What No One Tells You About Community Building

Operators, the cheapest investment in your community is the one you haven’t made yet

Coworking Tech Week, hosted by Pauline Roussel and Dimitar Inchev, got a lot of us thinking.

The week-long event touched quite a bit on how we can implement technology to remove the administrative burden on community teams so they can focus on what they do best, building community. As someone who has spent time in these roles, I can tell you that unnecessary admin is a real and specific drain that fragments your focus at exactly the moments you need it most.

Great idea, I’m sold.

However, there’s something else you could be doing.
Something cheaper, faster, more effective than any other strategy floating around the coworking sphere at the moment.

What if I told you you’re treating the symptom, not the cause?

In my last article, Stop Selling Community, I argued that community building cannot be an isolated act.

In order to foster community, you must participate in it.

Community builders become the beating heart of their spaces, building key relationships with members and becoming a constant, reliable support for the people around them. It’s hospitality on the surface, but the reality is something much deeper.

Let’s look at it from a member perspective, as operators are prone to doing, to ensure client satisfaction is being met.

You come into work after a crowded and long tube journey, tired and mentally preparing for your day, and you’re greeted by a cheery community host at reception. They call you by the nickname they’ve given you, ask you about an important meeting you have coming up that day, remember that problem you were having with the WiFi yesterday and tell you they’ve already fixed it for you. You walk away from the desk to your office calm, happy.

You feel seen and ready for the day ahead.

Fantastic, just what an operator wants.
Keep your members happy and keep your members coming.

Now let’s put ourselves in the shoes of that host.

You come into work after a crowded and long tube journey, tired from waking up earlier than most so you can arrive before everyone else starts their day. You put on a smile you don’t really feel and start making a mental checklist of everything going on that day. Things that went wrong, things that are going right, things to keep an eye on, what needs to be done to ensure everything runs smoothly.

One of your favourite members walks in and you greet them with joy you mean, but energy you have to manufacture. You start to ask them about their day and they go on about the usual gripes of the office - perhaps they’re having a bad day, nervous about something that went wrong in their job, or feeling pressure approaching. You sympathize, and then they ask you about your day.

Here’s where it gets complicated.

You’re comfortable with this member.
You see them every single day.
You know where they’re from, their dog’s name, their role and responsibilities, their kids’ names - maybe you’ve even met them.
You feel close to calling them a friend.
You start to relate to them and open your mouth to tell them about a problem you need to get off your chest.

But then you stop. You can’t do that.
Complaining would reflect badly on the company.
You are there to make the experience feel seamless after all. So you swallow it, say you’re doing great, let them pass, and go along with your day.

Repeat this about 20 times.

Admin work is draining. But distancing yourself from a community you’re actively encouraged to be part of - that’s a different kind of exhausting.

It’s all well and good to put systems in place that remove some of the administrative workload from your community team.
But that just shifts the nature of the work, not the work itself.

There is a burden placed on community teams that is inherent to the role. There is a glass wall between community builders and the community they foster that can be incredibly isolating - and unlike most jobs, the people best placed to understand that weight aren’t sitting at the next desk. The mental load is often shouldered alone.

What, then, is the cure?

There’s no point putting gas in the tank if the engine is broken.
How do we prevent the heartbeat of our spaces from burning out before we start to adjust the nature of their workload?

Operators, the heart of the issue is simple.
Your community team needs to have its own community.
One they feel they can be their true authentic selves in, where their gripes can be freely expressed, responsibilities shared, burdens assisted, and camaraderie found amongst people who know what they are going through.

I’ve seen some operators attempt this well by hosting monthly or annually team building events, like going to dinner or going on trips, but even then, the effort doesn’t need to (necessarily) be extended that far.

• Do your employees have a designated person they feel they can turn to for work related issues (either a mentor figure or an HR representative, just someone they feel safe opening up to)?

• Do you notice them talking with the rest of the team or are they more isolated?

• Are there regular check-ins in place to make sure the workload they are given is manageable, and do they feel comfortable enough to be honest when it isn’t?

• Are there systems in place to help manage stress, burnout, and overworking?

I’d like to shine light on what my current company, techsapiens, does.

There is a weekly team day that is encouraged and reviewed in advance to ensure it works well with everyone’s schedules.

What does team day involve?
Having lunch together that day.
That’s it!
Simple, but an effective way to encourage bonding within the team.

There are regular check-ins as well, daily, at the start of the week, and at the end of the week. There is a shared document that is passed around where employees can write down their accomplishments that are celebrated at the end of every week. Even if they aren’t documented, they are often still noticed and celebrated anyways.

You can’t foster community without being a part of it.
I still believe this is true.
But before we start to brainstorm tools to get the highest ROI on your community strategies, perhaps laying the foundation for communities to be built is a good start.

So, how can operators make the most of their community teams?
Give them a little support.