GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

Social media will have far reaching effects on leaders and the entire concept of leadership. The traditional organization as a top-down hierarchy have been deteriorating for some time. However, vestiges of Weber’s bureaucratic organization remain (and for some organizations, firmly entrenched).

Social media focuses more on social networks and connections and less on formal hierarchies. This presents both a challenge and opportunity for existing and future leaders.

The February issue of the International Leadership Association featured an article by Arthur Jue titled, “Social Media, Leadership, and the Emerging Architecture of Change”. In it, he states,

In business leadership, social media helps to enhance culture, recruitment, innovation, customer relationships, operational efficiency, engagement, and ultimately organizational performance.

It connects employees in new ways that redefine traditional roles, eliciting greater freedom of expression and commitment.

What I see is that leaders must now be facilitators of the social network process. Leaders will need to motivate staff inside and outside of the their purview encouraging the use of social connections far outside the normal boundaries of the organizational hierarchy. The leader will be seen as a facilitator of connections and understand that informal social networks using social media are far more powerful than the information transferred within the typical chain of command. The power is not in the leader, but in the collaborative power of employees.

My dissertation for my Ph.D. in organizational leadership will deal directly with leadership and social media. I’m working with my dissertation advisor at the moment and within the next few months I will be defending my initial proposal.

As Warren Bennis said, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” I’m taking on yet another facet.

I was part of a panel at the Gartner Portals, Content and Collaboration Summit yesterday (March 10^th). I was on stage with Jeanne Homl from NASA and Walton Smith from Booz Allen Hamilton. The moderator asked how many participants in the room worked for companies that ban social media access. About two-thirds of the audience raised their hands. After seeing this many hands go up, I had a change of heart.

I’ve changed my mind from my prior opinion. I now believe that organizations should BAN social media access.

Here are the Top 10 reasons why:

Number 10: Social media is a fad. Two years from now we’ll be moving to the next marketing or management fad.

Number 9: Social media takes control away from the corporation; and you can’t have that. Controlling the message is what it’s all about.

Number 8: Employees are simply going to goof off. They don’t do anything non-work related now like go to the water cooler, the coffee machine, or even the bathroom.

Number 7: Social media is only good for watching funny YouTube videos and knowing what a former classmate is eating for lunch. Social media, please, what a waste of time.

Number 6:Social media serves no business purpose. Your salespeople are top notch. Come on, will teaching them how to use LinkedIn really make them more effective?

Number 5: Employees simply cannot be trusted and will likely say things in social networks that will become bad publicity for your company.

Number 4: Millennials expect access to social media at work. Hey, Millennials, wake up! It’s a bad economy. Be happy you have a job.

Number 3: Your team already shares knowledge effectively and adding another technology to the mix is simply going to make it more confusing.

Number 2: Social media will simply bring viruses and Trojan horses into your network. For security reasons alone it should be banned!

And the Number 1 reason for banning social media access:
Your competition isn’t using it, so why should you.

Please note: This article was written with a bit of sarcasm and a dash of wit. In reality I believe social media should not be banned but embraced by organizations. Consider this post “reverse psychology” for those organizations that ban employee access to social media.

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games just came to an end. Canada did a great job at hosting this year. I think I now want to hike the Canadian wilderness…but that’s a different blog post altogether.

As I watched the Olympics the spirit of competition was in full display. These athletes, though partially driven by internal motivation, were also driven by the athlete that was only a step behind or a goal ahead. Competition drives us. It improves us. It helps athletes, businesses, and individuals perform at a higher level.

Sure, competition taken to the extreme can have dangerous consequences (remember Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding?). But remember anything taken to the extreme can be harmful. Heck, drinking too much water can kill you (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill) .

The spirit of competition fosters innovation, growth, and I’d argue greatness. I personally have performed my best at work, in athletics, and in other areas of life when I know there is direct or perceived competition.

As you proceed in your career and your business, realize that competition is a great thing. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to strive for greatness.

from telegraph.co.uk

I was astounded by the disqualification of Netherland speed skater, Sven Kramer. Kramer was going to win the gold medal but his coach, Gerard Kemkers, signaled him to switch lanes. Kramer followed his coach’s instructions; which were wrong. Kramer was disqualified for being in the wrong lane and lost the gold medal. You can read the full story or watch the video. 

What leadership lessons could possibly be gleemed from this situation? Here are a few. 

1. As a leader, you must be ready for others to follow
   Being a leader is an incredible responsibility. People count on you. They have expectations. They follow instructions. They trust.Kramer, the speed skater, trusted his coach, Kemkers, implicitly. If you watch the video Kramer doesn’t even hesitate when his coach signals him to switch lanes. He trusted his coach’s direction.

   As a leader, you hold a tremendous weight of responsibility. Make decisions carefully. Be ready for others to follow you.

2. As a follower, question your leader
   In this speed skating incident there was no way for Kramer to question or consult his coach. But in the workplace where decisions don’t need to be made in thousandths of a second, question your leader’s direction. Do it with respect but don’t simply follow a leader because he or she possess the title of ‘manager’, ‘director’, ‘vice president’, or ‘president’. Ask questions. Probe. Listen. Make suggestions. Being a follower is about being part of the leadership process; not following blindly.
3. Forgive
   I was wondering what was going to happen to the coach. The talking head shows on CNN, Foxnews, and MSNBC all said the coach should get his resume ready. He was going to get fired. Right?

   As it turns out, the athlete and the coach make peace. There was forgiveness. In an article in the Washington Post, Kramer says, “The past years were simply too good to drop someone just like that.” Kramer focused on the positive. His coach helped him to become a three time world champion, four time European champion, and many World Cups and Olympic gold in the 5,000 meters.

   Mistakes will be made. Trust will be broken. In these instances, the power of forgiveness can help mend the pain and move forward. My guess is that Kramer and Kemkers are focusing on their next race in the Olympics; aiming for gold.

These are simple leadership lessons from a single lost opportunity for gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Corporate sustainability is all the rage these days; and for good reasons. Not only can organizations reduce their negative impact on the environment; but they can also potentially boost profitability.

I bought a Poland Spring water recently and saw this on the label.

One could argue that bottled water in general is “bad” for the environment. I’m not going to defend or refute that claim. I simply want to draw attention to this type of creative thinking in order to help lessen negative environmental impact.

A smaller cap…who knew that a smaller cap contains 20% less plastic than the average cap on disposable bottled water? I’ll admit that the cap is a bit more difficult to open but I’ll survive. All organizations need to start looking at their packaging and determine how they can reduce materials used.

Here’s an example of packaging waste and an opportunity for improvement. This Christmas my daughter opened one gift after another. Some packages were huge but the product inside could easily fit in a 1 quart plastic bag. Is all that packaging really necessary? Can the company achieve the same branding and visibility with a different style of packaging that would reduce materials used?

Innovation is the bedrock of American capitalism. With a little ingenuity I believe companies can re-create product packaging to be more environmentally sound, cut costs, and perhaps even improve the overall package design to attract more customers.