannot observe the others.

Additional information