Use Social Media to Be a Better Leader

What’s the Latest Development?

Rather than sign up for a new social media service that will take more of your precious time, use the networks to which you already subscribe to make your business run more effectively. By using iGoogle or Google Reader, you can create a leadership dashboard which aggregates the articles, academic research and leadership models that interest you. Planning and visualization tools like MindMeister can help you diagram your business priorities for the quarter or the entire year. And project collaboration tools like Basecamp make it easy to track your team’s tasks and progress.  

What’s the Big Idea?

Social media have made the problem of not having enough time even more acute. But it may be the way we look at social media that makes it inefficient. Rather than looking at each platform as another tool you must learn to use, “start seeing it for what it can be instead: a personal toolbox for improving your practice of leadership.” If your goal is to keep your team motivated, use Pinterest to create visual reminders of the goal you are working towards. Finally, social media can serve as a relaxation tool, for example, by curating photos of the things you love when you have those five-minute pauses during the day. 

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