Business executives and coaches constantly debate on the one asset that is needed to succeed in the business world. Some individuals say that charisma is essential, others note teamwork as indispensable. Still, a third group states that each individual situation calls for different leadership styles.

Above all else, success in the business world depends on your network. You can have charisma, the ability to lead a team, money, and heart but if you don’t have a network of connections that can help your business, you won’t make it very far.

Developing or growing your network is easy, especially with LinkedIn. Let’s take a look at how you can use LinkedIn Groups to form a helpful and formidable group of allies in your niche.

What are LinkedIn Groups?

LinkedIn Groups are communities of people with one particular interest or quality in common. There are a wide range of LinkedIn Groups, including groups for marketers, musicians, evangelists, and comic book fans. Whatever your niche or interest, there is probably a group. If there isn’t, you have the ability to create a group in order to build a community of like-minded individuals.

How do LinkedIn Groups operate?

LinkedIn Groups operate like message boards. Members can post topics, articles, or interesting facts and other members can comment appropriately. It’s a great way to spur on communication and to build rapport with people who are a similar mindset or interest.

LinkedIn recently revamped their Groups section and now users can “Like” other posts and a most popular posts feed displays when you first enter the group, giving it more of a Facebook-ish feel. Some Groups also have sections for job postings and promoting your work, which only increases the usefulness of the group.

How can I use a group to grow my network?

There are three ways that you can use a LinkedIn Group to grow your network. First, you can post various articles and opinionated questions in order to generate responses from others. Once members have responded, continue the conversation and build rapport. There is no point to post threads if you’re not going to respond to the insight other people have given.

Second, respond to postings that other members started. This will show that you are an outgoing person and that you don’t mind sharing your opinion. Just as if you were starting the thread, be sure to respond when someone else comments on your thoughts. Generating conversation builds trust and influence.

Finally, you can use the Members tab to see the members of the group and you can strike up private conversations with individuals. If you are looking for individuals in the Chicago area to meet and brainstorm marketing ideas, you might go through the members of various marketing groups and ask Chicago-based professionals if they would be interested in attending. If you go this route, make sure that you don’t come across as a spammer. No one likes people who spam and are only looking out for themselves.

Once you have found some interesting people, whether its through conversation or the membership list, send them an invitation to join your network. If they find that you would be a beneficial part of their circle, they’ll accept.

There you have it–growing your network through LinkedIn Groups.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by tychay

Throughout the series, we have covered many aspects of growing your tribe.  First, we discussed that knowing yourself, your tribe, and the goals of your tribe was a solid foundation for a successful movement.  Next, we learned that believing in yourself and your tribe is essential.  Without belief, no one will trust you or have passion for your ideas.

Third, we talked about building a community and how it was necessary to find a medium of interaction, encourage connection, and stay out of the way.  The fourth section discussed the idea of persevering through difficult times.  Perseverance consists of keeping the big picture in mind and always striving to move forward.  If you have implemented the ideas of the first four sections, you are well on your way to growing your tribe.

In the final part of the series, we’re going to cover the aspect of growing.  Growing is the final step in the tribe building process.  As you have persevered through difficulties, you have learned a lot about yourself, your tribe, personalities, processes, and much more.  It’s time to put that knowledge to good use.

The growing stage consists of three steps – assessing what you’ve learned, implementing new ideas, and gathering feedback.  Each step is vitally important in the growth process and will allow for your tribe to be successful in the present and in the future.

Assessing What You’ve Learned

It is easy to get caught in the hype of growing a tribe.  It’s a great thing and is definitely something to be excited about.  Although it’s an exhilarating experience, you can’t forget about learning.  Learning is the only way to become a better leader and to grow your tribe.  Whether it is learning from mistakes, personality conflicts, or tribe members, it is necessary to learn.

When talking about growing a tribe, learning is the secret ingredient.  Technically, you and your tribe can make it with an unstable foundation, little belief, and a world of problems.  But, if you don’t learn from all of that, your tribe will cease and your leadership abilities will be compromised.

There are a lot of moving parts to a tribe so I suggest writing down what you have learned.  Writing the information on a piece of paper or typing it in a document will allow for you to reflect on it and keep a record of it.  Plus, it allows for you to just get things out of your overworked mind.

Learn from your successes and failures.  Realize what you have done right and what you could have done better.  When you don’t learn, you don’t thrive.

Implementing New Ideas

Now that you have learned a thing or two about your tribe and how you got to where you are today, it’s time to implement some new ideas or concepts.  When you implement new ideas, you are making a commitment to a greater future for you and your tribe.  What could be better than that?

The first step in implementing new ideas is to associate what you have learned with action steps that can be taken.  An action step is just that – a process that requires action.  For example, “creating a forum on the website” would be an action step.  It’s a process that requires action.  These action steps can be completed by yourself or the tribe.

Be sure to create specific action steps.  If your action steps are vague, it will be difficult to know if you completed them.  An example of a vague action step would be “create a better website.”  How do you know if the website is better?  What makes up a “better website?”

After you have created your action steps, do them.  Don’t wait until next week or next month.  Do them now.  Seth Godin notes in Tribes, “The best time to change your business model is when you have momentum.” (pg. 94).  You have the drive needed to complete your action steps.  If you wait, you will be disappointed that you did.

Gathering Feedback

Once you have completed your action steps, it is time to gather feedback about the changes you have made.  Feedback can sometimes be a tough pill to swallow but you must keep in mind that you are not receiving feedback for the betterment of yourself.  Instead, the feedback you gather is the the betterment of the tribe.  It’s not about you; it’s about them.

When you gather feedback, be sure to actually listen.  As humans, we often “check out” in the middle of a conversation if we don’t like what we are hearing or if we’re distracted.  Don’t check out.  Godin notes, “The secret…is to listen, to value what you hear.” (pg. 128)  Without listening, how do you expect to grow your tribe?

Although you will receive feedback from a variety of sources, I suggest gathering feedback form your tribe before anyone else.  Your tribe members are the individuals fighting the battle with you.  They are the people impacted by the changes you have made.  Their feedback is essential in making the processes, both old and new, work.  After receiving feedback from tribe members, solicit feedback from outsiders, experts and other leaders, if possible.  This will give you a well-rounded idea about the impact your changes have made.

Assessing what you have learned, implementing new ideas, and gathering feedback will enable you to grow yourself and your tribe.  Each process serves its own specific purpose and together, they will allow for you to execute the changes that need to be made in order to better the tribe.  Growing is essential to a tribe.  If you don’t grow, you can’t have an impact.

Series Conclusion

Thank you for journeying with me through this series.  I hope that it has been an eye opener and inspiration for you.  The steps to growing a tribe – knowing, believing, building, persevering, and growing – will be true no matter where you decide to lead.  All that matters is that you have made a commitment to lead.  Remember, we need you to lead us.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about the series, I would love to hear from you.  Feel free to email me or find me on Twitter.

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by Thiru Murugan

In the first two parts of this series, we discussed growing your tribe through knowing and believing.  If you don’t know yourself, your potential tribe, and the goals of the tribe, you won’t have a solid foundation for a productive and active community of followers.  Believing in yourself and in your tribe is essential – without belief, no one will trust you or become a part of your tribe.

The next step to growing your tribe is to build a community.  A community is not just a band of believers or people with a common trait; it is an inspired group of people willing to spread your message without hesitation.  One you have built your community, your tribe will take shape and will begin to grow.

There are three action steps for building your community – establish a medium of interaction, connect, and get out of the way.

Your Medium of Interaction

Before you can establish your tribe, you need to decide the primary method of communication between tribe members.  If you do not have a predetermined method of communication, your tribe will not be able to function as a community.

With the advancement of technology, it’s fairly easy to say that you’ll use the Internet as your medium of interaction.  Before you slate the Internet as your definite source of communication, ask yourself the following questions:

• What aspect of the Internet will my tribe use?  Social networking websites?  Blogs?  Forums?  Email distribution lists?
• Is the Internet really the best form of communication for my tribe?  Is my tribe localized enough to meet in person?  Would conference calls be sufficient for tribe members?

Connect

Connecting is one of the most rewarding aspects about being part of a tribe.  Connection allows for the tribe to freely interact with one another and serve as a role model for people interested in your tribe or becoming a part of another tribe.  Connect with your tribe.  Allow for members to connect with one another.  It’s a staple of your movement.

Get Out of the Way

Out of the three parts of building a community, you’d probably say that this step is the least necessary or the one that doesn’t matter.  Contrary to popular belief, stepping back from your tribe is a very important step in the community building process.

Imagine this: your boss assigns you to a new project.  She tells you to assemble a team of five co-workers and begin immediately.  You assemble your team and begin to work.  Although you’re keeping her informed and asking questions when necessary, she always comes to you and checks in on the status of the project.  She makes sure you’re using the right resources, typing the right information, and meeting deadlines.  You can’t get any work done without her being over your shoulder.

See what it’s like when you don’t step back from your tribe?  You smother your followers, restricting communication and lowering trust.  You actually slow progress when you don’t know when to back off.

This step isn’t a free pass to forget your tribe.  That isn’t the case at all.  There is a fine line between stepping back and walking away.  When you get out of the way of your tribe, you are entrusting them to take initiative and will help along the way if necessary.  Walking away signifies that you don’t want to lead your tribe any longer.

Stepping back builds the character of your tribe members and leads to a stronger community.  When you micromanage and constantly bombard your tribe, you hurt their movement.  As Godin states, “Deciding to lead, not manage, is the critical choice.” (pg. 52)

Building a community allows for you to meet the needs of your followers and enables them to grow inside and outside of the tribe.  Building a strong community will this show that you are a great leader and it will inspire you to continue expand your community.  Remember, the size of your community doesn’t matter; it is the connection that counts.

When building your community of followers, keep in mind what really matters: “Growing a tribe of committed, talented people who are spreading a message of empowerment, respect, and growth.” (pg. 26)

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Eric Alpin is the Associate Editor of Folk Media and works for a telecommunications company in Baltimore, Md. He is a social media enthusiast, blogger, writer, and student with a passion for leadership and self-development strategies and techniques. Find out more about Eric on Twitter.

*Photo by