Support for ‘speak up!’ culture is essential in the PR world

Walking through Heathrow in recent weeks on my way home to the States from a PR industry conference in Europe, I heard that familiar British voice over the airport intercom, to paraphrase, “If you see someone behaving suspiciously or find any item unattended, please inform British Transport Police…”

If you go online to heathrow.com, you can even see that the UK Department for Transport has a visual campaign around this call-to-action message, entitled, “See It. Say It. Sorted.”

My ad-hoc translation of this campaign:

If you think something is happening that might pose harm to others, then simply speak up to the right authority. They’ll take appropriate action necessary, based on your tip. We must work together to remain safe.”

It’s a very simple message, but it’s a crucially important one, now nearly 25 years on in our post-9/11 world. It’s incumbent upon all members of the public who see suspicious activity – even if only potential – to speak up about it, so that a worst-case scenario might be prevented.

However, does this same rule apply in the world of public relations?

 During any given day on the job, PR practitioners who work on the front lines to promote and defend clients’ and employers’ brands may see behaviours or decision-making internally that could pose harm to public trust and brand reputation. But are they allowed to call it out?  

• For example, a PR manager is told to craft a media statement claiming corporate ignorance about a major product malfunction, when it’s obvious to the PR manager that the C-suite is abundantly aware of it – and has been aware for a long time but mismanaged the situation.
   
• In another example, a PR team for a pharmaceutical manufacturer knows that lab results of a newly released medication is showing signs of long-term side effects that weren’t previously known or disclosed. Some in the C-suite insist on remaining tight-lipped about it, at least until after the next earnings report, despite potential risks to public safety.

There are myriad other types of examples, in which PR professionals “See It” (misconduct or bad policy occurring). But their internal workplace cultures do not allow them to “Say It” (reporting the misconduct or bad policy as an on-the-record complaint to management, without fear of retaliation).

Consequently, problems don’t get “sorted.” Instead, problems persist and might even balloon later into a full-on crisis and reputational disaster.

In recent research this year conducted by The Pulse Business, 19% of business leaders running PR and comms agencies reported that – over the past five years – they had directly experienced or observed some kind of retaliation from colleagues or clients as a result of doing the right thing, ranging from retaliation occurring on “some” or “regular” occasions (16%) to “it happens all the time” (3%). Another 26% reported it had occurred at least “on a few occasions.”

• How do communications professionals build an inclusive culture?

These concerning data points are significant.

Even more interestingly, when these same leaders were asked, “Do you / your senior management team promote and nurture a speak-up culture inside your business?” only 60% said emphatically, “Yes we do, all the time.” 

Meanwhile, 36% said, “usually we do” or “some of the time.”

Candidly, this latter lukewarm response is rather akin to only being a “little bit” pregnant: Either an organisation offers a clear, unconditional speak-up culture – or it simply does not. Only allowing workplace leaders and staff at any seniority level an ability to “speak up” on certain topics or only in certain favourable scenarios posing little risk to management is not indicative of an open culture supportive of free information flow.

The call-to-action for the PR industry management world is this:

Fight for speak-up values within the board room and the C-suite. Seek to partner with the corporation’s (or a client’s) ethics and compliance department for interdisciplinary support, allowing PR teams to voice concerns if messages don’t match modes of operation. After all, putting forward messages out of alignment with reality can easily be labelled as disinformation, quite rightly. And for the sake of their own reputation, no respectable PR person wants that label on their work. 

Mary Beth West, APR, FPRCA, is based in the US, with 30 years of public relations experience, including 15 years owning an agency. She is a vocal advocate for a stronger compliance expectation within the PR industry. She can be followed on LinkedIn and X (@marybethwest). PR teams can learn more about the ethics codes that apply to their nation’s PR industry, by downloading Mary Beth West’s free white paper (no registration required).