Q11: transparency: what are you afraid of?

No doubt most of us have heard about the web-wide transparency trend. When it works, it's great - a giant free focus group where positive feedback and innovative thinking flow. When it doesn't, your brand goes up in flames, fast. But when companies first adopt a transparent philosophy behind the relative safety of their firewalls, they can get the best of both worlds without getting burned.

Sure technology makes transparency possible, but launching wikis and blogs is the easy part. The biggest benefits of transparency, leveraging the hearts and minds of every employee, are realized when companies embrace a fundamental change in the way they think. They establish a culture of collaboration, and they nurture the belief that great ideas can come from anywhere within the organization.

Here's an example of how powerful internal transparency can be. While prepping for a big event, we worked with our clients to survey their 1500 employees on lots of subjects. As the results rolled in, we started to see some interesting patterns. We were getting all these really passionate, amazing answers - full of personality and integrity. We suggested using this material as fuel for a meeting opener video. Management was cool enough to go for it, warts and all. The results were impressive; 1500 people were kind of looking around saying: "Wow...I had no idea we were this smart, this cool, this dedicated."

The rewards that come from open and honest internal communication often yield far-reaching results. Think about it, when employees work in a transparent environment, it's likely they'll begin interacting with clients in similar ways...openly and collaboratively. These quality interactions create deeper customer relationships, and that generates brand loyalty.

It takes guts to be transparent, but without honesty employees and clients alike will see right through your messaging as nothing more than propaganda. Bottom line...before you implement the tools that make transparency possible, get real with your brand and with the people who have to make good on your brand's promise.