Confessions...what is a leader to do?

Image from www.worshipmediahouse.com

What is a leader to do?

Product life cycles have shorten dramatically across a host of products. With globalization and technological advances, barriers-to-entry have also lowered and increased competition in the market. Customers have become more demanding and discerning for services that require near feats of superhuman effort at rock bottom prices. It certainly is not easy being a leader, especially if you are higher up in the hierarchy.

And now, with organizational leaders struggling to understand the basics of social media and its impact, we have now a potentially challenging issue to deal with - Facebook Confessions.

The idea of a Facebook Confessions page is a simple but powerful one - share your deepest darkest secrets from within your organization with almost complete anonymity, reaching potentially everyone with access to a Facebook account.

This is how it works - say you have something to get off your chest about your organization. It happens that someone or some people from within your organization have started a Confessions page. These people managing the page are called administrators. They maintain a consistent cloak of anonymity - good for them, good for you. You send them an anonymous message to an online form at a given website (which can be easily created by google docs or any free survey portal like survey monkey); or simply send a private Facebook message to the administrator (less privacy here since they can see your profile). The administrator then posts your comments on the Confessions page.   

Administrators will try and post as many comments online as possible. Most administrators might practice some self-censorship on certain inflammatory posts, but by and large, the majority of comments get through without the need for verification of authenticity.

Highly popular in the UK and the US among high school and university students, this is a new online phenomenon that is only a few of months old. However, it has also seen some pages being shut down in the US due to racial and sexually explicit content.

Confessions pages has now made its way to Singapore have not only sprouted up for schools, but also for the Singapore Armed Forces and the ruling political party. 

As a leader of any organization, such a page can be highly damaging for organization morale and its reputation in the eyes of the public. Even worse, such comments could potentially have been simply fabricated for the purpose of a personal vendetta against a person or the organization.

What should the organizational leadership approach be to the Confessions page phenomenon?  

Preventive
a) What is your organization's whistle blowing policy?
People write comments on Confessions pages generally to vent their frustrations (sense of helplessness or emotionally affected); see others' reactions to their comments (attention seeking); or to genuinely want change to take place (Voicing to see change - the 'V' of EVLN model).

If there is an avenue for members to speak out against any wrong doing in the organization with the guaranteed cloak of secrecy to prevent backlash, it will certainly dissuade many from commenting on a Confessions page. When people within the organization know that the whistle blowing mechanism is effective in addressing issues, trust will be in the system and not in the Confessions pages.

b) Managing change
Whenever change is introduced, people are likely to be unhappy, even though the change may be in all fairness, a change for the better. When change is managed badly or (worst still) not managed at all, members end up being disgruntled. As a former Brand Manager in the FMCG industry (fast moving consumer goods), I have always advocated getting Marketing folks to assist in crafting out a change strategy for HR. Since they are the folks who help influence customers to buy your organization's products or services, they can be very effective in helping influence and win minds in a major organizational change. 

c) Don't use the stick...yet
Despite your best efforts, some members will inadvertently comment on a Confessions page. It is not wise to internally post a memo to this effect,

"Please be reminded that all members are strictly forbidden from writing on XYZ Confessions page. Members caught will be severely dealt with".

Rather, see this as an opportunity to further refine your outreach efforts to those who have not bought-in to the organization's efforts to help solve their problems. A better message might sound like this,

"We sense your frustration as you have mentioned on the XYZ Confessions page and would like to reach out and assist you in this matter. We have helped many people solve their frustrations through the whistle blowing channel. Give us the opportunity to help you. Anyone who would like our assistance can contact us at Tel: 1234567....."


Defensive
a) When it hits the fan
According to social business intelligence provider CIC and Ogilvy PR China, a response within 8 hours of the situation is ideal. If not, the next best response time is within 24 hours. Crisis duration and negative influence will be greatly diminished according to their  report “2012 Crisis Management in the Microblog Era - 17 January 2013”.

Assuming a comment on a Confessions page that was created by people within your organization has gone viral and public. It is threatening your stock price and organization's reputation.

The first thing to do is to release a statement to inform the public and media that your organization is investigating the situation and then promise a follow up. Ideally, you should verify the online comments and release the facts within 24 hours. Organizations would do well not to forget about internal communications with your members and keep them up to speed on the situation. The best front an organization under fire can have is a united front where all members are of one mind, which makes it that much harder for the media to obtain a negative quote from an organizational member.     

b) Crisis management - people are emotional beings
While it is important for organizational leaders to verify the truth of the matter, it is more important that the public and organizational members be informed about the verification process and its results (via press releases or the official organization microblog).

Planning the execution of message delivery to the public and to organizational members is so vital, I cannot emphasize it enough. Even if the rumour was unsubstantiated, too harshly delivered and you are seen as heartless. Too soft and you could be seen as displaying poor leadership skills.

This principle has always helped me: 'Speak from your heart, to the heart'.

c) Penny wise pound foolish
If a situation potentially is spiralling fast and way out of control to be handled internally, the leadership needs to call in the experts. And while it may set the organization back by some thousands of dollars, this money is worth spending. Never underestimate the influencing power of social media.


After all said and done, the best plans and execution will come to nothing if the leader chooses to be less than transparent and show a lack of moral courage and determination to resolve the issue. Hiding the dirt under the rug is the attractive short term solution. But don't be surprised if one of your members starts confessing on a Confessions page - the dirty linen that could be airing may just be yours. 


Paul Lim is an adjunct faculty member with the Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources (OBHR) discipline at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. He teaches courses in Leadership, Organizational Behaviour and Cross Generational Management. A doctoral candidate with French business school - Grenoble Ecole de Management, he is currently into the final phase of writing his thesis on 'Mentoring for the millennial (Gen Y) generation'. Prior to his move into academia, Paul spent 9 years in Advertisting and Brand Management.This article is based on the writer's personal opinion and is not representative of any organisation or persons he may be associated with.