Building a speak up culture in the APS

What is speak up culture and psychological safety?

In the APS, speak up culture is grounded in the concept of psychological safety, defined as:

“the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes, and the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” (Edmondson, 1999)[1]

Speak up culture fosters an environment where employees feel safe and supported to raise concerns, contribute ideas, and challenge the status quo without fear of negative consequences.

Why is a speak up culture important?

Speaking up is vital to embedding integrity in the APS. It ensures that employees feel safe to express concerns or ideas, empowered to participate in integrity systems, and engaged to build a transparent and ethical public service.

Speak up culture promotes curiosity, continuous learning and innovation. It also supports team performance, employee wellbeing and the APS’s diversity and inclusion goals.

In February 2023, the APS Integrity Taskforce was established against the backdrop of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. The Taskforce’s Louder than Words: An APS Integrity Action Plan made a number of recommendations aimed at bolstering the capability of the APS to lead with integrity, with recommendation 4 focussing specifically on ethical decision making and fostering psychological safety.

How can you build a speak up culture in your agency?

The Secretaries Board Capability and Workforce Committee has endorsed a suite of materials to support APS employees, managers and leaders to:

• understand the importance of speak up culture
• recognise how it contributes to a culture of integrity
• take practical actions to build and sustain a speak up culture.

These materials are now available through the APS Academy:

1. An introduction to speak up culture in the APS
2. Manager playbook: Building speak up culture in the APS

The 4C practices

The guidance introduces 4 key practices that form the foundation for speak up culture. Developed through APS-wide consultation and aligned with the APS Values and Code of Conduct, the 4C practices are:

• Listen with compassion
• Show curiosity
• Speak with candour
• Act with courage

Each of these practices play a role but it’s the combination of all that helps us feel safe to speak up.

Visit APS Academy to access these materials to build speak up culture in your team. Staff in the Australian Public Service Commission will need to use this link.

Footnote

[1] Edmondson, A. (1999), Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams, Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.