Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

Open Community and diversity and inclusion

I’m taking part in the virtual book tour Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer are doing to explore concepts from Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web. In this post, Maddie and Lindy introduce the book and discuss a few of the ideas we hope to discuss more here and over on their blog at SocialFishing.

Why did you write Open Community?
Maddie: Lindy and I have talked to thousands of association executives who have voiced their frustrations about the social web–from the overabundance of tools and the disorderly experimentation of staff (and members!), to the lack of organizational support and the unwieldy processes for monitoring and managing social media, and that’s just the beginning. We decided to write Open Community as a way to address those frustrations and redirect the thinking about using social tools to build community online.

So, what is “Open Community?”
Lindy: Here’s the gist. Your Open Community is your people who are bonded by what your organization represents and care enough to talk to each other (hopefully about you!) online. Connecting with and supporting your Open Community is really important, because if you don’t, someone else will.

How does Open Community relate to diversity and inclusion?
Maddie: The fourth chapter of the book is titled “Open Community Means Empowering the Periphery” – which is all about paying attention to new voices.  Organizations are used to knowing where the power is – namely within traditional staff hierarchies or volunteer committee structures – but in the age of the social web, some influencers might be operating completely outside those structures.

Lindy: Yep – organizations now need to be able to find and engage their champions and digital extroverts, no matter where they are.  But this means building the capacity internally to actually build relationships with new people and allow them to find ways to participate.

Many, if not most, Diversity and Inclusion practitioners (from what I see) are not talking about social technology and not taking it seriously.  Why do you think that is and what would you say to them about how this stuff is applicable to their work?

Lindy: On the one hand, I would think people who do deep Diversity and Inclusion work take that work very seriously (as they should) – but social media, at least in the beginning, could easily be seen as not serious, frivolous, even.  It’s only in the last year or so that we’re seeing organizations in general start to take it more and more seriously because it’s impacting how they do business and how they provide value!

Maddie: When we talk about “the periphery” – this is a HUGE opportunity for diversity practitioners, because they can now show how crucial it is to have a system where these new voices can be heard or new ideas shared and communicated (because they will be heard loud and clear outside your four walls, with or without you).   And those people who are vocal about wanting more diversity from their organizations can be found and mobilized much more easily.  Diversity practitioners may not be used to being out there themselves and “stirring the pot”, but if any work was worth some pot stirring, this is it.  Diversity is a state of being, not a committee…

So what’s next?
Maddie: Well, we see the book as a conversation starter–we hope lots and lots of people will get the chance to read it, and think about how the concepts affect their organization.

Lindy: And we hope to gather lots of great stories about Open Community in action, which we’ll continue to share in many ways throughout the year. So here’s a question for all of your readers to consider…

Are you seeing more diverse voices around your organization bubbling up through social media?  How are you engaging and encouraging new influencers in your Open Community?