The modern leadership movement tends to assume that the fate of the organization rests in the special capabilities of the unique individual leader at the top. Hence, the plethora of books and article enumerating the presumed characteristics that will convert readers into such rarefied individuals. Among these are vision, technical expertise, superior intelligence, and superior communications skills.
Yet, as I’ve argued in Managing Leadership, none of these really need originate in the person of the boss, and it is in fact usually best if they don’t. It is the senior executive’s job not to provide leadership, but to manage it. But how?
One ingenious way is to use organizational “wiki’s”. A wiki is a software platform that is editable - often even created - entirely through user input. The most well-known example of a wiki is the famous “Wikipedia,” articles for which are posted and continuously edited by users of the site. While there have been some errors, including at least one infamous one, the media generally view Wikipedia as a source of sufficient credibility that it can be quoted without verification.
Slowly but surely, as this WSJ article shows, corporate wiki’s are also on the way. Organizations are using everything from social networking software to intranet blogs to allow employees to create their own webs of information and links between them. Managers are experimenting with these, learning how to use them to more effectively generate an efficient flow of information within the organization, and also how to tap the experience and judgement of the members - and the network as a whole - to guide the organization around potential pitfalls and toward potential opportunities.
This is an insufficiently explored avenue for executives to generate great power and productivity for their organizations. It is one area where consumers are way ahead of professional managers. There is much to be learned about how to beneficially exploit this means of increasing the capacity - and thus, as Mary Parker Follett would have said, the power - of your organizations.
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Technorati Tags: leadership, individual leader, senior executive, wiki, Wikipedia, corporate wiki, social networking, WSJ, Mary Parker Follett
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[...] A straightforward way to manage it, in today’s communication environment, is by using what is sometimes called Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 techniques. I’ve discussed this from a manager/consumer standpoint in a post entitled “Tapping leadership from within.” But two authors with real expertise in these areas have recently offered advice all of you should read. [...]
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