Methods for Building Relationships and Trust: Reflections from Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5 offers a lot of information about ways that an organization can open up and foster beneficial relationships. It is noted that listening is the foundation for success in any organization when building relationships is the goal. I thought the authors made an excellent point when they said that an organization should never talk at their audience. Instead, it is important to get on the level of audience members and find out their individual questions, interests, and concerns. By doing this, trust is instilled in the organization and its fan base is sustained and even increased in size. Today, one of the best ways that companies and organizations can listen to their audiences is via social media. Virtually all major companies are utilizing outlets like Facebook and Twitter to promote their products and services to consumers.This is due in part to the fact that it is inexpensive advertising and can reach out to massive amounts of people at once. By "liking," or "following" these organizations on social media outlets, friends of friends and followers of followers will also see activity associated with supporting various pages and thus, increase supporters and consumers. It's a genius idea, especially considering social media is clearly not going anywhere.

Engaging the public can also have a positive effect for organizations online. I think it relates to virutally any kind of leader-follower scenario in that by making followers feel included, loyalty to a company/organization/product will flourish. It is also a great way for organizations to say thanks to their supporters, which is also a nice touch. There are a number of businesses I can think of in Clemson alone that engage their supporters via social media. This includes everything from fast food restaurants to retail stores. They offer specials or encourage feedback from customers about topics as simple as what they did over the weekend. Criticism is also accepted and harped on so as to improve products or services. I think by creating this sense of involvement, companies increase their success.

Chapter 6 discusses the need for nonprofit organizations to have transparency. According to the text, this involves, "engaging more honestly and openly with the networked world." This includes the three categories of transparency that nonprofits can be categorized as:

• Fortress: Very exclusive; build walls to keep "invaders" out. Self-protection to insure that secrets are kept. Very much an "us vs. them" mentality. This is not a good mindset to have because it leads to paranoia within the group, which can ultimately be detrimental to the organization itself.
• Transactional: provide services to the public, selected by the public, based on cost. These individuals are continuously crunching numbers and making comparisons based on who attended what function or who donated x amount of money to an organization. This is not the only way in which the organization can function, but it should be known that transactions are the basis for prime focus in organizations that adopt this mode of transparency.
• Transparent: The opposite of a fortress; a "glass house" though there is still a wall present. These organizations are compared to sponges in the text because they are straightforward in their intentions and plans, people are allowed to come and go as they please, and members are enriched in the process.

By inhibiting more transparency within, an organization can break down those walls that may discourage increased support from the outside world. This can in turn increase revenues collected and information posted by individuals everywhere. One quote I really liked from this chapter was on page 83: "The future of an organization has to be as transparent as the past." This pertains to planning for future methods of success such as reaching out to more people. It also relates to learning from the past-what worked and what didnt, and what new ideas could be utilized to increase the success of the organization