What internal communicators need to know about ethics

I’ve encountered ethically challenging situations throughout my internal communication career, while working in-house and now as a consultant.

Ethics are a core part of the Chartered PR Practitioner process from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and I found myself with multiple examples at the tip of my tongue when being assessed.

I’ve turned down potential client opportunities on an ethical basis and used the CIPR Ethics Decision Tree and helpline a number of times.

Every Statement of Work we issue at All Things IC (the document we create when signing a new client) includes the fact we abide by the CIPR’s ethical code of conduct.

How can you learn about working ethically in internal communication?

Help is at hand thanks to the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC). Last month the IoIC launched its new guidance on ethical practice, a 14 page practical guide that talks about principles, challenges, checklists and potential scenarios you might face.

I welcome this guide and thank the IoIC for creating such a valuable resource for internal communicators.

All Things IC Communication Consultant Dan Holden joined the launch webinar and is here to share his reflections on the guide and ethics within the profession.

Over to you Dan.

What internal communicators need to know about ethics

To be honest with you, ethics wasn’t a topic I proactively thought about in my internal comms career until I joined a professional membership body, and even then, I wasn’t 100% sure what it meant.

The new guidance from the IoIC sets out clearly what ethical communication is, the core principles when it comes to content and a handy checklist that I can see been of great value to many communicators.

Jennifer Sproul, Chief Executive of the IoIC gives a great introduction by explaining:

“Ethical values provide the moral compass by which we practice and help our organisations make decisions, acting as a foundation upon which professionalism and ethical practice is promoted.

We know as communicators that our role helps to build trust within our organisations and for colleagues to feel valued and respected. This can only be achieved through ethical communication, which as the guidance explains “is about ensuring all communication within the organisation is truthful, fair and demonstrates respect.”

It’s great to see that the investment by the IoIC is beyond just this guidance.

New members will be offered access to an ethics training course, workshops will run throughout the year on ethics guidance, and ethical practice will form part of the IoIC profession map and CPD programme.

This also aligns with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), who require all members to log ethics learning as part of their CPD programme.

The key principles of ethical good practice focus are content, timing, accessibility, confidentiality, data-gathering, two-way communication, and diversity and inclusion.

Reflecting on my comms career, these are all things I have been doing, just not always connecting them to ethics.

The ethical decision checklist is an excellent tool when you find yourself in a difficult position. It provides an easy-to-follow, visual decision-making tool.

1. Is it legal?
2. How would it appear to the IoIC and my fellow members?
3. If this was a story in the media, how would it portray me and the IoIC?
4. If someone did this to me, would I think it’s fair and ethical?

Making ethics part of your everyday work

My advice to you would be to talk more about ethics. The principles set out in the guidance are all aspects of internal communication we do daily.

There isn’t anything new or anything to be afraid of. This is an excellent resource by which you can question stakeholders and have some clear, professional support you can bring into conversations.

During the IoIC webinar, Oli Howard, Anita Johnson and Helen Deverell also shared some great tips including:

• Each situation you are faced with might be different so whilst all the ethical principles are important, the order of importance might change
• Use the guidance, specifically the questions in the checklist, during your planning to help question whether something is the right thing to do or not
• Help open up the conversation by getting people from all levels of the organisation involved to help when you believe something isn’t right
• Use your ‘professional bravery’ to fall back to support your decisions. If you’re part of a membership body such as the IoIC, you would have signed to follow a Code of Conduct.

Further reading

• The only way is ethics by Rachel Miller
• Ethical Guidance by The Institute of Internal Communication
• Ethics resources by The Chartered Institute of Public Relations
• Communicating Ethical Values Internally by Institute of Business Ethics.

You can find the IoIC guidance on ethical practice via their website.

This post was first published on the All Things IC blog 20 July 2022.

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