Community is a popular word now that we hear it almost everywhere. When a word is popular, confusions arise too. There is no doubt that we need each other to build the connections, sense of belonging and camaraderie especially with the pandemic. We are longing for connections with others, and want to be seen and heard in a mutual space that we do the same for others. A thriving community not only fulfills our usual social needs, but also builds some deep connections that accompany us through the highs and lows in career and life.
These are 6 principles to follow if building a thriving community is your goal:
Community is all about people and their experiences interacting with others in the space.
What matters to people now is our very own experiences when being part of something. How do members feel when they participate a community event? What kind of experience have you imagined to create for the members? Do you understand the members’ needs when they come to you? How about their emotional needs? Thinking about these questions and how you might answer them are the starting point of building a community. Not the other way around.
Through the lens of member experience, it is important to think about: what the community is for?
When organizers and leaders start a community, they saw needs to be met from people they deeply care about. If you know what your community was for 20, 15, even 5 years ago, is it still true today? Understanding the purpose of your community will guide you to the experiences that members are looking for. It’s hardly with only a single need that someone joins a community. Go deeper and uncover as many reasons as possible on why members should join you.
Being a community leaders, your presence, the way you show up, speaks louder than your words.
Paying attention to your own behaviors and the way your actions communicates to others. When the behaviors are not aligned with your messages, building the trust will become a major challenge.
For members in the community, are there any guidance on how to behave around each other when they show up? What kind of behaviors do you, a community leader, wish to see in your community? With the desired behaviors, how can you maximize the chance that everyone is set up for success (get what they seek for) at the end of each gathering?
If values only show up as a slogan but not seen through behaviors, they are meaningless.
Community values are essential in setting up members expectation on connecting with others, hence reinforcing the sense of belonging. What are the ways that you can bring out more desired behaviors in the community based on the values? How does that align with members’ personal narratives when they follows these community values?
Messaging the above principles through clear and easy to understand verbal and non-verbal communications.
For example, when talking about the values with members, do people understand the messages the way you do? How do you know? Taking time to explain the important concept such as the purpose of the community and community values will help your community go a long way.
Every community needs an effective supporting system.
Setting up a supporting structure to effectively demonstrate everything you say in the community is important for members' success. How can you make sure new members enter the community with ease and support? Creating a supporting structure for members of all levels is another way of demonstrating your community values.
The above 6 principles form the culture in your community. Not only it involves every aspect of the work you do, but also these aspects built upon each other as a beautiful whole. Many people feel that culture is too abstract to create, and choose to avoid it. I hope this article make it a little easier for you to build a community you love and deeply care about, and more importantly the community success you would love to see.
