Yesterday I had a lot of driving time in visiting 3 of my branches. I had decided that I wanted to do my staff’s year end performance eval’s before I left. I spent time reflecting on my leadership over the past years & realized that there are some analogies that apply to: 1) adoption of social networking; and 2) a way for corporations to engage in utilizing social media. I chose the triangle for my diagram on purpose because I believe that the majority of people are at the bottom level, some participate & then there are a few leaders that surface.

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Observe & Listen – passively learning

My work: When I began my job 7 yrs ago I didn’t have admin experience or formal training, so my supervisor asked me to observe, listen & to not make any changes. It was good advice.

Social Networking: One starts with lurking & absorbing information from a distance & spending time getting comfortable in the space.

Corporations need to find where the conversations are at & start listening before they jump in. Creating a plan is a good idea before attempting engagement.

Participate – Get Involved

My work: I joined my staff in their tasks & learned the nuances of the workflows. This gained the respect & trust of my staff. We quickly came to realize that some tasks could be discarded which opened up time for new more constructive directions.

Social Networking: Participation comes when the user decides that they can find value in interacting. They probably don’t even realize the benefits until they get involved.

Corporations: Need to assess how & at what level they’re going to participate. If the interaction is relevant & authentic, the results will be surprisingly positive, brand will be established & the company will become more human. Done badly though, can cause do more harm than good.

Lead – A call to action

My work: As I worked with my staff, every change request was prefaced with, we’ll try this & if it doesn’t work, then we’ll tweak it. Being flexible & willing to adapt was a necessity. Communication was an absolute. The end result was great rapport, trust & respect in both directions.

Social Networking: In working in small forums as well as a company’s product forum, I have seen the leaders surface. They provide the direction, establish the tone & have the unique ability to encourage people to participate by making people feel comfortable. I quickly engaged these people as forum moderators. They have an innate ability to move amongst everyone & kindly manage the trolls as well as thank the positive contributors.

Corporations: Product evangelists also surface much like they do as I described in the social networking portion. The trick is how to engage them? They champion the product & will embrace word of mouth. Again a plan is helpful to direct this energy & valuable skills.

I think that I could extend this analogy to bloggers too. There are some people that read blogs, some participate in blogging & there are some that naturally lead & can call people to action. It’s a powerful thing to experience & be a part of at any of the levels.

Here is my challenge to you: If you’re an observer, I challenge you to participate & actively participate in conversations. You’ll be surprised I think! If you’re a participant, step it up & help out with leadership. If you’re already leading, carry on!