Do:
- Demonstrate the public sector values in how you work.
- Adhere to the Code of Conduct.
- Be prepared to speak up and support others to speak up too.
- If you’re in doubt, speak with your manager or peers.
- Plan projects and tasks early and document your plan.
- Refer to your plan often and build in opportunities to report and advise on progress.
- If something doesn’t feel right ask questions.
- Consult as appropriate with your relevant legal team to ensure your brief and attachments comply with any legal requirements for the relevant decision.
- Engage with the minister’s office in line with your organisation’s protocols and as appropriate for your level of responsibility.
- Seek opportunities where possible to work with the minister’s office and to understand how it operates.
- Provide opportunities for the people you lead to learn about and be exposed to how the minister’s office operates. These opportunities should match their position level.
- Consider the example you set as a leader about what constitutes meaningful engagement and what’s acceptable when you engage the minister’s office.
- Consider the departmental liaison officer (DLO) as a valuable first point of contact in the minister’s office.
Don’t:
- hesitate to raise concerns with your manager
- allow personal concerns or biases to influence your duty to provide full and frank advice
- circumvent your line of management unless you have serious concerns about their integrity. If you have integrity concerns, consider formal processes for reporting them.
- withhold information that is required for the minister to make a fully informed decision
- provide advice to the minister’s office without authorisation or without following pre-established communication protocols.
- rely solely on oral briefs for any matter of significance.