Language Lessons, Expense Approvals, and Conferences as Treats
The high costs of low integrity.
Exchanging Atoms
I’m a big fan of meeting in person. There’s something about the exchange of our teeny-tiny atoms that only happens when we are leaning in, breathing the same air, and sharing the rhythm of our heartbeats and brain synapses. That exchange supercharges our interdependence and calls our best selves to attention.
Meeting in person comes with costs. I know this from my own work and my firmly drawn line on travel options, hotel standards, and nourishment needs. I would never expect anyone travelling for work to not be comfortable, well-rested, and properly fed.
These costs are investments in the people who because of the in-person experience bring better information, ideas, process, and outcomes to their work and the communities they serve.
Investment Risk
As is the nature of investments, there are risks. The biggest risk that I’m seeing right now to this investment in people is the somewhat hidden, or unspoken, cost of low integrity.
Integrity is what keeps us connected to and behaving by a set of values, principles, and ethical guidelines, both our own and those of our organization (hopefully in alignment), so that our decisions and actions are the best they can be.
Without integrity, there is an incredible cost of harm done to trust in civic institutions, organizational cultures, and personal and professional reputations.1 This harm ripples out and has a dire affect on our ongoing project of civic good and democracy.
This cost of low integrity is a sneaky so-and-so that has wormed its way into organizations on a nudge-nudge-wink-wink. It’s the addictive thrill of a free lunch that grows into a habit of “I’m owed this”, and the next thing we know, we are making the headlines for taking an English class.
Three Quick Stories
I’m sharing three quick stories, not for judgement, but as examples that many of us can relate to and we can all learn from.
Story #1
Quebec Sen. Amina Gerba travelled to Vancouver with her husband for two 20-hour English courses at a total cost of nearly $22,000 — trips that several parliamentarians say raise ethical questions. (“Senator defends spending nearly $22K for English classes in Vancouver”, CBC News, October 1, 2025)
This flash-in-the-pan news item is what got me thinking about integrity and investments in people. In this case, what it cost and what she did isn’t the question from an integrity point-of-view. The question, and one which we’ll never know the whole answer to is, why did she do it? Did she think that she was getting away with a cushy trip on the taxpayers’ dime or was her trip a demonstration of her good intentions to learn English, understand more about Canada outside of Quebec, and to perform her duties as a senator?
In the end, the real cost isn’t the $22,000. The real cost is, that in a climate where we don’t assume the good intentions or integrity of our government officials, that this story will further erode trust in civic institutions.
Story #2
Soon after the above story broke, I was on a work trip that had me on a rather squishy-small plane. From what I could gather the folks around me (they were loud and admittedly I was curious) were travelling for a variety of hefty meetings on things like water stewardship and housing.
But what really caught my attention, was their very lively discussion about, as one of the group put it, “getting away with” hotel and restaurant expenses. According to another, if the pre-approved expense form is submitted at the last minute it gets a rushed approval for what they called “a blank cheque”. The tips and tricks from others seated close by for “having a good time” paid for by work would add a lot of colour and interest to an auditor’s training manual.
After a few minutes of this back and forth, the young guy seated next to me did a remarkable thing. He said,
We are trusted by and paid by our community to do this work. This isn’t our money or time, it’s theirs.
He kind of killed their happy travel vibe, but there were also nods and comments of “you’re right bro”, “your mom raised you good”, and my favourite “well, I wasn’t going to spend it all”.
He exposed the cost of low integrity and its risk to the trust their community has in their organizations. He was also a stellar example of exercising integrity and how an ethical leadership reputation is formed.
Story #3
While having dinner with a group of public sector executive leaders, the topic of leadership development came up (you know, as it does). We got to assessing their sector’s conferences and leadership retreats where current leaders and emerging leaders could make meaningful connections, learn with peers and mentors, and really dig into the trends, issues, opportunities and big discussions of their work. We also talked about how leadership development was an investment.
I asked, “how is the return on this investment?”.
Turns out, it’s not so good. Despite the years of investment, succession planning is still a top concern with another being leadership and team impact or productivity (admittedly a multi-sector Canada-wide puzzle).2
They also shared that opportunities, such as conference or leadership retreat attendance, are often handed out like a random treat or are done on a rotating schedule. The feeling is that merit or potential are too subjective to be at play in the selection process. Oh dear.
Not addressing the randomness of opportunities and the lack of impact from those opportunities is so far removed from the behaviour of the young guy on the plane (Story #2), that it raises the question of, “where is the integrity in this sector’s leadership development?”.
Not seeing this as an integrity issue risks leaders and emerging leaders having reputations as thoughtless hander-outers of treats and thoughtless takers of those treats. That’s a high price to pay.
Final Thoughts
Individuals, organizations, and the communities they serve benefit from meeting in person to learn, exchange ideas, and form meaningful relationships. The cost of doing so is a good investment when done with integrity.
So…
What are our intentions when attending work supported events?
How do we view work travel expenses?
How do we decide on conference and retreat opportunities?
How is the investment realized in professional growth, work improvements, and organizational impact?
Let’s nip that costly sneaky so-and-so of low integrity, that has wormed its way into organizations on a nudge-nudge-wink-wink, in the bud now before it is too late.
I’m here for it,
Babs
You can find out more about me and my work as coach and facilitator at Life and Work with Babs Kelly.
There is no difference between the personal and the professional. But we’ll save that discussion for another time.
If you are chatting with Carney, let him know that I have some big thinking on the labour composition factor in productivity, specifically around leadership development, ethics, emotional intelligence, and psychological safety. I’m ready when he is. :)
The Productivity Problem, The Bank of Canada, March 26, 2024.