Every day Votenet gets to manage hundreds of votes and elections for organizations all over the world.  As CEO, I’ve seen numerous organizations create innovative contests, fan votes and other elections, but  rarely have I seen an organization achieve the level of success and tangible business results achieved by the Seattle Sounders.  After talking to Kenton Olsen, I was struck by their commitment to open decision-making.  In my opinion, there are 5 reasons why Seattle Soccer has not only made online voting a success but also built a successful community of fans.

These 5 reasons are valuable for any corporation or organization planning to develop a highly engaged online community.

1. Build Democracy Into Your Organizational DNA
   From the team’s inception, management decided more heads were better than one.  They didn’t retrofit their organization to accommodate direct democracy, they embedded it right into the organization’s DNA.  One of the team’s first decisions was to pick an official name for the team.  Rather than hire a consulting firm to make the decision or have management decide, they opened it up to sports fan in Seattle and all over the world.  Interestingly, the collective wisdom of the fans made a huge impact.  The winning name, “Sounders”, wasn’t even an option on the ballot.  It was a name that 14,000 people selected via write-in on their ballots. This was a case where opening up the decision-making process to many helped an organization to think outside the box and generate a new and better idea. 
2. Vote Often
   The team offers ongoing voting opportunities to ensure that stakeholders stay involved year round. Votes prior to the opening game, build excitement leading into the season and votes after the season ends, ensures that passion remains high even after the MLS goes into the offseason. I love the concept of the Council: each member of the Council has to be nominated by 25 other fans, and these key, connected voters get to interact directly with coaching and team leadership in regular live and online meetings.
3. Value Integrity
   Lots of organizations poll stakeholders and distribute surveys, but Seattle’s voting goes beyond surveys and common online feedback mechanisms because the results can’t be compromised or manipulated by the team’s management.  The Sounders use a high integrity, 3rd-party voting system to create trustworthy results. If voters believed that the voting process is manipulated by management or simply serves to reinforce management’s opinions, then the entire effort would be useless.  Fortunately, a 3rd party secure system ensures that management cannot tamper with the results.   The Sounders aren’t afraid of transparency, integrity and openness.
4. Make it Binding
   Seattle’s leadership is adamant that what the fans decide via voting is final and binding. In other words, the vote has “teeth”.  This binding power gives the votes meaning and drives participation. Voters know that their individual votes actually mean something.  A vote is useless if the outcome it decides is not implemented.
5. Take Action and Communicate
   After every vote the Sounders staff quickly implements the outcome of the vote and communicates with fans to let them know.  This quick action builds trust with voters and let’s see the impact of their decision.  This builds a feeling of empowerment and enables fans to feel a part of the management team that is building the business.  Being an equal to management is benefit that Seattle can sell to attract new fans and season ticket holders.  Would you rather be season ticket holder and a part-time member of the management team with the ability influence decisions?

The Seattle Sounders is an organization that is embracing the new paradigm of the Internet Era – Openness. Rather than simply selling a product via a one-way communication with fans, they’ve used technology to create a high speed two-lane highway to communicate.  They aren’t fearful of the “crowd”, they think the “crowd” can enhance the quality of their decisions and their product.  They are leveraging collective wisdom to chart an exciting and rewarding course for the team and all of its stakeholders.

If you want to differentiate your team, your organization, your online community or your business, think about giving your stakeholders advisory voting and decision-making power.  Still not convinced?  Look at Seattle’s success.  In their first year in the league they have accomplished volumes.  All of this wouldn’t be possible without an engaged and passionate fan base.