Working In Glass Houses

Organization + glass walls =  #winning

The issue of transparency has become increasingly popular in today's business world. Businesses who don't create "glass walls" are losing trust and essential interaction with its publics, even though they may think otherwise. Transparency, internally and externally, allows people to get a better understanding of an organization, such as their operations, strategies, difficulties they are facing and how they are improving. Nonprofits, especially, need transparency to develop the audience base they need to to prosper and grow. By broadening their networks of individuals and other organizations they become engaged in vital communication.

Unfortunately, not every organization realizes the benefits of transparency (sad, I know). There are two other types of organizations that are at a disadvantage. Fortresses, working on the "caution" operating philosophy, keep people out and don't share information freely. They keep people out by using plans only developed by staff, having closed meetings and unexplained decision making. Transactionals primarily care about obtaining money from their publics and that's about it. They provide services offered and selected by the public based on cost. Transparents, on the other hand, are clear about they do and what they want to accomplish. Organizations can become transparent when they achieve the following:

• Leadership is easily understood by publics
• Employees are available to reinforce the public view of the organization
• Values are easily seen and understood
• Culture and operations apparent inside and out
• Communicate all results, good and bad 

Every nonprofit would be smart to adopt the transparent philosophy before it becomes too late and publics begin to face away. First, working in transparent ways means you need to be findable. Author and blogger Jeff Jarvis makes a good point, "Living in public today is a matter of enlightened self-interest. You have to be public to be found...Publicness is also an ethic. The more public you are, the easier you can be found, the more opportunities you have." Using search engines, like Google, makes it easy for organizations to become noticed and easily found. Second, organizations need to free their information. Inform the audience of information, financial audits, strategic plans, etc. An organization doesn't have to be scared of losing control entirely of their content. Creative Commons is a great device to use, enabling creators to share content however they choose. Thirdly, internal sharing needs to be mandates, as well. The staff needs to feel like they are treated fairly and are "in the loop."

Example of dashboard

It is highly recommended that organizations create a dashboard, which provides visual and compelling ways to get an insight of organizational performance. Allowing employees and publics to see and communicate on the dashboard shows you appreciate what they have to say. The dashboard invites employees and publics to work with them and understand them better. Also, using other tools  like, blogs, Twitter and Facebook, encourages interaction and provides information, as well. By following the transparency pathway, nonprofits will discover numerous ways of sharing information that reduces uncertainty and increases trust inside and outside the organization.