Leadership Development and Facebook

Traditional leadership is no longer valid in the Age of Social Networks, find the 6 Essential Skills Modern Leaders Need to have.

From the very beginning, our survival as depended on our sense of community, our emotional gratifications have focused 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 the past, leaders did not put their effort to nurture our competence and sense of self worth. Sure there was positive compliments but Good leaders provided us with security, leadership, vision and the opportunity to become an integral 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 specifying our identity and how we adupt with something bigger, and at the same time have a place where we can find solutions to our problems.

The employees’ anticipations were 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 and was far more significant than it is today.

BUT THAT WAS THEN!

Based on the relevant studies, we can say that greater social interaction maximizes commitment to a community and the ability to mobilize cumulative 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 possibly more distrust among community members and its leaders .

“Social networks are my resource of support, knowledge,
learning and developing, and knowing that I have this resource
gives me confidence, assurance and assertion of success.” -
- Tina Jessamiene Goh -
Facebook User.

At the present time, 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 globe of borderless social network tools. And, for people who find it difficult to form and maintain social bondage, 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 don’t provide anymore 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. We expect more when we go to work. Leadership Development takes on a whole new face.

“In Facebook I can be positive and people do not judge me, I can be
happy and people accept it and praise me on how I help them have
a better day. At work this is not the case.”
- Candy Sevlanka -
 Facebook User

The levels of these emotional needs have increased substantially.  What we would have settled for 5 years ago just won’t do today. The milestone is set at a higher level and if leaders don’t achieve 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.

Facebook can offer to an individual :

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 as and when required. So how can leaders step up to expectations in the Era of Fast Social Fixes? Leaders still need to provide 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!

In Part 2 of this Article, we will explore the 6 psychological steps on how to CHANGE EVERYTHING.

 

By
Arthur F. Carmazzi, Founder of the Directive Communication  Organizational Development Methodology and Ranked as one of the Global Top 10 most influential Leadership Gurus by Gurus International. Arthur specializes in psychological approaches to leadership and corporate culture transformation. He is a renowned International Speaker and bestselling author of “The 6 Dimensions of Top Achievers”, “Identity Intelligence” and “Lessons from the Monkey King”, “The Psychology of Selecting the RIGHT Employee“, and “The Colored Brain Communication Field Manual“.

More about Arthur at:
Leadership Development and Leadership Training - www.directivecommunication.com
Carmazzi Leadership Development – www.carmazzi.net