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Leadership and Facebook

Guest post by: Arthur Carmazzi

Article Overview: In times past, leaders did not really take the time to nurture our competence and sense of self worth. Sure there was positive praise but Good leaders provided us with security, guidance, vision and the opportunity to be a part of a group that gave us purpose.

Leadership and Facebook

Why traditional leadership is no longer valid in the Age of Social Networks, and the 6 Essential Skills Modern Leaders Need to have.



I stood in front of a group of senior managers of a major Malaysian company ready to make a presentation on how they can transform their leadership skills. Their staff was in awe that all these elite people even came together be “educated”, apparently this was a very uncommon occurrence.

Everyone was expecting profound words of wisdom and power, but instead, they were shocked when I uttered my first words.

“Are you on Facebook?”

A sense of confusion, and yet intrigue came over this highbrow audience, but they just stared at me?

“That was a question”, I responded and repeated the question. Of the 16 senior individuals, 4 raised their hand (reluctantly I might add).

“How many of your staff would you say are on Facebook or something like it?”... More than 60% was the eventual consensus. The reality would be closer to more than 72% of computer users have a presence on some social networking site, Facebook being the most popular.

But Facebook is for the younger generation right? Aahh, No! In a study conducted by inside facebook on March 25, 2009, the largest group was between the ages of 26 and 44, AND, at that time user over 35 had double in the previous 60 days.

A July 2009 study according to Strategy Labs puts the biggest age group from the US at 35 to 54, accounting for 28.2 percent of all U.S. users.

But what does this have to do with leadership?

As the presentation continued, the psychology of Facebook became more apparent, and its relationship to the psychology of how a leaders actions affect emotional gratifications and expectations in this modern “connected” society.

From our beginnings, our survival as depended on our sense community, our emotional gratifications have centered on interactions with others. Those interactions feed the emotional void of solitude, provide security of life, and nurture our egos and our very reason for “being”, they even present the possibility of managing our own destiny.

In times past, leaders did not really take the time to nurture our competence and sense of self worth. Sure there was positive praise but Good leaders provided us with security, guidance, vision and the opportunity to be a part of a group that gave us purpose. Work was a large part of where we found our identities, worth and the sense of community that filled much of our emotional needs. Work had a “greater purpose”, the enrichment of our psychology by defining who we are and how we fit in to something bigger, and even a place to fine solutions to our problems.

The expectation employees had was based on their universe at the time; security, community, and purpose were largely filled through work and the guidance, strength and greater knowledge or seniority of leaders that made up much of what they were lacking in their own lives. Work was a social network far more important than it is today.

BUT THAT WAS THEN!

Studies have shown that greater social interaction increases commitment to a community and the ability to mobilize collective actions, among other benefits, thus the idea of team building and company Dinner & Dance events or just the water cooler. If social interaction is minimal, a group or organization experiences increased social disorder, reduced participation in cooperative activities, and potentially more distrust among community members and its leaders.

These days, much of our social emotional needs, knowledge, entertainment, community, security, and even a sense of self worth are delivered to us in bite-sized packets through Facebook and similar sites as and when we want it. We even get solutions to our problems and yet another way to connect or even complain in the online world of borderless social network tools. And, for people who may otherwise have difficulties forming and maintaining social ties, there is now a place they can easily belong with the security of virtual distance. Social emotional gratification is now faster and easier than ever. In the late 60s the revolution was Fast Food, then Fast Communication with the coming of mobile phones and email, and now Fast Social Fixes.

We no longer need our organizations to provide us with these emotional gratifications necessary for a balanced psychology. Leaders no longer provide that needed security and sense of belonging and significance. We don’t need to share our lives with our companies. We have it at the touch of a mouse. So when we go to work, our expectations are MUCH higher.

The levels of these emotional needs have increased substantially, what we would have settled for 5 years ago just won’t do today. The benchmark is set at a higher level and if leaders don’t meet it, employees can just turn to Facebook and blame their boss (as long as the boss is not on a friends list).

Leaders are now competing with Facebook to provide purpose, community, and guidance

What do people get from Facebook:

1. Community – knowing you are connected provides security and belonging
2. Problem solving – advice and the sense that people are there to help
3. Expressiveness – self worth
4. More friends, more interest – Feeling popular with more significance
5. Potential for romantic relationships
6. Acceptable place to complain
7. Achievement – Social networking for business or personal gain
8. Personal growth and learning
9. Sharing common interests – more belonging
10. Compiling of social resources

And they get it when they want it and how they want it.

So how can leaders step up to expectations in the Age of Fast Social Fixes?

Leaders still need to provided us with security, guidance, vision and the opportunity to be a part of a group that gives us purpose, but that effort is now more difficult and there just needs to be more design in the Psychology behind it. BUT WAIT THERES MORE...

Our connected society has evolved and wants MORE!

Here are a few points that you might consider:

1. While Social Networks do provide a platform for personal growth through various groups, it is made up of the combined knowledge people who may not be experts or just don’t have so much time to share. In this capacity, we look to our leaders to make us better. As a leader do you give structured guidance and learning that will build your people to higher levels of greatness? Are you using your people at their minimum capacity, or helping them evolve in their competence and ability?
   
   And while we’re at it, let’s look at ‘good’ online marketers. These are the people who are constantly providing good, usable content to us at no cost (which takes lots of time), they enrich us with the hopes that out of reciprocity, we will indeed buy something they sell. So they help us to be better because it because the fastest way to be trusted is still through our aiding us with our achievements and competence (or at least the perception that we will have it soon)
2. Social Networks do give a sense of security through the instant access to people you know or believe you can get help from, yet offline factors of Security and stability cannot be simulated. As a leader, how secure do you make your people feel? Are you Predictable enough so others aren’t left wondering how you are going to react? Are you making others feel like part of a greater purpose or do you make them feel incompetent?
3. Trust. And it really does go both ways. We need to trust our leaders and in turn, need to be trusted. There is a limit to how much trust can be generated through the online veil of a computer, but at work, trust a primary factor in leadership and now, more than ever, it must be cultivated in our organizations. Trust influences our self worth, our passion, and most importantly our commitment. If we trust and feel trusted, we tend to be more excited and interested in our work, we extend ourselves to take more calculated risk, and we are more committed to our job and the outcomes. As a Leader, how well are you Trusted? Why? Do you trust others to do their job? Or do you judge their process? Do you help others to feel valued and successful? Or do you criticise them for doing things differently than you would?
4. Supportive environments, the community at work: Do you people trust each other? Do they share their ideas and excitement? Do they help each other be better and more successful? Do they see their job as an important part of a greater purpose? Are they cooperative and eager to help each other? Or are they out for themselves? If they are Blaming each other, you as a leader may be cultivating a “Blame Culture”* As a leader, how are you at building a community that supports your vision and the people in the organization? Do you cross train and develop them? Does your work environment support personal aspirations? Do you allow play and set structures for employees help each other in their efforts. Are you an “Untouchable” Leader, or do your employs see you as a real human being they can relate to? As a leader, support both the maintenance of existing social ties and the formation of new connections, and most importantly, Be Real.
5. Structure – while we all have a need to succeed, we are not all endowed with the ability to direct our efforts in a clear structured manner. When we visit Facebook (most of us), we interact with what is available, and while we may enter with a task in mind, we do not set out with a specific plan of interaction. We see what is there and act accordingly. Yet, most of us do recognize the need for structure to achieve our goals... enter the leader. We seek this structure and clarity from our leaders. But in today’s society it’s not just the structure and clarity for work, the leaders that make the biggest impact are those who give us clarity for our future and show us what is possible for our greater lives. While career planning and succession planning are all part of the picture, it is a strong leader will cultivate the group environment for people to see beyond what they are NOW! And see what they could become, and yes, provide a clear path and structure to achieve it, in and out of work.
6. Guidance – all of us look to something higher to seek refuge from the unknown. While this has always been a leader’s role, we also do this in Social Networks and so the benchmark has changed. Why, because your people are less dependent and if there is the slightest distrust, you, the leader, will lose out to Facebook or MySpace. Guidance has always been a platform for leaders to build trust. Now trust must be in hand before anything begins. But all is not lost. When a leader develops the group, guides them to become successful in their tasks, teaches them to be more effective, the leader sets a track record for guidance.

Rather than finish this article off with some profound words of wisdom, or possibly a shameless plug for (me) Leadership Development Programs and Leadership Coaching or Mastermind Groups, I would like to leave you with a question...

Who are the greatest influencers in your life? Did they show you how great they were, or assist you to become greater? And... (I know, so its 3 questions) How did you treat, trust and respect them?

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Article Tags: facebook, good leaders, leadership



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