When watching the TV talent show "One Million Stars", I am always very impressed by the way that, while competing against each other, the contestants also help and support one another. In today's rapidly changing world, the importance of "participation" and "collaborative knowledge creation" is growing steadily more pronounced. In 2007, Oracle launched its "Idea Factory" initiative, whereby over 30 different Oracle product design and development teams in different parts of the world can use the Internet to share ideas in a safe, unrestricted environment. Teams rate each other's ideas with one to five "stars"; if an idea is actually commercialized, the other teams and their managers naturally enjoy a share of the kudos.

The success of the Idea Factory initiative encouraged Oracle to launch Oracle Connect. Although it has only been underway for six months, nearly 30,000 Oracle employees have already participated in this new collaborative knowledge creation project. Other examples of the growing trend towards "participation" and collaborative knowledge creation include the emergence of Web 2.0, and the success of Wikipedia.

Despite this global trend, the concepts of participation and collaborative knowledge creation are rarely used in management; one rarely sees any reference to "participative leadership" or "collaborative organizational knowledge creation". Enter the phrase "participative leadership" in Google and most of the results that come up are to do with non-profit organizations, citizen participation in government or community development. The term "democratic leadership" seems to be in relatively widespread use, but somehow this does not have the same force, and it is unlikely to be very effective in motivating employees.

Henry Mintzberg is rated by the Financial Times as one of the top ten contemporary management theorists in the world. He is also a highly influential business strategy thinker. Mintzberg believes that real leadership must be participative. A participative leader's competence and modesty draws others to them. They throw themselves whole-heartedly into their work; they are not motivatedprimarily by personal self-interest. This type of leadership can help other employees to discover their own latent potential.

If the actions of a real leader are considered in terms of "heroism", it is not so much that the leader behaves in a heroic manner themselves, as that they can inspire others to act heroically.

Mintzberg reminds us that the ability to think strategically
is not confined to the leader; every member of the management team should have this capability. However, strategic thinking is not a skill that can be learned on its own; it derives from the fusion of business environment data , specialist knowledge and work experience.

Collaborative knowledge creation is only possible in an organizational environment where the members of the organization have developed shared perception, and have been learning, reacting, innovating and creating with one another over an extended period of time.

Participative leadership and collaborative knowledge creation can help to stimulate innovation and new ideas; they encourage both managers and the personnel responsible for putting managers' decisions into action to commit themselves to greater efforts. However, many managers today are hesitant about adopting the participative model. There are three main reasons for this situation:

1.Managers are concerned about losing authority or control.
2.They are unclear as to how participative leadership can be implemented in practical, day-to-day operations.
3.They have had bad experiences with early experiments in participative management in the past.

All of these concerns are understandable. Fortunately, they can all be overcome through the learning process. New methods, tools and techniques for implementing collaborative knowledge creation and team participation are being developed all the time. They range from the longestablished "five disciplines of organizational learning",through the more recent "Fifth Discipline" of Peter Sange, to the World Cafe, Open Space, appreciative inquiry, and the currently popular coaching techniques and social networking technologies. All of these can provide learning opportunities and useful tools for leaders. Making the necessary mental adjustment is also vitally important for managers. One can make a comparison with the way in which the contestants on "One Million Stars" are happy to accept criticism and advice from the experienced judges, because they have adopted an attitude of mind that is based on the desire to learn.

Both participative leadership and collaborative knowledge creation involve a process whereby the group is transformed into a team. Faced with a constantly changing business environment, leaders need to learn how to listen to both their own voice and those of their colleagues. By discovering their own inner voice, and through this their passion and values, they can then go on to develop new points of view through a rigorous process of participation, discussion, reflection and integration. Moving forward as part of a team, they will eventually be able to create a win-win situation for all concerned, and will be in a position to lead their organization onwards to new heights of excellence.