You know what I hate? I hate when I am wrong.
I also hate when I discover that I am not as open as I think I am.
Darn that Charlene Li and her Openness Audit!
I also hate when I discover that I am not as open as I think I am.
“Cultural sharing, what we feel comfortable sharing, has really changed and that has changed how we look at relationships in the workplace.” Charlene Li, author of the book, Groundswell and now Open Leadership, set the Buzz2010 series on fire with her educated and inspired musings on Wednesday, June 16, at Clyde’s in Penn Quarter during Digital Capital Week.
Buzz2010 was packed with recognizable (at least, recognizable to me) non-profit social media types. Think: Maggie McGary, Peggy Hoffman, Ray Van Hilst, Sterling Raphael, Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer (of course), Wendy Harman, Jamie Notter, The IFDA Social Media Mavens, and on and on...
The focus of Li’s talk was on building relationships with association members and the public, rather than on the social media tools used to communicate and engage. Hmmm...openness in association leadership? Could this be an issue? I'll let you think about that for the 2.5 seconds it takes for you to give a furious head nod, "YES!!!"
Here are the five basic takeaways (taken from Charlene Li's slides) to inspire open leadership within your organizations:
- Align openness with your strategic goals
- Calculate the new lifetime value of a “customer”
- Find and develop your open leaders
- Prepare your organization
- Embrace failure
- Managing Risk, July 20–Risk is a reality on the social web, whether you choose to engage or not. So what is your tolerance for social media risk and how do you manage it? What do you need to do as a leader to ensure that your organization is taking the proper course to manage your unique risks?
- Social Media ROI, August 18–With all the talk around social media, the question of ROI is the most vexing. Why should you pour your organization’s time and resources into something so unproven? And how do you make sure that the resources you do apply create business value?
Great summary, KiKi! Thanks for the recap. I wish I could get to DC to attend Buzz.
ReplyDeleteI think number 5 is often the trickiest for many organizations. Many don't have the resources (time or money) be able to "fail." It's tricky to be able to embrace the fact that you make have to make mistakes and learn by trial and error along the way, but quite frankly, people expect open leadership in 2010. Association leaders need to learn how being open can help the organization achieve it's goals. Easier said than done, though.