This SmartBrief Insights guest post comes from Deirdre Reid, CAE is an association consultant, speaker and trainer focusing on member engagement and social media at Deirdre Reid LLC and Leadership Outfitters. Connect with her @DeirdreReid.

Umair Haque, in his Harvard Business Review post, From Social Media to Social Strategy, believes social strategies will change the essence of organizations and social media tools can be a catalyst for that change. He talks about seven social strategies that will be the key to success and help organizations provide meaningful and sustainable value to members, customers and communities. I examined Character last week; today I’ll take on Control.

Control

Haque says that an “organization with a social control strategy radically decentralizes decision-making, giving the control that was formerly vested in leadership directly to people, communities, and society.” A radical decentralization is difficult to imagine in an association today. Who will make the decisions affecting financial resources, legal well-being and tax status?

Instead of a “radical” decentralization, let’s instead imagine a loosening of control over decision-making. Bringing new types of participants into the decision-making process would allow new perspectives and ideas to be heard. There would be less danger of operating in a leadership bubble or getting stuck in a rut. The association would be better placed to provide meaningful and sustainable value to its members.

Web 2.0 has spoiled us. We get to have our say in real time and contribute our ideas to anyone who will listen. Younger generations are even more used to this, having grown up in a landscape where user-generated content drives open source applications, Unconferences and BarCamps, blogs, YouTube and other online communities. Members (and staff) want the opportunity to make some type of meaningful difference today, not decades from now after dutifully climbing the leadership ladder.

There is a bias toward lateral networks rather than vertical hierarchies. Staff is sick of coming up against departmental and budgetary turf battles when trying to collaborate with colleagues in ways that benefit the members.  Nowadays people talk to companies, celebrities and politicians on Twitter or Facebook. The usual barriers between the average Joes and big cheese are blurring. Our members compare their membership experience to other types of brand experiences — customer service, recognition and reception to feedback. How do we measure up?

Another control issue that merits discussion is the control we think we have over our talking points and brand. We have never had control over how our messaging or brand was perceived but it was easier to live in the illusion that we did when we heard few voices in our space. Now, if we’re listening online, we hear many other voices talking about us or our issues – friends or fans, allies, adversaries, policy-makers and others in our communities. Broadcasting is no longer as effective when people are used to engaging in dialogue. Control and censoring when applied even to blog and Facebook comments backfire. The social space is open 24/7. Activists and movements can organize overnight. Things can spiral out of control before we can get a leadership conference call scheduled.

Think about the areas where you are used to being in control and imagine some scenarios where you might have less or none. Get used to that feeling because that is slowly becoming our new reality. Don’t fight it; figure out how to deal with it in a way that’s best for your mission and members in the long-term.

Related Posts:

• How to make time for a “small bite” of community
• How associations can engage a crowd of curators
• Social Strategies for Associations – Clarity (Part 5)
• Give membership the flash mob treatment
• Association leadership: Transforming governance to stewardship