Transcending the ‘absolutely not!’ syndrome when starting new transparent operations and social media
Tactical Transparency’s Ch. 16: Yeah, but…Overcoming Objections

Have your legal advisors ever said:
Launch a blog?!…and start conversations we can’t control?! NO WAY?!

Or has your product development team ever screamed:
What if employees inadvertently reveal too much and give our competition an edge? NO WAY?!

Well authors Shel Holtz and John Havens address these concerns companies face when enacting more transparent business. That’s this chapter’s focus for our book review series on Tactical Transparency.

Get out of my office.

-AKG President & Chairman of the Board Bob Buckman to his then legal team at Buckman Laboratories, who asked him to halt a social media practice (per Tactical Transparency: how leaders can leverage social media to maximize value and build their brand)

Confronting the big four objections against transparency i.e. legal/regulatory, competition, technical, & investment
Experts and business leaders cited in this chapter understand if not appreciate dissent for using social media. That quote per Bob Buckman above was stated only after he reviewed with his legal team what weighed more: benefits of keeping an internal CompuServe forum active or shutting it down.

It’s all in the risk analysis.

I liked the direct, well rounded context of this chapter for that reason. The authors nor those interviewed wish to dismiss advisory concerns for transparency (and the social media tools to implement them) without hearty risk analysis first. This section offers useful reasoning for business leaders to use when incurring those objections.

For starters…:

1) When legal and regulatory get concerned:
Yep these professionals intend to keep us free and clear of legal violations. We need them (side thanks to NetSol’s legal team)! What I really valued on this particular topic is learning more about Charlene Li’s ROI formula when considering an employee blog practice (she’s from Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell). Holtz and Havens cite other ideas of how business leaders and even employees can clear legal caution.

2) If your team fears the competition getting ahead:
Included is a range of counter arguments for this particular objection; but what proved most persuasive to me was learning this from a CEO:

70% of their product ideas came from outside the company anyway.

So why stifle social media efforts that could further enable this type of idea exchange and sourcing?

3) If your tech team gets nervous about risk of infection from Web 2.0:
Software applications and urban tech myths are assessed which could alleviate IT fears. NOTE: My apologies to be cryptic here; I’m trying to avoid giving away too many specifics!

4) If your investment funds for social media tools look slim:
Certain open-source blogging platforms and some more expensive software are offered to get your team thinking on what could be the most benefit in the face of risk.

Quick question
It’s a good, quick read that combines strong endorsement for transparent business decisions with a logical respect for and response to risk. What type of risk is highest on your list when it comes to implementing more transparent operations? What benefits in your view out weigh those risks? Your experience and feedback are welcome in the comments (always!).

Next week: last chapter review installment from Tactical Transparency

• -Ch. 17: Your Road Map to Transparency: creating a plan

And for the other (4) archived chapter reviews:

• -Thoughts via audio cast & more launches the first review with Chapter 3: Do You Have What It Takes?Characteristics of Transparent Organizations;
• -…and a take down of Chapter 4: Why opaque selling doesn’t deliver long-term return on investment.
• -With last week’s review of Chapter 10 on the benefits of issues blogs;

Photo Through A Glass, Darkly by Drumsnwhistles under Creative Commons License A-NC-ND Works 2.0.

Book jacket for Tactical Transparency used with permission from Meredith Stanton at John Wiley & Sons.