How many followers do you have on social media? Today, the 'social construct' has made us reason that having many followers on social media is a good measure of knowledge. On the contrary do you relate to your firm's 'social software' as a means for sharing your experiences that is of interest to others such that in-time they can learn from your explicit knowledge, have you given it a thought within your organization?

I am sure many of us are Following our favorite bloggers on professional networks; a place where the leader makes it a point to be consistent to share their thoughts around contemporary topics of interest; share relevant examples to make it relatable. They are moving from being an artist in their realm to becoming a conversational leader. 

Over a period, you as a reader makes it a habit to crave for that daily breakfast post. Intentionally what your mind is teaching you is to practice subconsciously some of their Lessons Learnt; you are now engaged with their 'Content' they are sharing and feel 'Connected'. Did you know you are practicing the 3C's of Knowledge Management, although you're not in sight of your organization?

So, as leaders are we missing out on critical knowledge that can aid in advancing our organizational social capital. If you now connect you know that there is a need to move from just being someone who from being an 'Artist' to becoming a 'Conversational Leader' someone who collaborates and helps their followers to share their experiences in a safe zone and feel acknowledged that truly the network is growing as one tribe.

As defined by educator Carolyn Baldwin, conversational leadership is “the leader’s intentional use of conversation as a core process to cultivate the collective intelligence needed to create business and social value.” 

The next question as leaders are we serving our calling to truly move from predator and sharing our knowledge to enable our followers to truly see us as instructors coaching us to become trainers?

Source: Facebook 'Just for Fun' Fanclub . The bitter truth : You start practicing to truly 'network' rather than 'artwork' something that not only we begin to enjoy but over time others follow us for learning our techniques, our tips and in-time become trainers.

In-Summary: So as leaders let us enjoy wearing our K-Hats and truly ensure we leverage organizational & community resources to produce greater strategic value. We ACE-IT !

A - Start with being an Artist and live our culture contrary to sharing falsehoods
C - We 'Connect' with our teams and truly become a 'Conversational Leader'.
E - We make our teams feel 'Engaged' to encourage critical knowledge-flow.
I - We coach our followers as 'Instructors' and are open to KM 'People approaches'.
T - We as leaders invest in individuals becoming 'trainers' and in-turn our network of followers grows to learn from our art; and ensure "KM is being Followed".

Disclaimer: These are purely my own views and experiences as a seasoned KM partitioner in driving employee engagement and operationalizing the KM strategy through helping employees Connect & Collaborate.

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About the Author: Michael Sequeira is an independent consultant who is passionate about helping organizations discover how KM can be a key differentiator for their business, teams, and clients. If you would like to learn more about his background and get-in-touch you can connect with him on LinkedIn.