Many regular readers will know that I used to be an amateur journalist. I studied a Media Science degree, spent some time editing a local backwater newspaper and spent some time writing local news articles. I also published zines, magazine, newspapers and digital local news back in the early 2000's.
Hardly a career in journalism, but I've carried what I studied, learned and experienced into my work in business. And it's been mightily helpful.
Well, it's a pleasure to share some notes on one aspect of journalism that is SO needed in the modern workplace; ethics.
Today's learning notes comes from a book called Essential Radio Journalism by Paul Chantler.
I was reading it for my work as a podcaster, to see what lessons I could bring across from radio journalism. When reading it though, it reminded me of much of my own learning and experience, and of course, some valuable lessons in work.
I am an experienced executive in tech and HR, and so the ethics section felt like one I needed to double down on again - and see how I could cross pollenate my HR experience, my own moral stance and lessons from journalism.
As you can see in the Learning Notes, there are some very clear buckets of ideas that we could all learn from. I've added my own comments, adjuncts and references to the notes.
Truth
Suffice to say it starts with the truth, and there are often at least three sides to any encounter, story or incident:
one person's view, the other person's view and what actually happened
Our world of work would be much improved if we had the truth about progress, reporting, behaviours and more. It's not easy in work - especially when self-preservation kicks in, but the truth helps us make better decisions.
Notes
You need accurate and good notes. Good notes are the capturing of the facts, evidence, insights and observations. Accurate notes allow journalists to write accurate stories. Accurate and comprehensive notes allows managers and leaders to deal with low performance, spot areas of improvement and capture what is observed.
Note taking alone is effective, even better if you then have a system for finding these notes again.
Critical Thinking
Good journalism is about getting to the truth below the surface, cross-referencing facts and thinking critically about information flowing your way.
The same is true in business. Good leaders and managers think critically, listen critically and try to get to the root of any issue or topic. With deep, accurate and honest information we can make better decisions but we also have a clear grasp of our current reality to take positive next steps in the right direction.
Fairness and Diversity
Fairness in business doesn't mean you treat everyone in exactly the same way but you do ensure everyone has the same opportunities. It would be madness to treat every employee as identical - they are not.
Tailoring your communication, support and teaching approach is essential, as long as everyone has the same fair opportunities.
This is a hard one to balance. You'll need to factor in performance, personality, strengths and weaknesses - all behavioural based observations and treat people accordingly depending on their needs and the business goals. You should not treat people differently because of race, colour, religion, gender and more. Focussing on behaviours IS diversity in action.
Be an example
Holding your behavioural integrity is a key aspect of ethical journalism. It is tempting to cut corners, break codes and lower standards to get the scoop, or the exclusive. It happens all the time.
I see this at work too. To hit the deadline, show another team up, get the prize, win the competition, hide a failing project and more, some leaders and managers cut corners, bend rules and show up as less than they should.
The problem is people within the business mimic leaders and people of influence. If those supposed to be setting the standards, high bar and values are not living up to them - why would anyone else? Especially if lowering standards results in success, respect, pay and more.
Hold the high bar of behaviours. Role model and show people what good looks like and behave with integrity.
Privacy
Privacy is essential with journalism, especially on high stakes stories. Privacy is essential in work too. Don't discuss performance conversations about an employee in a group setting. Don't criticise leadership or the business to your direct reports. Protect personal data and know what you can and cannot store in which systems.
Respect data privacy and GDPR when capturing emails for recruitment, or sales leads.
Keep your management performance notes secure. Protect the company IP and data with appropriate sensitivity labels, in the right system.
These are boring but essential aspects of being a manager and leader. You need to be trusted with company and people data - look after it.
These are just a few highlights I pulled out from this one chapter in the book. Ethics is always a debatable topic and one that has blurry edges sometimes.
Take some time to peruse the photos and see what else I thought was relevant to capture as part of my learning notes.
Note: These are my "learning notes" - real notes I create in an A3 notepad for my own learning. I create them for my own growth and only share notes I feel would be relevant to this community.
I use my trusty 4 step Personal Knowledge Management System of capture, curate, crunch and contribute. What you see here is step 4 - contribution.
