By 2006, one could find a few early-adopter (and very brave) CEOs using blogs to communicate with their employees, customers and shareholders. Although these were high-profile and often successful examples of leaders using this new media to communicate, it left many rank-and-file employees scratching their heads, thinking to themselves “well, that is interesting for a CEO, but I don’t ever see myself blogging at work.” Think again.
As it turns out, blogging is a very effective management tool. It is a convenient method for managers to provide consistent updates to employees on the latest trends, ideas, projects, accomplishments, problems, articles and books. Some managers resist blogs (both writing and reading them) because they view blogging as contributing to the very real problem of information overload. They see blogs as one more annoying interruption in addition to email, voicemail, conference calls and the like.
I think this kind of resistance is a mistake. In fact, blogging, when done correctly, reduces information overload. There are several reasons why blogs are powerful communication tools and will be a required skill for future leaders:
- Subscription. The way we interact with blogs is different than email, voicemail, newsletters or anything that has come before. This is a powerful change. One factor contributing to this is RSS, or really simple syndication. Because employees can “subscribe” to blogs through RSS, they can read and interact with blogs on their own time. This avoids the interruption factor that can be so deadly for productivity. In addition, newsreaders, or aggregators, help people monitor many subjects at once.
- Preservation. Blogs are preserved and become a repository for ideas and knowledge. What is written in a blog is maintained for the historical record and searchable. Ever try to find and retrieve a great email you wrote three years ago? Overtime, a blog becomes a searchable database of ideas cross-referenced and linked to other databases.
- Connectivity. Blogs reference other blogs, websites, podcasts, photos, books, and news articles. This allows knowledge and ideas to evolve rapidly, and it connects people. Although links can be embedded in email, it just isn’t the same. For example, it is very difficult for one email to hyperlink another email. Ever try to link to the great email you wrote three years ago that you can’t find?
We are still in the early stages of understanding how to harness blogs, but I predict that effective business leaders of the future will be masters of the craft, and cutting-edge companies will work blogs into their culture to drive innovation and engagement.
