Establishing a Web Council

This year we’ve been working a lot with large organizations that are trying to establish an organizational Web council. The impetus for establishing the council is usually one or both of the following: a desire to establish or enforce Web standards in order to raise Web site quality; or, the desire to collaborate with others in the organization who are also responsible for some aspect of Web or digital development. So, organizations are eager to get their “arms around this whole Web mess,” as one client put it. In working with these teams to establish their Web councils, a few themes have emerged and I thought I’d share a few of them. I’ll be giving a webinar on "Establishing a Web Council” on June 9, 2011  if you want to learn more or ask questions. 

What is a Web Council?

Broadly speaking, an organizational Web Council or Web Board is established in order to help cut across organizational silos and support a more strategic and comprehensive approach to Web development. In the last year, there’s been a trend to pull together Web, social, and mobile into a Digital Council. While there are differences in execution tactics between the social, Web and mobile channels, the concerns which lead to the establishment of the council are usually similar—the primary concern being how to integrate these new channels with legacy business processes or how to replace the execution tactics of those processes with new, digitally enabled tactics. The configuration, agenda, and membership of the Web council varies from organization to organization and is tied closely with the organization's strategic view of digital channels and the maturity of the organization's Web operations. 

A Web Council is Frequently Redundant

From my view, in a perfect organization, a Web or digital council would not be required. Most (not all) of the functions it serves can usually be embedded in already existing policy-making functions of the organization (like IT, Marketing, HR, Legal). And those areas where new policy need to be informed or created could be handled by a properly formed Web team. However, most organizations don’t have a mature enough corporate awareness of Web or Digital to support this best of all possible worlds scenario. So, for now it has to be drawn out and considered “special” in order to manage it into control. My hope would be that ten years from now we won’t need Web or Digital councils--- the functions these councils support would be integrated into the business at large and any executive (or staffer for that matter) would necessarily be savvy enough to naviate the organization through the physical and digital business world.

The Web Council as a Catalyst for Strategic Collaboration

Often, Web folks tell me that their senior executives don’t understand the Web. So, I suit up and go talk to these executives. To be honest, I haven’t found one executive that didn’t have a mature sense of the possibilities of the Web. So, what’s the deal here? The disconnect between organizational leadership and those responsible for Web execution is usually in the vacinity of one of two concerns. The first is that senior Web folks have not teed up a business case that resonates at the executive level. They might be running around shouting hyperbolic language about how important Web, mobile and social are but they haven’t actually taken the time to express their position with a cogent business case. The other thing we see is an assumption by executives that the Web folks are doing the best that they can—they are assuming they are already enabled to do their job to the best of their ability. They don’t have time to deal with the tactics of a content strategy or technology integration-- just as they don't deal with the tactics of many other things related to the day-to-day managmenet of the business.  

So, both sides of the fence are waiting for the other side to lead. It’s frustrating to view this sort of standoff. Often, a well-seated Web Council can help address this disconnect and help bring to the surface the leadership deficits so that they can be addressed. Sometimes this is the council's most import function. I’ve seen Web councils last for 12 to 18 months and then disband not because they were dysfunctional or ineffective but because it had served its role as a catalyst for Web team and executive collaboration around the digital channel. 

The Web Council Can’t Do Everything

When I speak at organizations, I talk a lot about Web production compression. I’m alluding to the jack of all trades/webmaster approach that is part of the Web management profession. It used to be that one person did everything for the organizational Web presence. You remember the magical webmaster in the corner. She designed web pages, wrote content, installed the web server software and re-indexed the search engine software and scoured server logs to glean analytics. We are still overcoming this idea that everything about Web production is consolidated and fast. So, when organizations try to organize a Web council, frequently they want this council to oversee or govern every aspect of Web at the organization. This is unrealistic. There are multiple layers to Web management and a digital council has a specific role to play. They are not a substitute for a proper organizational Web execution strategy which would address Web team budgeting and staffing.

Developing Web Standards is Not a Group Activity

I’ve overstated this intentionally. Even a year ago I wouldn’t have stated this as strongly; but, in practice we are noticing that collaborative standards development approach is slow and unreliable. There is value in getting all your core Web stakeholders in a room to discuss the organizational approach to digital but the authority for standards codification ought to be cleanly seated with people who are experts in whatever digital standards arena you are addressing. A collaborative standards development process can only work if all resources around the table actually have not just an organizational viewpoint but also a viewpoint informed by Web expertise. In practice, we find that most grass-roots formed Web councils are filled by folks with varying skill levels and expertise when it comes to Web. This dynamic is great for community building but not for decision making.

Hopefully, more organizations will be forming councils (if only temporarily) to help clarify the strategic direction of its digital presence. These councils can be an effective forums to work through Web site ownership debates and to begin maturing the organizational approach to Web operations. If you are interested in hearing more organizational Web councils, please feel free to listen in on our Webinar on June 9, 2011.