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When things are calm and everything is running smoothly anyone can appear to be a good leader. They can say the right things to the right people, do a little internal PR to embellish their past achievements, and play the role of bobble-headed pseudo-psychiatrist.

During difficult times, however, true leaders are revealed. It's the difficult times that separate those who take the reins and tackle the problem head-on and those who cower in a washroom stall, waiting for the dust to settle. How intranet leaders respond to difficult and unexpected situations will define them and determine how those under them will, in turn, respond to their leadership.

Here, in Part 3 of my series on intranet leadership, I examine one of the most common intranet leadership situations: Resolving conflicts between intranet members.

Intranet Leaders as Peacekeeper

An intranet involves the interaction between developers, designers, subsite leaders, content owners, and business analysts. Each group -- all vital to the overall success of an intranet -- sees the system through a different lens and has its own idiosyncrasies and language. They each have their own set of responsibilities, priorities, and, of course, problems. The interpersonal dynamics between all these different groups can get a little ... interesting, to say the least. At the helm of this motley crew of professionals is, hopefully, a sort of air traffic controller: the intranet overseer.

Regardless of how well all of these groups and individuals work with one another, there will be times when one ends up butting heads with another. This is a natural part of any large collaborative effort. After all, it can't be a frolic in the garden all the time; this isn't a Disney movie.

When these conflicts occur and can't be resolved between the groups or individuals themselves, it will be up to an intranet leader to smooth things over -- to act as a neutral and nonpartisan mediator.

In order for this to work, however, everyone needs to respect the decisions and actions of the leader. The leader must be seen as an intelligent person of authority or they won't be taken seriously.

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