What might it mean to lead in a context transformed by social technologies?

[Alex Edghill]

Some great insight here from our own Erica Packington about the role of leaders in today's age..

First a quick backstory about my company - At Achordus we sell a methodology and online tool to facilitate online discussions from 100-10,000 people. Achordus engages people in purposeful discussion around organizational, community or business issues. At its heart, our tool is a unique and engaging discussion engine for online communities. Using a timed, phased and moderated process, overseen by a trained facilitator, Achordus is a flexible, cost effective way to engaging distributed employees, stakeholders and,communities. By inviting and embedding active participation in creating a desired future, Achordus harnesses the power of many and helps organisations turn that power to good use.

"When I run Achordus engagements I work with a leadership group and sponsor for about a month before we go live. This time is spent working out what we are there to do, shaping the process, inviting people to participate and constructing the space in which they will do so. On several occasions I have had to work hard to coach the leader to think through their nervousness about the engagement. They want the creativity and challenge that they hope will arise from this new type of conversation and interaction with their people, but at the same time, they are worried about the possible consequences of it. The openness and transparency of the medium is threatening.

I think a key role of the consultant working with leadership facing these challenges is to support leaders in their transition towards participation. This entails an understanding that while they might be in charge, they are not in control. Primarily, the lowered costs of self-organising of groups make “control” impossible and evidently so. Leadership simply cannot be about control in this context. It must be about a type of participation.

Leaders are, of course, influential in their participation. The structure of the Achordus process makes evident their participation, both on a micro level – they can go into the discussion and pitch in like everyone else – and a macro level. An Achordus engagement, at its best, is a participatory gesture on an organisational scale. At its heart, the request is “Work with me here, and we will try to figure this out together.”

See the full article here - http://blog.achordus.com/?p=44

Alex Edghill