Build Better Connections by Giving Up Control

Over the years, a num­ber of foun­da­tions and non­prof­its have asked me to help them make bet­ter con­nec­tions with their tar­get audi­ence. But to do so, orga­ni­za­tions often need to over­come their great­est fear: giv­ing up con­trol.

Think of it. A com­mu­ni­ca­tions plan is a big invest­ment. Orga­ni­za­tions devote plenty of time, energy, and salaried posi­tions to con­struct­ing their brand. It’s a care­fully cul­ti­vated image. It might change, depend­ing on whether the audi­ence con­sists of donors, lawyers, com­mu­nity activists, com­mu­ni­ties of color, or pro­gram offi­cers. But what­ever that image is, audi­ences ought to think of it when think­ing of the orga­ni­za­tion. At least under a tra­di­tional paradigm.

But to build stronger con­nec­tions, com­mu­ni­ca­tion needs to be inter­ac­tive. Orga­ni­za­tions need to lis­ten and to respond as much as they show and tell. If you’re in full con­trol, you’re lecturing.

I’d under­stood this con­cept but hadn’t really taken it to heart until the last sev­eral years, as social media and the web became major com­mu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels. Audi­ences can quickly respond to blog or forum post­ings, or com­mu­ni­cate instantly on Face­book and Twitter.

This has seemed to clamp the lips of foun­da­tions and non­prof­its, oddly. Some have embraced the new tech­nol­ogy, but many have only approached it on tip toes, ven­tur­ing per­haps to add a feed­back ele­ment buried deep within their site or to launch the occa­sion­ally updated blog.

But social media and the web are the best things that could ever hap­pen to foun­da­tions and non­prof­its. The plat­forms are rela­tion­ship based, mean­ing audi­ences can go to a site and inter­act with an orga­ni­za­tion and keep on going back again and again. It’s almost like hav­ing cock­tails or din­ner par­ties with audi­ences 24/​7. It might take a while to get up to speed on the new tech­nol­ogy, but the effort is much less than all these cock­tails and par­ties would require (and speak­ing as a for­mer devel­op­ment offi­cer, I should know!).

The real rea­son why foun­da­tions and non­prof­its haven’t embraced social media and the web–beyond the costs and the time required to adopt the new technology–is that they’re afraid of los­ing con­trol. All that time spent on putting together the glossy pho­tos with the cute cap­tions or the finely tuned case state­ment seems to be wasted if audi­ences can say what­ever they want. They could sud­denly reframe the con­ver­sa­tion or steer it into areas where orga­ni­za­tions have to be on the defensive.

Yes, this could hap­pen and prob­a­bly will. But the con­ver­sa­tions are head­ing in what­ever direc­tion audi­ences want them to head any­way, except the inter­ac­tions are often hap­pen­ing through plat­forms where foun­da­tions and non­prof­its aren’t present.

Giv­ing up con­trol and inter­act­ing with audi­ences, par­tic­u­larly through social media and the web, allows access to these con­ver­sa­tions and an oppor­tu­nity to include an organization’s point of view. The oppor­tu­nity wouldn’t hap­pen otherwise.

And, really, most of the time audi­ences are look­ing to have a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence. For instance, con­ver­sa­tions dur­ing a fundraiser or a com­mu­nity event aren’t usu­ally defen­sive. In fact, they’re usu­ally rein­forc­ing and build stronger relationships.

What social media and the web have taught us is that rela­tion­ship build­ing can hap­pen out­side the con­text of in-​​person inter­ac­tions, in foun­da­tions’ and non­prof­its’ other com­mu­ni­ca­tions, as long as the for­mat is inter­ac­tive and orga­ni­za­tions are will­ing to give up control.

Tagged as: Building relationships, Communications, How-To, Interactive, Social media