Community Managers? What About Community Organizers & Community Leaders?

Today, January 24, 2011, is the Community Manager Appreciation Day (CMAD).  This celebration made me think about the differences between managers and leaders.  The two are quite distinct and to organize and sustain communities, we need to understand the differences between managers, leaders, and organizers. There are numerous discussions about this topic and I would like to highlight some of the differences.

In the blog post “Leaders vs. Managers….. Are they really different?”, George Ambler summarizes the words Warren Bennis wrote in his book, On Becoming a Leader: 

▪   “The manager administers; the leader innovates…

▪   The manager maintains; the leader develops.

▪   The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

▪   The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust…

▪   The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective…

▪   The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it…

▪   The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing…”

To me, organizers combine the qualities of both leaders and managers. Leaders, organizers, and managers are distinctive but complementary. They are all necessary especially in forming and sustaining communities. So, why do we celebrate just community managers and disregard community organizers and leaders?  We could do justice by calling the 4^th Monday of each January, Community Leader, Organizer and Manager Appreciation Day (CLOMAD).  They are all essential for creating and maintaining functioning and vibrant communities!

 

Comments

[Glen]

There is not a distinct difference between the Community Manager and the Community Leader. You are putting too much emphasis on “Manager” and too little emphasis on “Community”.

Let me break it down more for you.

I have been a Community Manager for many years building and laying the foundation for large-scale communities in the video game industry. Every point you have made in the differences from the Community Manager and the Community Leader or Community Organizer is the exact same for most Community Manager’s out there. We are not sitting behind desks with a different mindset; we are in the mud doing those things too. That’s because most of us do not have the luxury of having a large team nor the resources to even think about every separation that you have clearly made here. So, we do it all. We are the administers, we are the innovators, we are the maintainers, we are the developers, we focus on the foundation, we focus on the people, we rely on control, we rely on trust with our community, we have short-range view, we have long-range big-picture view and everything in between.

To summarize this up for you: Community Manager = Community Leader

Cheers!

[Nahum]

Glen,

Your work with the large-scale communities in the game industry sounds great. I think that the right choice of words is important since words have meaning embedded in them and they evoke specific associations.

The words "community management" do not fully describe what you do and I think it evokes the wrong associations. What I wanted to do is to point out that to my thinking, the words "community management" is not the appropriate term for the work of many like you who are leaders, organizers, and yes, sometimes managers.

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I was a manager of the community for many years to build and lay the groundwork for the broader community of the gaming industry. Every point you made on the differences of the Community Manager and the Head of the Commonwealth or a community organizer is exactly the same for most of the Community Manager here.

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