Building a Community
The irony is that so many of us work alone, yet we build communities. That thought struck me boldly when this week I heard three people say how much they were looking forward to working in an office with people.
That got me thinking that an essential part of knowing how to built a community is understanding what it means to be a community member.
On Monday when we were talking about how social media can help us build a better business, Richard Reeve beautifully wrote this post for me. He described his contribution to a community “barn raising.” He said …
When asked to come and help raise these boards, it means:
1. I realize that I need to bring along a team of five other folks I can count on to handle our given task. Wood is heavy.
2. Ask clear questions not only of what our team will do, but how it will fit into the overall scheme of the raising, so as to maximize the remaining sunlight.
3. While staying focused on the assigned task, realize that things seldom go as planned, so keep a flexible attitude and be willing to lend a hand when and where needed. The overall goal is more important than the parts.
4. The only result that matters, that every participant can take pride in the resulting structureâ¦
ohâ¦and:
5. Bring your own tool belt. Who has fifty hammers?
Who wouldn’t want those values and motives in every community member … ?
When a business, a non-profit, or an organization builds a space for us and makes all of the decisions without us, it’s like moving into a house that doesn’t have any of our stuff. We don’t own it. We’ll always be visitors. If that business, non-profit, or organization lets us contribute as the house goes up, we become a part of the process and feel ownership. Of course we don’t have time to contribute building to every space in which we participate, but when we do, it changes the the way experience that community in profoundly personal way.
What do you want to contribute as a social media community member? What can we expect from community members before we start?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
6. offer your best ideas with an open mind, not getting hung up if they are not implemented (tuck those back in your toolbox for another day). But always bring your A game.
7. Be willing to be the unpleasant guy/gal who insists on using a level, not eyeballing things, setting the posts in concrete instead of just backfilling the holes with dirt…
When everyone is having a good time and thinking “possibilities,” it can be hard to be the practical person. But every group needs at least one.
7a. Allow the one with the clipboard some space and breathing room. That’s the one who will check if all materials etc are there and on time so the rest can keep building that barn.
😉
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Hi Richard,
Isn’t it just like you to add value even after you’ve already given so much. 🙂
Plan on staying ’till the job is done. That’s ownership.
Yeah, Kat,
What good are possibilities, if nothing ever gets done or if everything falls down in the end?
Now, I’m wondering whether you liked the story of the three little pigs.
Hi Karin!
Sounds like you’ve been there a few times … yeah we need to support that “guy” with the clipboard, especially if we don’t want that job. 🙂
I just want to be part of the community like everyone else. I would like to have things that other people would be interested in so they can benefit from me as a member.
Liz,
7b? Speak up if you know something’s going wrong.
Sometimes you can’t be there with the level to get it right from the start, and it’s a lot harder to call a halt once a step is “done,” but better to rip down a board or two than to notice that all four walls that are crooked.
If you don’t get there with the level until all four walls are upâyou still gotta say something.
He he, I had a hard time keeping the metaphor going.
Regards,
Kelly
8. Be willing to learn. We all have our different skills and someone else might have a knack you don’t, or know a trick you haven’t seen yet, or even just have an idea you haven’t heard yet. It’s okay if you haven’t swung a hammer at a nail yet – if you’re willing to watch the guy next to you and see how he does it and then try.
🙂
Another great post. I love this.
Franklin,
That seems such a basic thing and yet it’s so easily forgotten. Everyone came because they want to be part.
Kelly,
That’s so real and so hard to do.
Every book that ever got burned at publisher where I worked always had someone who said “You know I never really felt good about that (feature, page, decision).” But that someone never felt strong enough to say so.
Lucretia,
I like to take it further. Hope you don’t mind.
We often are ready to learn when someone next to us is doing something we’ve never done before. It’s harder to learn when someone is doing something in a new way — not the way we would. Oh gosh, how much easier is it to “teach” that person our way than it is to ask how and why that way works.
Oh! Very important addition Liz, thank you!
Yes, the “well, I’ve always done it this way” sometimes must go out the window for a “okay, I’ve never seen it done that way, let me see if I can do what you are…”
Major kudos!! 🙂
Hi Lucretia!
Yeah, when we see something different we need eyes that are able to interpret it as something worth exploring not as something that is wrong. 🙂