Robert Gubas, VP of Global Marketing and Mindy Geisser, VP of Global HR wt Colliers International were hosting this session with 15 marketing executives and acted as catalysts for a discussion around open leadership and how we can leverage social media to create a culture of collaboration and engagement. I have captured some of the discussion below: 1) Open Leadership, 2) Social Technology and the C-Suite, and 3) Realistic Expectations, and 4) Powerful Questions and Takeaways. Don’t forget to check my favorite quotes and resources listed at the end.

Open Leadership. Charlene Li in her book Open Leadership very succinctly contrasts the differences between traditional and open leadership, one of the key characteristics of the latter revolving around having the confidence and humility to give up the need to be in control while inspiring commitment from people to accomplish goals. In my own executive coaching practice I find it interesting how many of the clients I partner with – typically high potentials and very high value folks – that have trouble in letting go of control and feeling the need to be perfect and “right”, both characteristics that may be intrinsically at odds with the somewhat chaotic and disorderly world of social technology. In fact, social in the work world is becoming more open, more public, more quickly and all generations are impacted by and driving these changes –not only in Western cultures. As leaders we have to make an individual choice. Do we shy away from open leadership or raise our game? Is it realistic, really, to think we can control information today? Probably not, and the openness of social technology dramatically changes the symmetry of power within our companies and outside.

Here are the new rules of open leadership Robert shared with us:

• Respect that your customers and employees have power
• Share constantly to build trust
• Nurture curiosity and humility
• Holdopenness accountable (set boundaries-know your limits)
• Forgive failure (not accept failure rather learn your lessons)

Social Technology and the C-Suite. A few years ago, most leaders were resistant, now more CEOs actually take pride in being cutting edge in social technologies. That doesn’t mean that these leaders necessarily engage personally, but they do increasingly respect technology and what it can do. And, more leaders do indeed blog an tweet than they did a few years ago. Yet they do not necessarily understand how to best leverage the technology. Case in point: the CEO that wanted to send a 300-page handbook via Twitter. This shows a serious misunderstanding about what social media does-it’s really about engagement, conversation, community, collaboration etc., and doing it in an intentional, not reactive way. As leaders in our organizations we also need to help define the proper balance between reacting/responding, influence/minutia. We simply do not have the time to deal with every negative comment about our company on the internet. We have to educate our CEOs – when they are “freaking out” – about “Ignore it and it will go away” as a viable strategy.

Realistic Expectations. Social technologies like Sharepoint, Chatter and Yammer help flatten our organizational structures and create cultures of engagement, but only if there is support from the top making it a part of the organizational DNA. Employees have to realistically be supported from the top in carving out part of their day to make a comment or share an idea. We have to introduce these technologies with realistic expectations. In most organizations adoption of social media like Yammer will be pretty slow and content, at least initially, will be provided by a small percentage of the workforce, but a large portion of your workforce will be lurking. Perhaps that is OK, at least as a starting point? Sometimes implementation requires deliberately slowing down and investing more in the tools you already have while you identify champions, build more active users and integrate new tools into the culture and organizational processes. Adoption in a way has to become simpler and more organic – new tools cannot become “one more place” to look for what you need! Each organization and industry will go about adoption differently and at a different pace.

Takeaways and Powerful Questions. In wrapping up the dialogue around open leadership we reflected on a few powerful questions:

• What do our organizations need from us – or any leader- at this time?
• Do I (other leaders in my organization) need to adjust my style?
• What are we doing to be aware of our own styles and those of others and what style seems to be most effective in this new arena of open leadership (we had great fun doing a quick personal assessment around our own leadership styles and how “open” we are?) It is important to remember that all styles are important.
• How can we help answer our employees questions around: “what’s in it for me” as we are trying to introduce social technology and more open leadership cultures? How can we ensure quicker adoption by proving the immediate application and value for them at an individual and personal level?
• How willing are we to change? We need to understand open leadership and how social technology impacts how we lead and what we are willing/able to do personally.
• Is it imperative that our C-suite engages, or is it OK if they at least support the new social technologies?
• How can we take leadership in setting expectations for social media within our own work groups and different layers of the organization?
• Depending on the organization and industry we are in, our experiences are very different, yet there are themes. What are they?
• We need to help our C-suite (many of us are a part of the C-suite) get engaged and demonstrate open leadership. Have we identified the compelling, competitive imperative that will grab them at an emotional level?
• Are we introducing a social media tool where there is no current engagement? Hoping it will be catalyst for engagement and culture change? Or, should we focus on improving engagement where it’s already occurring?

Favorite quotes:

• We have rules about where documents stay. Emailing of documents is simply not allowed. “Thou shalt not e-mail files to each other!”
• It’s not about the technology; it’s about the culture within our organizations
• For us approachability was key- how can we enhance what we are doing without creating distance?
• If your CEO cares about adopting a tool, then others will follow – as will the meaningful content.
  Spigot is a great way to put out challenges to ideas with employees and have others add on. Ideas really evolve and morph and our employees can vote on their favorites.
  Socialnomics-“you are probably too late perspective!” The numbers are staggering.
• It is a misconception that only the younger generation embraces social media. The generational gaps are beginning to disappear.
• It is happening. You really can’t control it!
• Mobile youth-kids from peer groups in different countries have more in common than they have with their own families.

Favorite Resource Recommendations

• Mobile youth.org
• Open Leadership, Charlene Li
• Glassdoor .com– have you checked what people are saying about your company lately?

IDEA
Work-in-Progress: This Summer we will have a combination Roundtable/Social Event around social media with some of our kids. We will have a show and tell and have them engage with us at their level. Perhaps a 12, 16, 18 and 24 –year old. What are the powerful questions we want to ask them?

SO, what do you think? Reactions and comments? Do you shy away from open leadership or are you raising your game?