In previous years, June usually indicated the start of summer in TheCR Network, where programming winds down and groups get a bit more quiet, but, with everyone dealing with a pandemic and social unrest, June 2020 kept going strong. And after a few months of topic-specific programming, we took the month to focus on something a little more universal, the Building Blocks of Community.
As we see more and more reliance on online communities, now more than ever we need to make sure our community foundations are strong. No matter what stage you and/or your community is in, having a sure foundation means that what you build will be that much more stable and capable of growth. As we progressed through the month, we heard from members who have successfully built out aspects of this strong foundation in areas like metric & measurement, governance, strategy, and engagement.
This programming opened up the space to have a conversation on how we can all improve on the basics and continue to ensure that our community programs are growing from a strong foundation.
June in TheCR Network: Roundtable Calls
Our first Roundtable Call in June opened up the conversation around reporting strategy, noting that it's not one size fits all.
On "Building a Reporting Strategy for Communities: One Size Doesn't Fit All", we were joined by (former TheCR Network member) Brian Kling, Head of Community & Digital Self-Service at STMicroelectronics, as he walked through how he navigates and communicates his strategy of reporting or, essentially, how to "do" community reporting.
Using his experience with his external community and with tools and platforms like Khoros, Jive, and Salesforce, Brian showcased how he's approached concepts like value and ROI, the right metrics, and visualizing, contextualizing, and presenting data.
While this call was a great review of the key aspects of reporting strategy and what we should be focusing on in terms of reporting metrics, it also served as a reminder of a few especially important goals. The first of which is to know the value of what you want/need and how to communicate that. We need to know what we're asking for is valuable and we need to know how to present that. The second key reminder is that we need to remember to focus on the visual aspect. Data and metrics are well and good, but if we don't have a meaningful way to present that information, then who is going to listen? Lastly, we need to make sure that we are constantly and consistently reviewing and developing our reporting strategy. While this isn't a one size fits all approach, it's also not a one and done approach. Continuing to review, assess, adapt, and evolve our reporting is the only way we'll continue to determine and prove value as the community grows and changes.
There is no end all be all when it comes to reporting strategy and you will need to apply all of this to your unique situation and circumstances, but this call was a great way to get you thinking and remind you to keep thinking.
If you want to listen in on this Roundtable Call, you can find the Roundtable Recording here.
Our next Roundtable Call in June got a little more specific and focused on an example of how an organization has been able to create, build out, and run a community Center of Excellence (CoE). On the Centers of Excellence Cohort's second official call, this call showcased a case study of the World Bank's CoE and featured several members' reflections, evaluations, and experiences getting the structure up and running at a high level.
With the goal of this call being to get a look at how people have successfully set up a working CoE, the World Bank members (including TheCR Network members @Emilia Galiano, @Claudia Teixeira, @Zarko Palankov, @Ray Eisenberg, and @Davide Piga and former member, Bruce Summers) looked at lessons learned, common questions and their solutions, and what the future holds. This enabled attendees to apply this knowledge to their own communities and understand how they might apply some of these concepts, as well as answer their own questions, and work to set up a CoE.
Building a Center of Excellence might not be an essential foundational element of community for everyone, but this call was a fantastic way to get a thorough understanding of what that project might entail. So, if building a CoE is in your future, this call is a great way to sure up that foundation.
If you want to join in the conversation and/or ask the World Bank members a question about their CoE, you can join the follow-up discussion here.
If you want to listen in on this Roundtable Call, you can find the Roundtable Recording here.
The third call of the month, "Developing Strategy For Multilingual Communities", came out of a member request to hear more about how others have developed strategies for communities that speak more than one language. We heard from both @Olivier Le Pord and @Rosemary Tietge about how they have approached governance, translation, staffing, and engagement in their own multilingual communities. We also heard about examples and insights into how they both have thought through challenges and goals in different contexts.
While several call attendees didn't have experience with global or multilingual communities, they mentioned how they were thinking and planning for the future, wanting to understand how they could grow and prepare for that growth. Whether laying a foundation for a multilingual community means pitching for staff, governing new spaces, or determining your strategy for engagement, it's important to have these areas understood before embarking on the journey.
One of the shared examples that stuck with me was when Rosemary described how they're adapting their typically in-person conference to the virtual space and working to add sub-titles to videos which would enable speakers to speak in their native language if they so choose. This translation of the offline to the online happened because of the pandemic, which highlights the fact that we can't always predict or plan for everything, but if you have a strategy in place, then you can adapt and get ready for anything.
If you want to listen in on this Roundtable Call, you can find the Roundtable Recording here.
The next call in June focused more on the newly-released State of Community Management 2020 report and how we can use data and research to support our community initiatives. "Digging Deep Into Data" was led by TheCR's @Rachel Happe and focused on how we can identify key metrics, get access to the right data, tell a story with data, and develop reports.
Some key takeaways explored determining who is asking for these metrics and why they're asking, identifying whether you need strategic, tactical, or operational data, clarifying the reason you need data in the first place, and thinking through what decisions can be made with this data as well as the story can it tell. There's no right or wrong way to communicate your metrics, and each community is different, but know who you're talking to, what you need to say, and why you're saying it can help determine how you can collect, curate, and present valuable information.
As a building block of community, metrics are a key area of what we do and we each bring a different perspective and lens to our reporting. This is a great thing and we should lean into that as we continue to develop our metrics & measurement skillset.
If you want to listen in on this Roundtable Call, you can find the Roundtable Recording here.
Our last call of the month, "Getting To Know ALL Of Your Members", TheCR Network member, @Allison Brotman, walked us through how she goes about identifying and reaching her audiences. After realizing she and her team were missing an entire member segment, Allison realized that they can't be everything to everyone, and they needed to figure out how to prioritize what is valuable for their members, their goals, and their team in order to reach the right audiences and give the right value.
With four key takeaways, Allison shared her reflections and what she would focus her time on throughout this process:
- Zoom in and out to get the complete picture
- Be data-driven
- Do more listening
- Build together
One of my takeaways from this call was the focus on collaboration and using cross-functional relationships to make progress and create value. Allison mentioned how you have to be okay with giving up a bit of control (and we know that control is for amateurs, right?) and letting others tell you what they need and guide some decision-making. Collaboration is key in community and this aspect of community is no different. Listening and building together will get you to a place of value where you are truly serving the members you should and need to be serving.
If you want to listen in on this Roundtable Call, you can find the Roundtable Recording here.
We didn't only host Roundtable Calls this month...
Another piece of programming we held in June was the "Ask Me Anything with Dianne Kibbey". On her AMA, Dianne opened up the conversation and allowed members to ask her anything. Questions ranged from team makeup and role development to metrics and value and topics in between.
Through the eyes of a community pro, we got to see Dianne's experiences with some core areas of community like role development, communicating and defending your community program's value, content & programming, and rewards & recognition programs. While the communities of the people who asked a question aren't all alike, this AMA showed that we can always learn from another's experience and knowledge. Personally, hearing about how a veteran in the community space has gone about conveying value time and time again is immensely valuable as I continue to grow my own career.
While these AMAs can run the gamut in terms of subject areas, they are amazing sources of value if you want to build your skills in any space.
If you want to read through the AMA thread, you can find that here.
We heard some great examples and thoughts this month, so why not round it out with what we learned about members of TheCR Network overall...
What Did You Think?
For the month of June, we opened a poll to ask the question: "Do you have a formal community strategy?"
First and foremost, one of the more important aspects of community is a strategy, so we wanted to check in with members to see if they have a strategy that is documented and approved. We were curious to see where members stood.
So, let's find out...
The poll results show that the majority of respondents shared that they currently have a formal community strategy, or a strategy that is documented and approved. With almost 60% of respondents saying yes, this shows that this small sample of members are in a great place to advance their communities, being based on a strong foundation. The 41.2% who said that they do not have a formal strategy are not behind or wrong, they just have a clear opportunity to grow and develop their community program in building out a strong strategy.
Like we say with the Community Score, the results do not show a weakness, they show a gap or an opportunity. In digging into the building blocks of community this month, we were all able to identify areas of opportunity that we can prioritize moving forward.
This poll represents only a small sample size, but with around a 60/40 split here, it shows great potential for immense success.
So, Where Do We Go From Here?
In June, our goal was to review some of the building blocks of community and see where our gaps and opportunities lie, and we did just that. Through exploring metrics and reporting, governance structures, advanced strategies, overall strategy, and research, we were able to learn more about what we can do to grow our community programs in achievable yet effective steps.
This by no means marks the end of the conversation, but it does mark a great beginning for many people. Whether you are just starting out with community or you've been working in community for years, June was meant to remind you to check in and build out these foundational elements so we can all continue to level set and grow together.
To move forward, we're going to move into the summer by digging deeper into a few subject areas that we touched on in June and find out how we can continue applying findings from the State of Community Management 2020 report and see how they affect our individual community programs.
In thinking about the future, we'll continue to discuss more of these metrics and research through focusing on Measuring What Matters in July and August. I'm excited to take these topics of conversation and we've learned thus far and start finding applications we can use.
While we're also entering the summer months, we'll be finding more ways to connect as a group, offering opportunities for networking, skill building, and general socializing, so keep an eye out for that announcement coming soon!
If any of these conversations or concepts have sparked an idea or recommendation for you, let us know! While we plan our programming calendar, we also leave space for reactive programming, spur-of-the-moment topics, and member involvement, so leave us a note or send us a message and we'll get something together to address your topics of interest.
And if you're not a member of TheCR Network, or if you know someone who isn't a member of TheCR Network, but would love to participate in these conversations, please reach out! We're happy to talk about how you or they can get involved.
If you'd rather do that yourself, you can find out more about how to join TheCR Network here.
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