Popular leadership blogs at General Motors
If you’re looking for an informal and personable way to communicate with your employees, blogging could be the perfect solution — as General Motors discovered.
With more than 300,000 employees at locations around the world, it’s
a challenge for GM’s senior leaders to stay connected to the
workforce. However, a weblog created for the company’s vice chairman
and COO is providing a useful shortcut.
Vice chairman and chief operating officer Bob Lutz started
his own blog to communicate his thoughts directly to employees
and the public (see Figure 1, below).
Figure. 1: Screenshot of GM’s FastLane
Blog, developed by the vice chairman
Blogs generate interest
Since its creation in January 2005, Lutz’s “Fastlane
Blog” has
received continuous attention from employees. We’ve all
been surprised at the amount of feedback — both positive and
negative — that
the blog has received. This is one of those risky kinds
of ventures that could go either way, yet even the critical feedback
employees have given has been delivered in a very constructive manner.
So far it’s been a very positive experience.
A shortcut to the top
The new Fastlane Blog site is helping employees
put a face to the company’s senior leadership and is creating
a level of personalization that hasn’t always existed in the
past. Employees view it as a shortcut to the top of the company. It’s
a way for them to get a taste of Bob’s personality, learn what’s
on his mind and share some of their own feedback. Although
Lutz can’t respond to every comment posted, the odds are pretty
good that he will respond to employees who give specific feedback that
calls for a response.
The new Fastlane Blog site is helping employees put a face to the company’s senior leadership and is creating a level of personalization that hasn’t always existed in the past.
Encouraging new technology and processes
A blog personalizes a leader
much more than official communication delivered through official channels.
It’s
a way for an employee on the shop floor on the other side of the
world to feel connected to our leadership on a more personal level.
Expanding output
FastLane blog has been so successful that
other GM leaders are beginning to post occasional blogs on the site and
the
company
is now
looking into other similar opportunities. Other
senior leaders will soon start feeling pressure to start their
own blogs to
keep up with Lutz. But aside from that,
GM is now starting specialized blogs around specific auto features.
It’s
a great way to get to special interest groups — in both our
employee population and in the public — that really care
about targeted kinds of issues. To check out GM’s FastLane
Blog visit: http://fastlane.gmblogs.com.
Other
recommendations:
Using employee blogs on the intranet