What would you do in this situation? [SFW]?

My guess would be if you are in that sort of position, you most likely have a “friend” who works for a media outlet who you can leak information to in order to further your defense. It would depend on the type of attack before I would know if I would take that path.

Are you able to be more specific? You do seem to be choosing your words very carefully.

If I believed in what I was doing in terms of my work, I’d ignore it.

Either you protect your job and ignore it, or your respond and risk your job. If you believe you serve a higher calling, it makes it easier to ignore the yahoos.

Anonymously inform a third party, and let them do the work.

You’d have to get the scoop out anonymously some way. No paper trails no electronic trails.

@gailcalled You are right in that I selected my words very carefully. I am trying to think how I can add more helpful insight without saying too much. Let’s try this:

My job requires that I solicit and listen to public opinion on a variety of topics. On one particular topic I have a slew of stakeholders that are completely in agreement with a course of action I want to take (it was their idea and it is sound). On the other hand I have a handful of folks who disagree with this course of action. None of the naysayers is capable of cogently explaining their objection with the course of action—they just “don’t like it.”

The naysayers (3 people) have found financial backing and are making their voices sound much louder than the much larger group (several hundred) who are in agreement with the course of action. The naysayers are playing things out in the media and are deliberately lying and sharing misinformation about the course of action to the point that they are scaring people who really don’t need to be frightened.

Because my role is to be neutral, there is little I can do, but I want to comfort the frightened by explaining the course of action so they can understand that it is NOT what the naysayers are communicating.

I like the idea of an anonymous third party, but I don’t want to jeopardize my job (single wage earner) and I am committed to what we are trying to accomplish. As such, a third party would have to be very far removed from me.

Thank you for providing more details about the situation. So, what needs to happen at this point? Do the naysayers need to be convinced that this is a good plan before it can move forward? If so, is it your responsibility to orchestrate it or just provide recommendations?

Does the company have a PR dept. or use a PR consultant firm? They typically are the ones who handle this sort of damage control. It also sounds like the three naysayers need the opportunity to voice their concerns. They need someone who has knowledge of the plan to help them articulate their reasons. Not only might this result in gathering some helpful logistical concerns that can then be addressed, but it’s more likely to get them on board. It may also reduce or eliminate the media frenzy.

In almost every job I’ve had since being in the military I’ve learned that it is beneficial to keep detailed records (even in some cases recordings) about everything I say and do & everything that is said and done around me. That attention to details that most people in a work environment just take for granted or accept as normal every day situations of workplace stress is something that has saved me on more than one occasion.

For instance, I had someone at a job commit fraud & steal millions of federal money & in order to keep my job I was forced to do it with them. I was careful with how I worded things in every conversation and in every email making it clear without being too threatening that I didn’t agree with the processes that were taking place because the fact was that I didn’t. Eventually, when the perfect time came & enough evidence had been collected – my information, documentation, copies of records that I’d kept locked away, every email that I’d blind copied to an outside location, audio recordings I’d made etc. etc. was forwarded to the federal authorities & the media anonymously from the “fake” email address that I’d created to house all of that information & through snail mail with no return address. None of it could be tracked to me without extensive research by someone who cared to do so. In the end, those with the power to figure out who I was had no desire to because they had found, investigated & arrested/put out of business those who needed to be dealt with. I was considered in their investigation as an employee there and the company attempted to put the blame on me because I was the only person who had openly stated I didn’t agree with their actions so of course they suspected me & tried to put the spotlight in my direction, but my recordings & proofs had sufficiently proven what the truth was. I do this information collecting in nearly every job and in nearly every business situation be it a rental agreement with a landlord or work at some place of employment, or with the employees of my clients in cases where I won’t be dealing directly with the owner/client & a go between may have control of info that goes to the owner etc. etc. I’ve had clients come to me with wrong information & in a normal situation I’d have lost the client but instead I produced proofs of the right information and they had one less employee but I kept a client.

My point in mentioning all that is to say that your “naysayers” who are taking false things to the media are people who I’m sure have some “dirt” or another – some manner in which they can either be manipulated or removed from the situation all together. if they had no dirt then they simply wouldn’t be acting dirty because it wouldn’t be in them to be that way. You can play hardball with those who started the game of hardball if you happen to have the proper bits of information that they don’t want known. Every person has their weakness and their price and in business… well business is business… and as you are experiencing, some people are dirty in business & such things are to be expected. That is why it always helps to have a tool to “keep honest people honest” so to speak.

It all sounds a bit “evil” for lack of a better word to those who are on the outside hearing when I have mentioned this sort of thing in the past, but in my opinion it’s only evil if it’s intended to be &/or is used outside of the purpose of what I would call “self-defense”. There is a difference between being on the offensive vs. the defensive side of a situation, but either way all business is like a chess game with each player both making moves and anticipating those of their fellow players in the game. I’ve found it’s best when you can bluff with your own “on the up and up” behavior combined with appearing to the “naysayers & liars” as if you have no knowledge of the details needed in order to shut them up and then when the perfect moment comes you pull the joker from your hand and throw it on the table in a surprise move they didn’t anticipate. Then all of a sudden you can prove your up & up behavior while at the same time stopping that which is not on the up and up and all of it can be done with no harm to yourself.

I think @bkcunningham has the right idea. This is a problem organisations can face in terms of attacks in social media and one of the suggestions of how to deal with it is to get someone outside of the organisation to put forward the alternative position to the suggestions being made by attackers. Sometimes, it isn’t strategically or politically the right thing to do to come out on the defensive but you need someone to present the other side of the story. I would get one of those who support your actions/or your position to present the alternative case.

Uhmm… that happens quite often. I’m a teacher.

Attacked by the media, often.
Not allowed to share details of situations, everyday.
Requires really fast tap dancing, people pleasing, juggling of philosophies and utmost decorum? Every minute.

What do I do? I make the best of it because I truly believe in what I do.