Monday, April 03, 2006

dis'-CLAIM-her

Wow,
1st of all, I should reiterate that this is a personal blog. Although it mostly contains work related musings, it is not done in my official capacity. It is not sanctioned by MPOW. Yes, it's true, I am still somewhat a "closet blogger".

See, I am currently trying to get everyone at work to start a staff blog for internal communications. Think librarystuff.
I really thought it would be simpler. Here are a few things that surprised me:

Staff (many) stated their clear disappointment at the thought they would have to user their real names (I thought 1st name only so we know who you are right?). I have also had someone ask me: "so if someone posts something that I judge (her word) inappropriate, and I say so in a comment, will I get flamed for it?" I had to think for a second before reminding her that if she was going to disagree with someone, she had to be ready for others to disagree with her. Now, OK, I get it, I have no idea how difficult it can be for many to speak up since I have never had a problem myself shining a big spotlight on my face, even as I was inserting my big foot in my own mouth often times.

On the other hand, powers that be's 1st idea regarding a staff blog is to "establish standard naming conventions that should include your first name/your department" ... Bless their hearth. As much as I repeated to them over and over that what would be mostly required of them would be to "let go".

I know, I should have known all this was coming, right. Am I kidding myself that it is not unfair to ask folks to identify themselves here? It was not my idea but I don't see it as such a big deal. I just thought this should be about real people discussing real issues hoping to take real actions in the end... And with management, I know, I know, there is an innate need to organize and arrange everything in our business... Hopefully, the discussions will be light enough in the beginning to help everyone relax. Most of our efforts about this work blog has yet been spent on what to name it and what to use for names for participants. I have now spent a lot of my time campaigning to re-focus energies on the PURPOSE of this blog, the BENEFITS for all etc...Let's all talk about "Radical Trust".

So here we go, now we will see how it goes, and I have to divide my posts between here and there, hopefully to soon have the ability to link here from there. My voice is really starting to carry out of the closet anyway.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why does this surprise you?! You have a culture in an organization where the people lower in the heirarachy aren't allowed to participate or participation is very limited. Sometimes they are shot down. Now they have an idea and post it to a blog, only to be blasted. This time it is in black and white for all to see. Blogging is great but be careful. Flatten the organization if not in reality at least in discussions.

Anonymous said...

BTW the term is "hierarchy". Misspellings in a blog proves a point to a amall degree. Misspellings might show that you are angry or hasty or maybe just not concentrating. Bad at spelling? Now your boss begins to profile you. Some people are unforgiving. You can't retract. The written word is imprinted for all to see. Sometimes we are thoughtless, angry and hasty. But if you are anonymous it makes it easier.

sylvie said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
sylvie said...

I know, I know... Like I said, I should have expected it I guess.

It's just I never thought of myself as "not allowed to participate". I mean, I don't always agree with management, and management doesn't always agree with me (and I don't think of that as being "profiled".) I think it is worth it to participate. I also understand that most time I do not know everyone's perspective on any one issue and that the final decision is not mine to make. I still like to be allowed to put my 2 cents in.

Much worst for me is to see how difficult it is for people in charge to reconcile being responsible for the organization and letting multiple points of view be expressed and explored, that being "in black and white for all to see".