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Just deal with it
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2006
Apr 14
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I had a conversation with a co-worker today about blogs. She was telling me she was at some recent conference that talked about using blogs as a recruitment tool. She asked what I thought. I told her I think blogs are a great thing for businesses and employees. It can be a recruitment tool, but I see bizblogs more as a knowledge tool than anything. However, despite that, I realized that public employee blogs at my company will never, ever happen.
Why?
Because the company is afraid. Business blogs would not be anonymous. Your name would be associated with everything you post, thus you would be accountable for anything that appears on your blog. So if you happen to have a case of the Mondays and decide to vent on your blog about poor management and your low salary, guess what? You’d have to answer to The Man because that’s just not professional.
However, as we discussed during our conversation, you cannot have such a blog be all positive because then it’s just not believable by the public and this it gains no credability. And with that you’re not helping get the attention of new employees nor helping yourself or co-workers. Writing about frustrations is good and puts a very human face on you and your company, but there has to be a fair balance. You can’t bash your company, but there needs to be times when so-called negative writing is allowed.
My employer flees in the face of negativity, hence a blog like that would not work where I am. Anyone that has anything “bad” to say gets shunned and gets a stern talking to. And any new technology or idea that has a remote chance of opening negative opportunities gets shot down before anyone knows it was even an option.
Another reason a blog would not see the light of day is because it offers opportunity for abuse. So if there is a chance, albeit rare, they won’t consider offering it. What they should do is open things up for opportunity, like a blog, and deal with problems when they happen.
Children can do bad things. In junior high there is always one bad seed of a child that picks on people and does stupid stuff. That kid always gets in trouble and has to stay in during recess. The chance of any kid doing something bad is always there, but that doesn’t mean the teacher keeps the entire class from recess. You let them have their fun and deal with the problems when they happen. Because guess what?! Something good might also happen!!
The constant strategy of management to stop things before they happen seems silly. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true to an extent. You obviously want to account for certain situations, but if you’re moving into new territory - like a bizblogs - you have to give it a chance. What starts out looking like a weed can bloom into a flower.
If, after time, you see no benefit or more bad than good as a result, then stop it. But if during the run of the program, if one lone jerk goes off, you DEAL WITH THAT JERK. Suspend him, fire him, beat him…whatever, but deal with him and him alone and let everyone else be happy with what they got. Don’t punish the class when you know who the guilty party is. The offenders will filter themselves out over time, if not by the rules, by the community of people that do care about the privleges they have.
Companies like the one I work for would find their employees are their best resource for new ideas, both to improve internal productivity and external revenue, if they let us express it. An anonymous suggestion box doesn’t do anyone any good any more. It doesn’t work. Each person needs to be allowed to have a voice. Some will take it and run. Some will try and fail. Some will be scared and not even try. But not knowing the outcome ahead of time is not a good reason to not offer people a voice.