Managing Leadership^®

We have discussed the benefits to organizations and their managers of making good use of the self-organizing dynamics that exist in any group. Doing so makes the work of managers more effective, extends their reach, and, amazingly, lightens their load, freeing them for greater focus on more operationally or strategically oriented managerial tasks.

This really is an irresistible trend, and one you should acquaint yourselves with. It is being explored and disseminated by more open-minded managerial thinking (much of which is driven by the need to address the problem of greater work performed by smaller staffs), and is being given motive force by communications technology that facilitates its expression. See this item from the WSJ for a brief review of one of these technologies.

With this in mind, please take a moment to view this post by Leo Babauta, which offers a compelling and insightful expression of this argument. Leo explains how the “open source movement” will affect not only corporate operations, but our lives in a wide range of areas.

But it’s not all clear sailing to this horizon. As we all know from general life experience, there can often be a dynamic in group efforts that inhibits their operation or perpetuation. A main one is the tendency of a very few to provide the input, and of the rest to “free-ride” on the efforts of the former. In business organizations, this isn’t necessarily a show-stopper – just a managerial problem that can be effectively addressed with the right incentives; this is where market-based management comes in.

But if you want a vigorous group that is energized and proactive, you may have some additional work to do. Stop over to see this discussion by Chris Brogan about what this idea really means, the various ways it can be helpful, and some of his thoughts on how to make it happen.

Those of you who regularly visit Steve Roesler‘s All Things Workplace will note a highly active site with a wide base of visitors, and, perhaps the highest percentage I’ve seen of active commenters on a primarily business- or management-oriented venue. This is an example of one of Chris’s notions of an “activated community,” one whose members are involved in, meaningfully participate in, and practically benefit from the thinking of each other.

Wouldn’t you love to have a business like that? It’s time to start thinking about how to accomplish it. Begin with the posts linked here, see where your reading takes you, and stop back to let us know.

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Carnivals

A few posts from this site have been featured in some carnivals in the past two weeks. Many thanks to the following hosts:

• Billy Smith, of The Organic Leadership Blog, who highlighted The paper they’re written on.
• Wayne Hurlbert, of Blog Business World, who cited Morale and productivity – questioning assumptions.
• Professor Piderit, of Management Professor Notes II, who referred to Pushing the string.

These carnivals are excellent compilations of writings from a variety of writers in the field, and are an excellent source for discovering new ideas and authors; please do take a moment to visit them. And thanks again to the volunteers, such as Billy, Wayne, and Professor Piderit, who host them.

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But before you go, please take a moment to subscribe, so you won’t miss the continuing discussion right here. We’ll be very pleased to have you join in!

Technorati Tags: organizations, managers, self-organizing, WSJ, Leo Babauta, open source movement, Chris Brogan, Steve Roesler, Billy Smith, Wayne Hurlbert, Professor Piderit