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Being Open: Traditionally, GM has been a very closed organization. Even internally, its different brands acted with a silo mentality. In the Alfred Sloan era, GM used espionage tactics to quell union uprisings and in the mid 20th century, GM was blamed for killing American public transportation in the Great American Streetcar Scandal. In the 1990’s GM was accused of killing the electric car so that it could sell its high margin SUVs and trucks.

GM has started by being very public and transparent about its production plans for the Chevy Volt. Also, GM is one of the few car companies to have higher executives and “Car Czar” Bob Lutz blog on a regular basis.

GM invited consumers to a newly built Web site that offered video clips and simple editing tools they could use to create ads for the Chevy Tahoe SUV. The site gained online fame after environmentalists hijacked the site’s tools to build and post ads on the site condemning the Tahoe as an eco-unfriendly gas-guzzler. GM didn’t take ads down, which caused even more online buzz. Some pundits said GM was being foolhardy, but the numbers proved otherwise. The Web site quickly attracted more than 620,000 visitors, two-thirds of whom went on to visit Chevy.com.

Companies could try creating a forum for employees to anonymous submit thoughts and ideas being clear that all content must be work appropriate. If needed, monitor the site and allow users to flag inappropriate content (ala youtube) or if necessary monitor the submissions before they are posted (making it clear to submitters why the have been censored). If that is to radical, start by allowing employees to express themselves by ranking and rating content. The idea is to give employees a voice and the freedom to break free of the hierarchy and danger of group think. I was just talking with my colleague Alan and we discussed how an anonymous forum could be valuable tool on those occasions when everyone is thinking the plan from the top is flawed, but doesn’t feel comfortable voicing their opinion.