Communities, like any organization, need strong leadership to be successful. Leadership in communities, however, needs to come from many if not most of the members of the community. Strong communities are ones where there is a lot of discussion, dissent, and negotiation. Strong communities often include a lot of tension. Strong communities are made up of people with strong opinions who are not afraid to voice their opinions but also have enough respect for other members of the community that dissent can be negotiated without escalating to anger and resentment.
The problem? There is not enough leadership to go around. There is not enough empathy to go around. There is not enough respect to go around. There is not enough listening to go around. There is not enough strength of character to go around.
How do we get there? The best way to learn how to build strong communities is to experience a strong community first. It requires time, mentoring, observation...things that in the business world we often don't allow for. In business, we need to show progress quickly and be show effectiveness. The cadence of business and the cadence of communities are quite different - as is the leadership required. Seriously considering developing a community for your business? Look for the really smart people in your organization who don't quite fit the management mold but are always pushing the envelope...and put them in charge of the community - and give them the time to explore other communities.
Great blog post. We have an online community for parents of students at our university. It's a year old and it's been an exciting initiative. Parent leaders in the community have emerged organically.
I am wondering if we should communicate directly with the leaders. We have sent them a thank you package. Should we do more? Should they become sort of an advisory board that gives us ideas and feedback? I want to be sure they feel energized and continue to be active.
Posted by: chicago community | October 10, 2008 at 08:41 AM
Thanks for the comment. I think it is a great idea to form an advisory board of the more active parents to ensure they are encouraged and supported in their leadership roles (even if their role is not explicit). Microsoft does this with very active community members and they run a separate MVP community for those very active members - it's a great way to both get feedback and communicate back out...kind of like your old school phone tree.
Posted by: Rachel Happe | October 10, 2008 at 08:55 AM
The time required to let community leadership emerge, evolve, and stabilize has always been a challenge to implementing KM (especially communities of practice) in organizations. It is a long term view that doesn't fir the quarterly reporting requirements!
As to the requirement for everyone in the community to demonstrate leadership, I tend to disagree. It is my experience that, as with any group, a community is a blend of people coming (and participating) from different backgrounds, culture, interest, and... commitment or willingness to take charge! True, strong communities thrive on strong (and disparate) opinions. And they can include a lot of tension. The role of the leader is then enabling, not directing (which makes it very different from leading a business unit, for example), and making sure every voice is being listened to...
Posted by: Christian DE NEEF | October 10, 2008 at 09:17 AM
Hi Rachel, great post!
I think there are different types of leadership in online communities. It's different when you're in charge of a community, for example as a community manager, and it's different when you're a member or contributor.
I'm currently reading a book by Patrick O'Keefe about managing online forums, it addresses some of the questions you ask in your post, like how to moderate discussions, ensure respect, engage community members, maybe it could be interesting for you as well?
Posted by: Darek | October 10, 2008 at 04:54 PM
Great comments - I didn't mean to suggest that everyone needs to be a leader - or they same type. However, the more members that take leadership roles, the richer and more robust the community will be.
All of that is also predicated on what type of community it is - the looser, the less active members need to be.
Posted by: Rachel Happe | October 10, 2008 at 05:37 PM