As a community leader, managing an online community requires a delicate balance between leadership and micromanagement.
These styles both have their advantages, but they also have their disadvantages and understanding the impact they can have on your community is crucial for fostering an engaged and healthy environment.
Leadership
As a community leader who manages an online community, you will find that the role involves guiding members towards common goals, setting a vision and empowering your community to take the initiative.
As a leader, you should inspire to motivate your community whilst focusing on the bigger picture without getting pulled down in every detail.
Advantages of Leadership
Creativity: Giving community members the ability to contribute to the community in diverse ways can help encourage innovative solutions and ideas which can help with creativity within the community. This is something that a community leader should practice to ensure that community members feel confident when it comes to contributing to the community.
Empowerment: As a community leader, you should ensure that your community members feel trusted and valued, this can help to increase not only participation but ongoing engagement too which is very important to ensure your community thrives in the future.
Sustainability: Community leaders should encourage their community members to support one another to help build a self-sustaining community. This not only gives your members confidence to help one another but also reduces the burden on leaders freeing up their time for other areas that need attention.
Disadvantages of Leadership
Slow Response: As a community leader, having broad oversight can affect the response time when dealing with conflicts or specific issues within the community. This can have a huge effect on the atmosphere within the community if issues are not dealt with promptly and can leave community members uncomfortable.
Reliance on Strong Leaders: Having a community that relies heavily on a strong leader can have its advantages but should that specific leader need to or want to step down or reduce their involvement in the community in the future, this could cause struggle within the community which could lead to inconsistency and affect trust.
Inconsistency: Community leaders should ensure that clear guidelines are in place and that they are consistent with enforcing these guidelines within their community. Without clear guidelines, this can affect the direction and quality of contributions from your community members due to them not understanding what is and is not allowed within the community.
Effective Leadership Strategies
Empower Moderators: Community leaders will often find that the time and work needed to ensure the community is thriving can get too much for one person. Looking into giving trusted members delegated responsibilities to help with the running of the community and to ensure guidelines are followed and issues are resolved promptly is an important strategy.
Foster Inclusivity: Community leaders are looked up to by their community members. As a leader, you should be setting an example within your community and ensuring that everyone is treated equally. This can be done by ensuring that all voices are heard and that all community members are respected when they give feedback or voice their opinions.
Clear Vision: Community leaders have values and goals in mind to help their community succeed and thrive. Ensuring that you communicate these values and goals clearly with your community members will ensure you work as a team to help the community succeed.
Regular Feedback: Community leaders should ensure that they provide feedback and updates regularly to keep community and staff members aligned and on the same page.
Micromanagement
What is micromanagement?
Micromanagement involves closely controlling and supervising every area of the community. As a micromanager, your focus should be a detailed oversight that ensures all activities align perfectly with the rules and standards that are set.
Advantages of Micromanagement
Quick Resolution: One of the advantages of micromanagement is the quick resolution of conflicts and problems within the community. This ensures that any issues are addressed quickly, and the community stays positive.
Control: As the leader of an online community, you have a high degree of direction, control and quality of the community.
Consistency: Another advantage of micromanagement is consistency. Being consistent can ensure a uniform standard of both behaviour and contributions made.
Disadvantages of Micromanagement
Decreased Engagement: One of the disadvantages of micromanagement is that it can cause decreased engagement within the community. Community members may feel less motivated and disempowered when it comes to contributing content.
Burnout: Having a micromanagement approach means that both leaders and moderators are required to manage every detail within the community. This can lead to a lot of work which results in burnout for those individuals.
Community Member Frustration: Micromanagement means watching over every detail. Over-supervision whilst it can have its advantages, tends to instead have the opposite affect when members are closely watched which can instead lead to a lack of independence and resentment.
Effective Micromanagement Strategies
Regular Monitoring: Interactions within the community should be consistently reviewed to ensure compliance.
Clear Rules: Detailed standards and guidelines should not only be established but they should also be communicated to community members and moderators to ensure everyone is on the same page and knows what is expected of them.
Balance Control: Overbearing should be avoided within the community. This can be done by allowing some member independence rather than watching their every move.
Immediate Feedback: Providing quick and constructive feedback to correct any issues that may arise within the community is a great micromanagement strategy.
Finding the Balance Between Leadership and Micromanagement
An effective community manager or leader is often seen to blend both leadership and micromanagement to harness the benefits of both approaches whilst also mitigating any drawbacks.
Below we give you some strategies that can help you achieve this balance:
Engage Regularly: As a community leader or manager, you should be staying connected with your community to understand any concerns or needs they may have. Whilst staying connected with your community, it is wise to avoid any excessive control over every interaction that happens.
Adapt Flexibly: Always be ready to adjust your management style based on the maturity, specific challenges and the size of your community.
Empower Trusted Members: Assign specific responsibilities to both active members and moderators within your community. This should be done carefully whilst also maintaining overall oversight.
Set Clear Guidelines: Clear guidelines are important and ensure that your community runs smoothly, and everyone understands their role within the community. A framework should be provided that includes the quality of contributions you are looking for and the acceptable behaviour you wish to see without suffocating creativity.
Conclusion
Having a balance between leadership and micromanagement in an online community is key to creating a sustainable, engaged and vibrant community. By utilizing the strengths of both leadership and micromanagement, community leaders and managers can foster an environment where members feel both empowered and guided which in turn will lead to a thriving online space.
These styles both have their advantages, but they also have their disadvantages and understanding the impact they can have on your community is crucial for fostering an engaged and healthy environment.
Leadership
As a community leader who manages an online community, you will find that the role involves guiding members towards common goals, setting a vision and empowering your community to take the initiative.
As a leader, you should inspire to motivate your community whilst focusing on the bigger picture without getting pulled down in every detail.
Advantages of Leadership
Creativity: Giving community members the ability to contribute to the community in diverse ways can help encourage innovative solutions and ideas which can help with creativity within the community. This is something that a community leader should practice to ensure that community members feel confident when it comes to contributing to the community.
Empowerment: As a community leader, you should ensure that your community members feel trusted and valued, this can help to increase not only participation but ongoing engagement too which is very important to ensure your community thrives in the future.
Sustainability: Community leaders should encourage their community members to support one another to help build a self-sustaining community. This not only gives your members confidence to help one another but also reduces the burden on leaders freeing up their time for other areas that need attention.
Disadvantages of Leadership
Slow Response: As a community leader, having broad oversight can affect the response time when dealing with conflicts or specific issues within the community. This can have a huge effect on the atmosphere within the community if issues are not dealt with promptly and can leave community members uncomfortable.
Reliance on Strong Leaders: Having a community that relies heavily on a strong leader can have its advantages but should that specific leader need to or want to step down or reduce their involvement in the community in the future, this could cause struggle within the community which could lead to inconsistency and affect trust.
Inconsistency: Community leaders should ensure that clear guidelines are in place and that they are consistent with enforcing these guidelines within their community. Without clear guidelines, this can affect the direction and quality of contributions from your community members due to them not understanding what is and is not allowed within the community.
Effective Leadership Strategies
Empower Moderators: Community leaders will often find that the time and work needed to ensure the community is thriving can get too much for one person. Looking into giving trusted members delegated responsibilities to help with the running of the community and to ensure guidelines are followed and issues are resolved promptly is an important strategy.
Foster Inclusivity: Community leaders are looked up to by their community members. As a leader, you should be setting an example within your community and ensuring that everyone is treated equally. This can be done by ensuring that all voices are heard and that all community members are respected when they give feedback or voice their opinions.
Clear Vision: Community leaders have values and goals in mind to help their community succeed and thrive. Ensuring that you communicate these values and goals clearly with your community members will ensure you work as a team to help the community succeed.
Regular Feedback: Community leaders should ensure that they provide feedback and updates regularly to keep community and staff members aligned and on the same page.
Micromanagement
What is micromanagement?
Micromanagement involves closely controlling and supervising every area of the community. As a micromanager, your focus should be a detailed oversight that ensures all activities align perfectly with the rules and standards that are set.
Advantages of Micromanagement
Quick Resolution: One of the advantages of micromanagement is the quick resolution of conflicts and problems within the community. This ensures that any issues are addressed quickly, and the community stays positive.
Control: As the leader of an online community, you have a high degree of direction, control and quality of the community.
Consistency: Another advantage of micromanagement is consistency. Being consistent can ensure a uniform standard of both behaviour and contributions made.
Disadvantages of Micromanagement
Decreased Engagement: One of the disadvantages of micromanagement is that it can cause decreased engagement within the community. Community members may feel less motivated and disempowered when it comes to contributing content.
Burnout: Having a micromanagement approach means that both leaders and moderators are required to manage every detail within the community. This can lead to a lot of work which results in burnout for those individuals.
Community Member Frustration: Micromanagement means watching over every detail. Over-supervision whilst it can have its advantages, tends to instead have the opposite affect when members are closely watched which can instead lead to a lack of independence and resentment.
Effective Micromanagement Strategies
Regular Monitoring: Interactions within the community should be consistently reviewed to ensure compliance.
Clear Rules: Detailed standards and guidelines should not only be established but they should also be communicated to community members and moderators to ensure everyone is on the same page and knows what is expected of them.
Balance Control: Overbearing should be avoided within the community. This can be done by allowing some member independence rather than watching their every move.
Immediate Feedback: Providing quick and constructive feedback to correct any issues that may arise within the community is a great micromanagement strategy.
Finding the Balance Between Leadership and Micromanagement
An effective community manager or leader is often seen to blend both leadership and micromanagement to harness the benefits of both approaches whilst also mitigating any drawbacks.
Below we give you some strategies that can help you achieve this balance:
Engage Regularly: As a community leader or manager, you should be staying connected with your community to understand any concerns or needs they may have. Whilst staying connected with your community, it is wise to avoid any excessive control over every interaction that happens.
Adapt Flexibly: Always be ready to adjust your management style based on the maturity, specific challenges and the size of your community.
Empower Trusted Members: Assign specific responsibilities to both active members and moderators within your community. This should be done carefully whilst also maintaining overall oversight.
Set Clear Guidelines: Clear guidelines are important and ensure that your community runs smoothly, and everyone understands their role within the community. A framework should be provided that includes the quality of contributions you are looking for and the acceptable behaviour you wish to see without suffocating creativity.
Conclusion
Having a balance between leadership and micromanagement in an online community is key to creating a sustainable, engaged and vibrant community. By utilizing the strengths of both leadership and micromanagement, community leaders and managers can foster an environment where members feel both empowered and guided which in turn will lead to a thriving online space.
