On the Frontlines: Working with PR to Strengthen Ethics

Rarely do these two essential departments talk to each other, much less work together. This siloed chasm between the two — with each thinking they have nothing to do with and nothing to offer the other — needs to close. In its place, we need to forge productive relationships that can help the corporate brand emerge as more ethically compliant and with a well-earned reputation.

The Role (and Challenges) of PR

For internal auditors who are unfamiliar with just what on earth those folks in “PR” do for a living (far too many executives across management disciplines hold myopic views of PR, informed mostly by Hollywood), public relations’ value to the organization centers on managing three things:

• Stakeholder communication
• Brand relationships
• Reputation and trust

The critical ingredient across all three areas? Ethics.

Without strong ethical drivers of how PR messaging is derived internally and delivered to diverse audiences, it’s far too easy for companies to begin hurtling down that slippery slope of disinformation, particularly when news headlines about a company's performance or executive behavior aren’t exactly positive.

Ethics in the Crosshairs

Here’s a news flash: Despite many of those Hollywood depictions and other pop-culture stereotypes, most PR practitioners want to be ethical.

Competent PR professionals fully understand the consequences of behaving and communicating unethically. Most want to align messages with truth and documented facts. Yes, a PR person’s job is to amplify and emphasize positive aspects of corporate accomplishment, innovation, and service to stakeholders. But when bad news and crises strike, these same PR people also need to handle difficult news with a keen eye toward truth-telling. They must avoid corporate gaslighting and betrayals of fragile public trust, not to mention the legal consequences of being on the record telling lies for little other short-term gain than temporarily helping a CEO save face or divert attention. Such tactics always cost far more, later.

High Risks of PR Ethics Failures

PR teams run into major issues with executive management and external stakeholders when crises occur that involve ethics and compliance failures. These crises are often juxtaposed against pressure to achieve profit and ward off tough scrutiny.

Too often, PR leaders themselves lack that critical seat at the executive or boardroom table that would enable them to advise against bad practices before they occur. As a result, PR is often relegated to serving as a battered-image janitorial service, cleaning up the mess when companies or leaders make choices out of alignment with stakeholder expectations.

Such scenarios often lead corporate leadership to pressure their own PR departments to distribute messaging along the lines of, “Nothing to see here!” and “All is well!” — when, in fact, aspirational messages simply aren’t aligned with reality. In today’s digital media environment, there is nowhere for errant management teams to hide when the truth is all too evident. Today’s public is sophisticated.

If the public can clearly see that “spin” rules and the organization is peddling fiction over fact, then stakeholder relationships might not simply be damaged. They might be irretrievably destroyed.

The Need for Collaboration

PR practitioners need to begin forging stronger relationships with leaders in ethics and compliance, including internal audit, to make the case to senior management and the board that accurate, honest messaging is always the way to go. Indeed, it poses massive risks to the organization when dishonest messages are allowed to infiltrate the brand’s communications platform.

Perhaps the best way for internal audit to impact PR departments positively is advancing a “speak up” culture, essential to everyday ethical compliance. This can include:

• Training PR teams about existing pathways to report observed misconduct without fear of retaliation — including if PR staff are asked to communicate messages on the company’s behalf that PR staff know are not true.
• Advising management teams that all communications platforms must remain ethically grounded in truth and not divert toward spin — and that the C-suite should never direct PR teams to lie.
• Holding periodic meetings between internal audit and communications teams to build familiarity and trust.

PR leaders need respected voices in internal audit conveying the idea that truthful communication is essential and should not be violated. Internal audit also should be willing to back up PR staff when senior executives have other ideas. Ultimately, when the two functions of PR and internal audit can work together, everyone’s job in helping the corporate brand thrive becomes much more seamless and effective.