Simple rules for community formation
More on the simple rules of community forming…
Here is Shawn’s current thinking on community formation:
Simple rule 2: Someone �who matters� must care about what you are doing. In the early stages it might be quite unclear how your community�s activities delivers business value. Consequently, the �people that matter� must initially believe in the concept of a community of practice. More importantly, the core team and then the other members must care about the topic�nothing new there. Knowing what a group cares about can sometimes be difficult to work out. It requires discussions among members to discover the activities people would commit their precious discretionary time to. If you don�t find this, you don�t have a community in which case people will always be too busy. The choice here is to disband or persist in looking for a better topic. This is the point where your community activities should operate like a skunkworks. Low cost and exploratory.
Simple rule 3: Community activities must link to member needs. Remember I said the end result must link to a need. Some people need to be connected, others need public recognition, while some want greater access to power. Your discussions at the outset need to get a sense of the many needs your community should cater for. Running anecdote circles would be a good way to get people to express these needs.
These are good, and they lead me to thinking about process. Over the weekend I was working with a group that actually DOES this kind of work, and what we decided that what we were talking about was shaking out the existing network. It’s not so much a question of assembling pieces together in a network, but rather shaking things up a little bit so that a network (or a community) emerges.
There is a technique in astronomy that small telescope owners like me use for better seeing faint objects. You tap the tube of the scope and that little vibration is enough to cause the faint object to “pop out.” Your eyes see it and can then focus on it and work to resolve details of it.
A fourth principle I would add to Shawn’s list might be that once you have set the process in place, step back and participate as a member of the network instead of it’s controlling hub. A community that is sustainable has no one in charge of it. There is a role for a forming organization, but if you don;t get out of the way fast enough, the community will stick to you, making it dependant upon you for its continued existence. And that is NOT a community.
It’s a question of lead, follow AND get out of the way.
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