Today, innovation has created a more competitive landscape, setting higher expectations for employee and company performance. It’s also forcing companies to respond to how employees want to work, with flexibility and values-based purpose.
Remember when your company provided all the tools you needed to communicate and work? Not long ago, you had to go into the office to access work technology, but that has changed dramatically with the arrival of Hangouts, Slack, and Skype. Social platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have opened the door to the sharing of individualized, personal information in our lives.
Now employees expect a similar experience at work. Social technologies not only open the world to us, they open us to the world. Anyone can reach millions of people in ways we could barely imagine a few years ago. We can tell stories and share experiences with the potential to improve the world, and we can engage each other to create personal connections and share ideas, all which give us a sense of belonging.
Posting comments, videos, or images whenever and however we want enables autonomy. As we gain confidence and courage from these behaviors, this drives us to reach for more – from ourselves, our work, and our world. With communities popping up everywhere, we can personally and professionally connect with like-minded people all over the world. And this connectivity drives change.
Belonging to a community changes you. Even like-minded people will see some things differently, so they can challenge your opinions, alter your views, and ultimately expand the dimensions of your world. Best of all, a community gives you a chance to help others grow and succeed. We all thrive when we become a part of something bigger.
Top-down micromanagement may have worked in the past, but such tactics will alienate the new workforce and even undermine a brand. So how should leaders respond to the shifts that social technologies and communities are creating?
Online communities will become increasingly important in the movement to share information and connect teams. Within these communities, employees can share ideas, expanding on what they learn from their peers, and find ways to translate this knowledge into their work. Leaders need to understand this connectivity and explore its many benefits.
I’ve tested this concept myself. Recently, I introduced a process allowing teams to share ideas on a weekly “TED talk”-style video event. Individuals from across the organization came together to share ideas and find out what their peers are doing in other areas to advance the organization.
I witnessed individuals participating who may never have before because they “didn’t know each other.” One participant said, “I can be part of this group. They don’t know me. I don’t know them. I can contribute and not be someone who’s known to the group. But that’s our virtual world, so they don’t need to.”
To benefit from this social transformation, you will need high levels of trust. The more trust you build, the faster the support will grow. As a leader, you need to develop your communities by creating the conditions for trust and confidence. The results will break down the walls within the organization and build up the foundation under it.
The good news is that today it’s easier than ever to become an exceptional leader, one who encourages collaboration instead of coming up with all the ideas. In fact, if you don’t engage with your community, you’ll miss ideas and viewpoints that could take your company to the next level.
If you enjoyed the post, I would be grateful if you shared within your community.
~Lynette
