It is best to have a meeting when all parties are ready to discuss the project, in the right mindset and ready to begin moving forward. It is important for the company to understand that the campaign is a complex project with many moving parts, which means that the development of the plan is only as strong as the information that is contributed by the client, company, or department and the needs that are communicated. This process of initial discussions must be open and honest. Ethically, the team and/or agency should be clear in their explanation that while they can create a comprehensive campaign with research to support their decisions, it is up to the public to interact and react with the messaging and the client, company, or department to follow the plan and not deviate or add any additional elements (like a crisis).
Ethics in Public Relations
Ethics are defined as the moral base that governs a person’s behaviors and/or the ways in which a person makes decisions and takes action. Within the field of Public Relations, a practitioner must apply their own person ethics within their decision-making process. Additionally, a practitioner must take into account the ethics of their company if they work for an agency and most important, they must consider the ethics of the client. I suggest at this stage that it is imperative to have an important conversation with your client about their values and their ethics. Many times, a company has an ethical standard or practices if it interacts with the public in any way.
Ethics are interpreted loosely and because each person has their own set of ethics, it is challenging to find a common ground when people approach the conversation from a broad approach. I suggest the best way to approach a rational and productive discussion on setting your own code of ethics for the project is to begin with the very basic elements that impact most communication projects such as use of imagery, use of shared information, historic documentation, attribution and credit and more. It’s not uncommon to then incorporate the code of ethics or ethical standards from the company.
Example: An organization that works with children might have a standard of ethics that includes that all adults working in direct contact with children are subjected to a background check and annual mandatory training. Additionally, the code of ethics might dictate that parents only pickup their only children and follow similar standards to schools.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) offers members a set of professional guidelines and code of ethics to follow in their professional career. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) offers members a code of conduct that guides their professional actions and offers clarity of actions. Both the PRSA and IPRA codes are seen as core guidelines in the PR field and are used as guidelines for professionals as well as taught in college courses.
The International Public Relations Association Code of Conduct
The IPRA Code of Conduct
Adopted in 2011, the IPRA Code of Conduct is an affirmation of professional and ethical conduct by members of the International Public Relations Association and recommended to public relations practitioners worldwide.
In the conduct of public relations practitioners shall:
1 ObservanceObserve the principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
2 IntegrityAct with honesty and integrity at all times so as to secure and retain the confidence of those with whom the practitioner comes into contact;
3 DialogueSeek to establish the moral, cultural and intellectual conditions for dialogue, and recognize the rights of all parties involved to state their case and express their views;
4 TransparencyBe open and transparent in declaring their name, organization and the interest they represent;
5 ConflictAvoid any professional conflicts of interest and to disclose such conflicts to affected parties when they occur;
6 ConfidentialityHonor confidential information provided to them;
7 AccuracyTake all reasonable steps to ensure the truth and accuracy of all information provided;
8 FalsehoodMake every effort to not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information, exercise proper care to avoid doing so unintentionally and correct any such act promptly;
9 DeceptionNot obtain information by deceptive or dishonest means;
10 DisclosureNot create or use any organization to serve an announced cause but which actually serves an undisclosed interest;
11 ProfitNot sell for profit to third parties copies of documents obtained from public authorities;
12 RemunerationWhilst providing professional services, not accept any form of payment in connection with those services from anyone other than the principal;
13 InducementNeither directly nor indirectly offer nor give any financial or other inducement to public representatives or the media, or other stakeholders;
14 InfluenceNeither propose nor undertake any action which would constitute an improper influence on public representatives, the media, or other stakeholders;
15 CompetitorsNot intentionally injure the professional reputation of another practitioner;
16 PoachingNot seek to secure another practitioner’s client by deceptive means;
17 EmploymentWhen employing personnel from public authorities or competitors take care to follow the rules and confidentiality requirements of those organizations;
18 ColleaguesObserve this Code with respect to fellow IPRA members and public relations practitioners worldwide.
IPRA members shall, in upholding this Code, agree to abide by and help enforce the disciplinary procedures of the International Public Relations Association in regard to any breach of this Code.
Credit: By kind permission of the International Public Relations Association. www.ipra.org IPRA — leading trust and ethics in global communication
Taking Notes
Many young people take notes based on their days in classrooms. These notes are very different than the notes needed to detail the happenings of business meetings. Best practice in running a meeting is to start with an agenda; this provides structure to the meeting and hopefully prevents derailment. The notes should be organized to parallel the agenda, utilizing the same bullet points, levels and order.
on items and assign any follow-up tasks. The most efficient way to do this is by using initials in the notes. Be careful if multiple people are taking notes from computers using Google Docs or another shared system that the people don’t write over each other and so on.
Notes should not only be about what is said in the meeting, but other observations as well. If there is a team of people present, designate another person to take paper notes or computer notes on any other observations such as body language, facial expressions, changes in breathing, eye contact and more. These observations can often lead to a deeper understanding of the greater issues and more.
Asking the Right Questions
During the first and second meeting between the client, company, or department and the team, it is best practice to create a list of questions prior to starting and putting the answers to those questions next to what is proposed. As the meeting progresses, there may be a number of questions that will go unanswered.
Preface questions about their personal view of the company by using terms such as from your viewpoint or based on your perspective and then ask the question. Many times, if you come right out and ask, “What do you think