The Future of Community

Jan 10, 2023

A question I am regularly asked by executive leaders is: What does the future of community look like?

You may be surprised that even amongst community practitioners, opinions are divided. This question pops up every so often in every professional group I am a member of and there is never a solid consensus.

There is a simple truth that most companies have yet to accept:

To achieve the tangible, sustainable, and profitable benefits of running a healthy user community, the community must be integrated into every outward-facing function of the organization.

Until executives can commit to changing the DNA of their organizations, fundamentally changing the mindsets and processes by which we do business, community programs will never reach their full potential.

Transforming into the Community-led Organization

Change is friction. Regardless of whether the change is perceived as "good" or "bad" by the impacted people, change leaders must apply enough lubrication and force to get them moving in a new direction. The companies of the future - the ones who will thrive in downturns and grow while others stagnate - will be those for whom community becomes the first thing every employee thinks of when considering a new process, product, or policy.

Leading Through Change

Executives have a critical, active role to play in any organizational transformation. In particular, cultural change - an endeavor to influence people's habits and mental processes - is an extremely challenging task, especially at very large or very old organizations. Momentum must start at the top of the organization and spread through each level of the company for the greatest impact. The executive sponsor of the project should be tasked with getting other leaders on board, rallying and empowering those leaders with the information and excitement they need to get each functional business unit moving in the right direction. The executive team must then be unified and convincing in their convictions that this is the right direction for the company. Every employee at every level must believe that the community-first mindset is the path towards future success for both the company and themselves.

Deploying Community Advocates

Next, change leaders should apply evangelism tactics to gain employee trust and overcome resistance. Each team or functional area should nominate a team member to be trained and empowered as a community advocate, in order to hold the team responsible for their impact on and support of the community. This approach is designed to use the trust that team members have for each other to help them hear and accept the message that community is critical to the organization. The community advocate will often be the one to ask: "how will this impact the community?" or "how can we get the community involved?" but the goal is to teach new habits and though processes by example in a peer-to-peer dynamic.

Understanding Community Impact

At an individual level, the key for most people to successfully change their habits is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. This is often described as the "What's in it for me?" factor. For this transformation effort, we want employees to understand and internalize the ways in which the community can play a significant role in helping them achieve their goals.

Here are some examples of how a healthy community can positively influence performance in different areas of the business:

Once employees understand how the supporting and partnering with the community will help them to achieve success, they will begin to think of the community as a tool, rather than an obstacle or point of friction.