Technology has always enabled people to do more, do more faster, and do more with less effort. But when combined with the stimulating effects of free-market, democratic politico-economic systems, technology has produced unique political and managerial challenges.

In this environment, the traditional military-style decision-making pyramid does not work so well. Even closely held private companies are finding that they have many "stakeholders" and that these people — employees, customers, neighbors, media, and even totally unrelated outside interest groups — can make implementing decisions either easy or difficult. Like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians, non-consultative, highly authoritarian managers can find their every decision bogged down.

Association managers should know this phenomenon well. In flat decision-making structures such as associations, progress requires the across-the-board involvement and cooperation of every part of membership. In such a situation, unilateral decision making usually is a disaster. Is it any wonder that leadership and communications courses are among the most popular management education and training programs today?

So how can a manager work effectively within these trends? Everyone has his or her own style, but a pattern exists in the most effective methodologies:

1. Do your research. Identify all stakeholders and learn as much about them as possible. What are their values, needs, and concerns? How do they obtain the information they use to make decisions? Does each group contain "thought leaders?" If so, who are they?
2. Invite collaboration. Use as many thought leaders as you can in each phase of your planning process, but as you do, make sure they have benefited from the same research, and they are not just bringing their own baseless opinions to the table.
3. Communicate. Share the decisions reached with all stakeholders and show how and why these conclusions came to be. Solicit feedback — is everything clear? Has anything been overlooked? Can you count on their support?

Finally, throughout every step of this process, the manager has to balance the roles of leader, teacher, and loyal officer.

Clearly, managers must be leaders. They are the ones responsible for daily operations, and stakeholders know this. Many, if not all, stakeholders look to management for guidance, and management — while it should not appear to be arbitrary or unilateral — should be prepared to say what it thinks. This role is particularly important when only the manager can provide the foresight and perspective needed, such as when virtually everyone's perspective is local, except the manager's, which has the unique advantage of a global vantage point.

More than giving speeches or writing articles, managers need to be teachers. Supportive stakeholders rarely just happen; they need to be taught by word and example the roles they are expected to play. Like good teachers, managers should determine what they want the "learning outcome" to be and then design the methodologies that best suit the needs of each stakeholder group.