Conclusion: Everyday Practices
In 2015, the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards chose the theme of “Ethics Every Day” for their annual observation of ethics month. As the committee chair for ethics month that year, Kirk Hazlett, PRSA Fellow, explained in a blog post on PRSAY, “Ethics should be an everyday reality for all of us. It should be intuitive and proactive, not haphazard and reactive.” We agree with that sentiment and would like to provide a list of ten recommendations that should be a part of every public relations executive and professional’s routine. While work obligations may prevent us from completing these activities on a daily basis, these activities should be integrated on a weekly or at least monthly basis.
Being alert enough to recognize ethical concerns begins with taking care of your personal health at every level: physical, mental, and spiritual. Everyone needs plenty of sleep, a healthy diet, and regular exercise. For some executives and professionals, taking care of themselves will mean making time for prayer, reflection, or reading spiritual or motivational texts to help them stay connected with their personal values. After these personal needs are met, the following ten activities should be a part of your routine to help you make ethics part of your everyday life:
1. Review your company, industry and/or PRSA code of ethics routinely.
PRSA has its Code of Ethics available on business cards that can be a quick reference guide when issues arise. A PRSA Fellow shares this card with colleagues:
I might pull out my PR ethics card and talk to them about you know the code provisions…when you start looking at things like competition and disclosure of information and free flow of information or why that’s important…to understand conflicts of interest and so forth. I think those are all things that help someone think about the bigger picture than just whatever might be the tactical assignment on that given day.
2. Create a file of case studies by researching news stories, articles, and books for examples of good and bad ethical behavior by companies and organizations.
Unfortunately, there is never a shortage of headlines regarding ethical misconduct as this PRSA Fellow found:
I have quite an extensive library of textbooks and Harvard Business Review case studies. I bookmark them or I keep them obviously very organized in my office. And if there’s something that is similar to an issue that I’m facing, I’ll be the first one to use case studies or look into my reference books to see what the case is, and what they ultimately decided to do and what the outcome was. I’m always a big research person. I like to find out what others have done before I start going forward.
3. Check the PRSA website for new and updated ethics resources.
While most public relations professionals are aware of the PRSA Code of Ethics, many are unaware of the other resources available including case studies, an app, ethical standards advisories, an ethics quiz, and webinars. This PRSA Fellow recommends the app:
I think the ethics app, which is on the iPhone is always a good resource if you can’t be around a computer and you get a question you know if you are out in the field someplace, besides the quiz is fun to take when you are waiting on something.
4. Be alert and ask questions to identify any ethical concerns in your company or organization.
To serve as an ethics adviser, public relations professionals need to ask the tough questions and identify decisions that might be problematic. A member of the Page Society added this important caveat:
There’s times when you may not be given accurate information, and so then we thought our role was to always ask and ask as a reporter might ask, again give that different view, look around the corner, and try to keep the company on the right course.
5. Routinely participate in or attend professional development programs such as conferences, chapter meetings, and webinars that focus on ethics.
Everyone is busy, but new issues and trends emerge, and, as this PRSA Fellow advised, it is important for public relations professionals to pay attention to best practices:
To prepare, young professionals need to attend and not ignore the ethics panels and programs that are put together by their local PRSA chapter. They need to become engaged in PRSA, so that they can learn the examples from others of how they have helped counsel people…I have found over the years that no matter what the topic is I almost always learn something from an ethics panel.
6. Read blog posts about ethics.
Some great resources include PRSAY and the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication. Jim Lukaszewski, PRSA Fellow and member of the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS), said that blogs are vital resources:
Regularly reading blogs on ethics is essential to broadening your ethical competence for three reasons: Ethics discussions are always helpful because they inform you from your own perspective. Almost any ethics discussion will trigger fresh ideas you can use. You will always be ready with helpful, cogent, constructive, sensible, powerful, and influential comments on the spot just when someone (e.g., your boss) you are helping needs them.
Kirk Hazlett, a PRSA Fellow and former member of BEPS, said young professionals should not be shy. Do not just passively read blogs, join in the conversation:
Knowledge is not a one-way street. Anyone who really wants to be well-informed on any topic should be aware of the conversations taking place relating to that particular area of interest. In today’s communication universe, blogs are an excellent way both of knowing what is being discussed and of offering one’s own thoughts and opinions to the conversation.
7. Talk to respected mentors and senior colleagues about their experiences confronting ethical challenges.
As a PRSA Fellow said, “If you have an opportunity to talk to somebody you know who’s been a leader…some of their life experiences can really help guide you, and listening to those life experiences can make a difference.”
8. Observe others’ behavior, both good and bad, and learn from their successes and mistakes.
One Page Society member recommended that observation may involve learning from coworkers or newsmakers:
It’s important for young professionals to at least acquaint themselves with definitions and examples of good and bad ethical behavior. And I think the wiser they are about that the better counsel they can give. And I think reading as many case examples…case histories as they can, will help them see the consequences of poor ethical and good ethical behavior. They should certainly watch movies like “The Smartest Guys in the Room,” the Enron case, or there’s many documentaries now about ethical lapses.
9. Make time to network and maintain relationships.
Almost every senior executive and professional we spoke with, including the following, said professionals must nurture relationships with colleagues within their organizations who might be good allies or coalition members, while also setting aside time to network with industry colleagues who might also be good counselors:
What’s been beneficial to me, especially if I have a question about something, I’ve got a network of peers that are accredited, and that I respect, and they subscribe to the same beliefs and values as I do. And if I need a little help on something, and they can…talk you through it, ‘cause, you’re not out there by yourself. (Neill and Drumwright 2012)
10. Look for opportunities to reinforce your organization’s core values in routine communication.
A Page Society member described his company’s efforts in this area:
We put original content on our intranet every day and every week we feature two to three employees that live our values and live the culture of doing the right thing the right way, and that’s one aspect of it. There are a series of things that we do on an ongoing basis to remind people - to consistently tell the culture story…whether we feature our employees on our digital signage…in all of our major sites around the world. We have 50 major sites around the world.
He said they also provide front-line supervisors with toolkits to help them better communicate with employees, and while also spending roughly $25 million annually on training programs that address ethics and compliance issues and other related topics.
Even if your company does not have $25 million to dedicate to ethics training, there are other ways to reinforce ethics. This Page Society member said the efforts should be comprehensive:
You need to have a variety of channels with employees to communicate your values and the company’s values. And to do that with enough frequency in enough formats that people just kind of believe it in their soul that it’s part of the DNA of the organization. It’s not about having a meeting and saying it or sending it in a memo. It’s about living it and living it means truly living it day to day.
Summary
This is by no means an exhaustive list of recommendations, but it is a valuable starting point based on wisdom gained through experience and study. Some weeks we do better than others as deadlines and crises disrupt our best intentions. But, as these senior public relations executives and professionals counsel, we should always return to this routine. Even in our busiest of times, public relations executives and professionals have to take time to reflect and ensure that decisions are ethical and sound. Reputations, and therefore livelihoods, depend on it. We cannot allow pressures to compromise our integrity.
Questions to Ponder
1. Which of these 10 practices can you most easily adopt and why?
2. Which of these goals did you find to be most challenging to complete and why?
3. Can you identity other activities that should be part of a routine in order to practice ethical public relations?