It may seem weird to be thinking deeply about “leadership in the metaverse,” when the bells and whistles of a more immersive internet (such as being embodied by an avatar or showing up as a 3D hologram in virtual reality) is evolving.
However, retail brands such as Clinique are experimenting with building communities in the metaverse.
Clinique created a virtual lab where you can select your avatar and explore the company’s skin-care research.
We know that community building is important. As people spend more time in virtual worlds, creating “WebWe” to connect online and in-person communities will be essential.
Borrowing from the field of social capital, here are a few ideas for how to bond, bridge, and link communities as we move toward the metaverse.
Bonding is internal community building. Bonding is needed in both physical and digital worlds.
Leaders who are skilled at bonding create a sense of belonging, whether in-person or online. They foster inclusion, diversity and a variety of lenses for problem solving.
To grow bonding skills in the metaverse, create:
- A shared purpose, such as participation in defining and regularly discussing your organization’s purpose.
- A metaverse welcome plan and persistent place of welcome in the virtual world.
- Multiple ways for community members to get to know each other. Bonding requires conversations that create a sense of belonging, kindness and compassion.
- A schedule of predictable gatherings, both live and asynchronous (virtual, when convenient) for dialogue, learning together, and getting to know each other.
- Ways to gather feedback to understand your community’s hopes, needs and opportunities. This could include surveys, online groups, and incentives for offering input.
Bridging is external community building in both physical and digital worlds. Bridging creates supportive, collaborative relationships outside your organization.
To grow bridging skills in the metaverse:
- Identify and prioritize your collaborators. Do this every quarter so that you keep a fresh eye toward collaboration. Then, take action to create bridges of outreach to connect your organization with collaborators.
- Then, with your collaborators, co- create a “co-presence plan” to mutually bridge each partner into metaverse and physical worlds..
Linking is the process of introducing your organization to powerful connections to build your organization’s capacity.
Think funding sources, elected officials, and governmental agencies – resources and influential power structures in positions of power and capacity building.
To grow linking skills:
- Identify and prioritize influencers and powerful entities with potential impact on your organization’s capacity.
- Develop a plan for linking these powerful resources to build capacity within your organization – in both physical and virtual worlds.
- Then, take action – and update your plan quarterly. Even if only a few of the influential linking resources pan out, your organization will build new capacity!
