I think more today than ever, corporations face the challenge of “controlling” and protecting their company information. From a realistic standpoint we have to question whether information is ever really controlled. As technology has evolved the web has made it easier and easier to share information. It’s not so much that companies need to let go of the idea of control, but rather the idea that they ever had it to begin with.
We forget, we hire people because we ACTUALLY have confidence they’ll succeed. When was the last time you hired someone you thought was doomed to fail or couldn’t be trusted? You haven’t – and if you have, you shouldn’t be in business anyway. So why don’t corporations have trust that the people THEY hire won’t damage or destroy their reputation? How loyal can your employees truly be if they know that their boss doesn’t trust them?
So does that mean what happens behind the firewall always stays behind the firewall?
A firewall does not stop information from leaving a corporation’s walls. If an employee wants to share confidential information with the outside world, they won’t have a hard time doing so in today’s tech savvy world, in fact it’s even safe to say that it would probably take less than two minutes. The good news: there are things you can do to reduce the chances of confidential information being leaked. There are even steps you can take to hold your employees responsible for their own actions. Here are a few of my suggestions – although I am sure there are MANY more…
- Give your employees information they CAN share, don’t make them feel like they have to steal it. Give away an e book, a newsletter, whatever- just give them something.
- Let employees know that they are trusted influencers for the company, without them you would not exist – illustrate the value you see in them – recognize those that share the RIGHT information
- Giving up your perception of control- this actually enables others to do your marketing for you
- Educating your internal team on what is acceptable – empower them. Empowered employees make better choices and feel personally responsible when they make bad ones.
- Establish a set of social media guidelines for your company
- Stop focusing on the way things HAVE BEEN done – it blocks your perception of what can be done/what the future holds
So if you’re a company that still believes you can control the message – think about where this notion comes from, and if it is even in the least bit valid. And if you can answer both of those questions, maybe we should start discussing how we actually measure value.
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