African Public Relations Association (APRA) and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Africa have joined forces to gather insight into the State of Ethics and Public Relations (PR) in Africa. How important is ethics in Africa? What role does PR play on the African continent?
Reputation Matters® is conducting the research on behalf of APRA and PRCA.
Please will you be so kind as to complete and also to share the survey to help foster as many insights as possible:
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact the Reputation Matters Team: research@reputationmatters.co.za
Many thanks!
#ethics #publicrelations #research #Africa #reputationmatters #APRA #PRCA #PR #communication
These interactions have stirred up numerous emotions, but above all, it made
me furious for several reasons:
It has made the tender process frivolous. What is meant to level the playing field,
has turned into a mockery of the tender process. A tender is something that is
meant to give everyone the same opportunity to pitch for a project. It’s
supposed to be a very specific process and set of rules evaluating everyone
against the same point system. It’s meant to be about what is best for the
organisation, not the individual and certainly not for lining their own
personal pockets.
Although tenders take numerous hours and dedication to compile, we have never
shied away from participating in tenders. It’s a process that I’ve always felt
confident in participating in, specifically regarding the strict regulations
that I always imaged needed to be followed, respected, and adhered to. It’s one
of those endorphin-filled moments when you’ve been put through your paces, done
absolutely everything possible to showcase your skills, methodology and
credentials and you receive that letter that reads that your submission has
been approved, and you receive your purchase order (PO) number. It’s
exhilarating when your hard work pays off.
Cheating is cheating. I am flabbergasted by the audacity of these
requests. Not only does it go against our value of respect, but it also
compromises our integrity. Everyone is bemoaning loadshedding and the state of
our economy, but by cheating the system through fraud and corruption is exactly
how we got into this mess as a country. It must stop somewhere, or rather
with someone. We, as individuals and as organisations need to say ‘no’ to these
requests, no matter how enticing it might sound.
I do wish that it was easier to report these things. Not so long ago, (excluding
the two incidents in January 2023), I had someone approach me out of the blue
wanting us to be part of a project that listed pretty much everything that we have
to offer. He wanted to help us get the project with no paper trail. Alarm bells
immediately went off, and I indicated that it all sounded incredibly unethical,
and asked the caller to confirm his name and position at the organisation,
‘chief auditor’ (of all things) he confidently shared! When I put the phone
down, I immediately phoned the Department but there was no answer on the
landline however I did manage to get the details of the spokesperson who was rather
dismissive. When I mentioned the reputational implications of the whole
situation, he merely suggested that I report it to the South African Police
Services (SAPS) or the Hawks. I called the Hawks, but there was no answer, sent
an email, but the reply I received pretty much referred me back to the website
where I got their initial contact details from.
As much as I would want to report these latest incidents, I highly doubt
that I would get very far since there is no hard evidence or paper trails
(emails, letters, WhatsApps or SMS’s). That is why these tender fraudsters are
so adamant about not wanting things recorded, not wanting to meet at the office
and they would rather use personal channels of communication. Keep an eye out
for this.
For me it is all in the name; Reputation Matters. We want to
build great reputations, we want to work with organisations that align with our
great values, which is the acronym for growth, respect,
excellence, authenticity and trust (GREAT). However, the organisation must want
to improve their reputation, we can’t build a reputation if it means
compromising our own values and reputation in the process by mocking the system
through bribery. Sometimes a reputation is so beyond repair a whole rehaul is
needed. What do I mean by that? I mean that in order to rebuild the reputation will
require replacing the entire leadership, executive and management teams.
Reputations are built from the example that leaders set and what they tolerate.
Sadly, don’t be fooled by a Code of Ethics in their annual reports.
It is actions, not words that show ethical behaviour and someone’s integrity. I
double-checked, all the entities that have approached us for the ‘something on
the side’ have beautifully written paragraphs in their annual reports about
ethics and integrity and how their management teams are committed to it. Annual
reports are not meant to be glossy covers and fancy words, it needs to be
actions that are not only lived, but that people are held accountable for.
I am convinced that there are still good entities out there who want the
best for their organisations and are not just in it for themselves. Entities who
want to build cultures where everyone thrives and not just places where only a
few benefit from cheating a system for personal gain. I have to believe this,
it has to be true if there is any hope for our country.
If in doubt, here are three lessons that we have learnt that hints towards
a tender probably being dodgy and you should steer very very far away from it:
🚩 Inside information: You have very
specific information about a tender before it is made public.
🚩 Audit trail: When personal
telephones and email addresses are used to contact you about a tender.
🚩 Meeting times: When you are
requested to attend a meeting to discuss a tender outside of work hours and not
in the office building.
So, my question is, is there a point to even consider tenders? Has a winning
bid already been allocated even before the tender documents have been penned
down? How do we regain the trust in the tendering process?
So for now, until I get more clarity on ethical tendering, we’re out, no
‘somethings’ will be forthcoming from us.
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But sometimes it is the small consistent actions that make the biggest difference and will have a major impact in the long run. Within the creative industry be it, reputation-, communication-, public relations- or marketing management, we often obsess about building brands for our clients, but very often forget about our own businesses and teams.
What is it that they say about the shoemaker’s children? Before we are able to make any positive impact for anyone else, we have to take a look inward, and foster one of our most important stakeholder groups, our employees.
From the insights that we garnered from the reputation research projects that we conducted last year, one of the fundamental solutions to most organisation’s problems is having a set of core values in place that drive decisions and ultimately behaviour.
It’s not about coming up with a set of values that sound good, it’s about actually making a difference and guiding the ‘way we do things around here’.
Values are fundamental to a healthy team morale and organisation’s culture. Therefore, one of the biggest continued focus areas for organisations for 2023, should be on employees, and particularly on employee mental health and wellbeing.
Your employees are fundamental to your organisation’s success. It is important to know where they stand, with their work, their managers, fellow colleagues, and career aspirations. They also spend most of their time at work, and companies should therefore take responsibility over their employees’ mental health.
Before you go off looking for corporate social responsibility projects to get involved in, ask yourself whether you are looking after your own team?
How are you fostering and nurturing your teams?
This is what we should be looking at internally:
Results of a 2021 survey by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) found that 90% of Public Relations (PR) professionals had experienced poor mental health.
The three key triggers including: lack of reward or recognition for good work; long hours and not enough career growth opportunities. From all the studies that we’ve conducted at Reputation Matters last year, we have also seen a significant focus on the need to prioritise mental health in the workplace.
As a result of the lack of support for mental wellbeing, we will see even more ‘quiet quitting’. The term “quiet quitting” refers to employees who put no more effort into their jobs than absolutely necessary.
A 2022 Gallup survey suggested that at least half of the US’ workforce consists of quiet quitters. I read in The Citizen that Tshepiso Rasetlola, an associate in employment law at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, shared that if employees become less engaged in their role, they generally also see less room for growth and are subsequently less interested in their company.
When a workforce is lacklustre about the organisation that they are working for, it will reflect in the organisation’s reputation and ultimately its bottom line.
Employee engagement and two-way communication channels are therefore even more crucial than ever before to build your team’s morale, trust in leadership, and to support your teams.
The pandemic put a lot of pressure on everyone and gave people a lot of time to think and to take stock of what they would like to achieve with their life. Right after the pandemic we saw a lot of movement, especially Generation Xers, between companies or starting their own businesses. People want to take control of their lives as well as where and when they want to work.
We need to start considering more flexibility in working hours, we’ll definitely see more companies moving towards the four-day work week.Where to start? It’s important to take stock and to get feedback directly from your team in a safe environment. We’ve had tremendous success with gaining insights into teams with our employee climate survey that we’ve developed.
Employee climate surveys create safe anonymous feedback channels where employees can share their experiences about their workplace and team. We see too often that companies work on a ‘gut feeling’ about the well-being of their teams.
They are more often than not, quite shocked to realise that their employees may not be as happy or invested in the company as they had hoped or thought they were. Invariably, we do find in our surveys that employees are a lot harsher with their feedback than external stakeholders, and generally score the business much lower, but this honest feedback is important as employees do want the organisations that they work for to do well.
They are also at the heart of the business and know exactly what is building or breaking down the success of the company. Sadly, all too often employees are not heard.
Times and circumstances will always change and therefore it’s important to understand how this impacts a workforce. More so than ever before, it is important to be proactive in valuing your most valuable asset, your employees.
Written for Bizcommunity: #BizTrends2023: What about the shoemaker's children? (bizcommunity.com)
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Thank you so much to the Daily Maverick for this great article!
Reuben Mhashu, recently started helping to build the footstools.
I met Reuben a couple of years back, he is one of Hout Bay’s top runners, he recently won the West Coast Marathon!
He has the potential to go incredibly far, but unfortunately does not currently have any sponsors. He's helping to build the footstools so that he can save towards new running shoes (the necessary nutrition needed and not to mention the entry fees for all the races!) If you perhaps know of any sponsorship opportunities for Reuben, please let me know.
Here's some of the latest footstools that Reuben and John have made:
For more information: regine@rebagreuse.com / +27 83 302 1528
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-12-28-vhs-tapes-are-making-a-comeback-as-upcycled-bags-and-footstools-that-combat-plastic-pollution/
