Is ethics just a tick box exercise?

I have written openly about being disillusioned with PR and some of the actions and behaviour that I have seen in recent months. It has made me question whether we are looking at ethics as a tick box or a part of the CPD that needs to be completed without considering the impact of our actions. With each public inquiry there are more details of failings, miscommunication, misleading or withholding vital information and we need to stop and consider what we are doing.

Working in PR and communication is a powerful position. It may not always feel that it is when people are saying “I watch the news I know how to do comms” but we are able to ask the hard questions, to challenge those in positions of authority and hold a mirror up to the decision making that happens. 

I ran a free ethics webinar recently to discuss the challenges and provide a safe space where people could come together and talk about what they would do and how they would approach difficult situations. It is not because I have the answers, I don’t, but through talking about issues and sharing our views and perspectives we can challenge ourselves. 

Understanding our own values and boundaries is an important step. What am I prepared to do and what feels unacceptable? Our background and experiences will give us all a different perspective on the grey areas that exist in a world where people want things to be black and white. It is also important to recognise that our values can change over time as well which may make a working environment start to feel uncomfortable. 

There were three key areas that were identified during the discussion. 

1. How do we challenge and feel able to it with confidence in psychological safety? 
2. How can we support junior members of staff or those new into the profession when they face ethical challenges? 
3. How are we training the next generation of communicators to approach ethical dilemmas?

We have the CIPR Code of Conduct. We have lots of documents with systems and processes we can use. We have the ethical decision-making tree. We have the need to complete an ethics element to complete our CPD cycles. But when we are facing pressure to do something that we are not comfortable with, or where we are concerned about what the impact will be on our career and future are these things enough?

Intent, impact and power

Three elements are important intent, impact, and power. Intent means asking why are we communicating and who is going to benefit from the action? Impact challenges us to consider who will be affected and where will there be benefits or harm. Finally, power reminds us to assess who are we influencing and importantly, who is unable to challenge the activity? 

Among those on the webinar was someone with real lived experience of battling a ‘narrative’ that had been created that continued to negatively affect them. It highlighted the human impact that can come from decisions made about communication. We can all take an ethical pause to consider these three aspects when we are about to pull together a plan or issue a communication. 

During the webinar we ran through scenarios to consider the approaches we would take to being asked to manage problematic situations. It highlighted the grey areas, the factors that may impact on the action, and the recognition that our own position in the workplace and the relationships we have and how they can have a significant effect on what we decide to do. But even when we feel we are a trusted advisor it takes a leap of courage to disagree with an action, approach, or request.

There is no simple answer, but these eight points might help us. 

1. When under pressure try to reframe the situation as a reputational or strategic risk.
2. Use case studies to support your alternative viewpoint and challenge.
3. Refer to the Code of Conduct and tools such as power scanning, ethical pauses, and emotion mapping, as well as your values to support your position.
4. Offer alternatives to the course of action being proposed.
5. Use the views of others and other voices to explain the course of action you are recommending.
6. Build your reputation and relationships to secure alliances and internal credibility.
7. Highlight the responsibilities that the organisation has under regulations and/or legislation. 
8. Keep questioning, considering what you are being asked to do and who may be adversely affected by withholding information or shaping a narrative.

Chartered PR practitioner Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication and the author of Crisis Communication Strategies. She is also a Fellow of the CIPR.

Read more on ethics

Channel 4’s Dirty Business raises issues of ethics for PR pros
Why ethics matter more than ever in media intelligence
‘Committing to the CIPR ethics code shows how serious I am in my practice’