{"id":513,"date":"2013-11-21T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=513"},"modified":"2014-08-13T21:05:49","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:05:49","slug":"open-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/open-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

A word on openness and social media from Ron Swanson:<\/p>\n

Perhaps you feel a bit like Ron Swanson when it comes to social media and organizational openness.\u00a0 \u00a0Either you are overwhelmed and a bit frightened by the brave new world we live in, or maybe you work with someone who has a more closed view of leadership and communication.\u00a0 Whatever it may be, we now live in a world where the rules of leadership and communication have totally changed, and will continue to change.\u00a0 Leaders who cannot adjust to these realities will struggle to find success in the emerging world.\u00a0 The culture has changed through social technology in how it thinks, processes, and deals with organizations.\u00a0 The rules are now different.\u00a0 This is essentially the main thesis of Charlene Li\u2019s book Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Li goes on to explain that what was once prized as effective leadership and institutional acumen was \u201ccontrol.\u201d\u00a0 The world has shifted to a place where control is almost impossible to maintain and where customers and employees expect a greater sense of collaboration and sharing that goes way beyond the inner circle of organizational leadership.\u00a0 Li explains that successful leaders and organizations will be able to find the perfect blend of openness and control for their specific situation and context.\u00a0 The heart of the book is in explaining the key character and heart changes that must take place in an organization for openness to occur: \u201cIn order to be open, you need to let go of the need to be in control. But to fill that void, you need to develop the confidence- to develop the trust- that when you let go of control, the people who you pass the power will act responsibly (loc 392).\u201d<\/p>\n

I have had the opportunity to work with some very open organizations.\u00a0 My democratic Presbyterian home church had a high value on lay leadership.\u00a0 That is, no initiative was to go forward unless it was conceived of, planned by, and carried out by lay members of the church.\u00a0 Working for Cru, our mission is student led movements.\u00a0 Students are to take the active responsibility to carry the mission of the Great Commission to their campuses.\u00a0 They are to start, lead, and multiply their own spiritual movements.\u00a0 Staff help by casting vision and, supporting and coaching students through the process.\u00a0 In both cases (Presbyterian and Cru), the process was often messy and clunky, but it worked in that people were motivated and empowered for mission, growing the impact of the organization.\u00a0 Studying the history of Christian movements, the research overwhelmingly points to the importance that successful movements are always led, enacted, and empowered at the lay level.<\/p>\n

Where Li\u2019s book speaks to two main areas that help to aid me most in my own understanding of creating an open culture of leadership. They are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The actual character traits needed by a leader to foster openness.<\/li>\n
  2. The emphasis on social media to engage with co-workers and stake holders.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Character Traits<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Openness is essentially found in creating relationships and engaging with people.\u00a0 \u00a0Li goes on to explain that open leaders need to have two essential traits: optimism and a desire for collaboration.\u00a0 Optimism with healthy doses of curiosity and humility allow us to see the best in people and want to hope for the best in people and organizations.\u00a0 This allows us as leaders to be more open, sharing, and to give away control, knowing that other will be able to handle the responsibility and\/or learn and grow from failure.\u00a0 Collaboration allows for the unleashing of creative and innovative power throughout an organization; moreover, it imbues the organization with ownership of the vision and mission.<\/p>\n

    Social Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I will admit that I have often been slow to see social media as a real engine to accomplish leadership goals.\u00a0 But, Li makes a strong case for their inclusion in leadership strategy and organizational strategy.\u00a0 Working in a country like Spain, where not everyone is using social media like Americans (although this is changing rapidly) it has been hard to see the real need here.\u00a0 However, for those like me, who are a bit skeptical, Li explains that we need to put together a plan and follow it through.\u00a0 This is probably my biggest take away from Li\u2019s work, to begin to think how I can use social media to foster greater openness amongst the staff I lead and the students we are all trying to empower and send.<\/p>\n

    In short, to become a better open leader:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Work on engaging those you lead or serve.\u00a0 Your job is to give away control, but to do that effectively you need to be in a trusting relationship with those you are leading and giving control to.<\/li>\n
    2. Develop the traits of optimism and collaboration in your leadership style. \u00a0This will open up others to have the freedom and power to grow and develop the success of the organization, from the inside and outside.<\/li>\n
    3. Develop a personal and organizational plan for using social technology to foster openness.<\/li>\n
    4. Avoid the Ron Swanson style of openness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A word on openness and social media from Ron Swanson: Perhaps you feel a bit like Ron Swanson when it comes to social media and organizational openness.\u00a0 \u00a0Either you are overwhelmed and a bit frightened by the brave new world we live in, or maybe you work with someone who has a more closed view […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,220,221],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-li","tag-ron-swanson","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1847,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/1847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}