Have you ever been part of a group that was clicking? Getting things done? Proud of its accomplishments?

What’s working for that group to be so engaged?

Engagement is definitely more than just enlisting followers or convincing people to join your cause.  You can tell if this has happened with a group. Participants are just there to see what everyone else is up to … not to be active, full time participants.

How do you invigorate engagement in others to want to join you? Because authentic and well-structured engagement is a prerequisite to trust and commitment by others.

Urgency can help because it could mean the costs of not collaborating are high. But even if that crisis situation doesn’t exist, how can you create a movement from a small group?

An important question to ask yourself is who do you want to engage?

Why? Because you need to have a genuine interest in participants you want to engage. That means valuing their perspective and input — NOT just giving it lip service.

It’s vital to extend an openness to learn from others. That alone will cause others to be engaged.

Participants can have a collective picture of an issue even if they have widely different views of how to address and improve a situation.

And, as you reach out to your networks and gather more people, your goal can be redefined to create a future that many can own.

But first, it’s imperative that you are willing to listen, understand and consider.

Jeanette

P.S. This post is the second in a series. For more information, please see “Why Do I Write this Blog” about “The Art of Leading Collectively.”