Nothing has embarrassed and worried corporate America in recent years the way anonymous employee blogging has. In fact if executives have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night in panic and sweating, then that nightmare is bound to be about employees blogging some devastating corporate secrets.

These anonymous tell-all blogs always manage to pick up huge audiences within a very short time. In recent times, internal tensions within well known companies have quickly become public knowledge. A few of these companies have made things worse by firing these bloggers when they have been discovered, only for them to become celebrities and to quickly land plum jobs elsewhere, leaving their previous employer suffering backlash from the public.

But even as we dread the anonymous and damaging blogging, it is useful to ask a few questions.

For instance, what drives an employee to anonymous blogging? What kind of corporate environment forces the hand of this new breed of blogger?

These are interesting questions that should be answered with great honesty by many company executives in these organizations that have suffered damage from bloggers within. And more so from many others who fear just such a repercussion. This is because many of these blogs are really about ideas for improvements at the companies. Many of the ideas brought forward seem to be workable and the sort of great suggestions that many corporations can greatly benefit from.

While we cannot rule out some of the bloggers being nothing more than troublemakers, it is important to ask ourselves if we have done enough to create an environment that allows for the free flow of ideas from our people without victimization. Or have we just paid lip service to the process. Why should an employee with an open line of communication in the company choose instead to go the route of the anonymous blogger?

There is a lot that anonymous blogging is saying to corporate America. But are we listening?

Copyright © 2005 Chuck Yorke - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Yorke is an organizational development and performance improvement specialist, trainer, consultant and speaker. His specialty is helping companies improve by tapping into the creative ideas of their workers. He is also co-author, along with Norman Bodek, of All You Gotta Do Is Ask, a book that explains how to promote large numbers of ideas from employees. Chuck may be reached at chuck@peoplekaizen.com

http://www.peoplekaizen.com/

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