For most organizations, talking about internal change with the public (or having any kind of two way conversation with the public) is terrifying. It feels like standing up in a conference room and shouting, "I have problems! I'm in therapy!" But the Ford Foundation just managed to lead a public conversation around organizational change - and do it really, really well.
The Ford Foundation's master handling of this situation started with a blog from President Darren Walker in September of 2014 asking for public feedback on the future of the organization. As one of the biggest, oldest and most well established non-profits around, choosing a new direction (and possibly changing the way they disbursed grants to initiatives around the world) would necessarily cause a tremendous amount of conversation and anxiety. Mr. Walker, instead of having closed meetings with board members, decided to turn that anxious conversation into an opportunity to engage the public. "My single greatest fear is that I am not hearing enough constructive criticism. It is essential to our work together, and I need your input and feedback."
There are very, very few times that you see a communication from the president of anything inviting such open conversation. But in the age of social media and sites like Glassdoor, companies and brands need to be able to handle internal change in a more fluid, open, conversational way than in years past. If they don't, they risk having their communications managed by strangers on the internet.
Ford took the feedback they asked for and went through a two year period of introspection and reorganization. In November of 2015, Darren Walker again used the Ford blog to lay out a clear and transparent explanation of exactly how the Ford Foundation would be reorganizing its work. Followed up with an excellent op-ed in the New York Times in December of 2015 on the changing nature of philanthropy and an engaging social media campaign called #InequalityIs, the Ford Foundation managed to turn what for most organizations would be a terrifying "re-org" into an amazingly positive moment in time.
What are the key takeaways from this for other companies and brands when it comes to having difficult conversations with the public? Start the conversation - don't let others start it for you. Be open, fluid and ask for people's feedback, even if it might be negative. And have some really, really good connections at the New York Times (kidding!).