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Ashleigh Brookshaw, M.A. on Changing Community Culture

October 31, 2023 By Jim Storer

Changing Community  Culture

If there are aspects that are measured either through a sentiment survey or functionality, make sure that they’re highlighting cultural elements, and have a mechanism to gather that feedback.

Ashleigh Brookshaw, M.A.

As a member of the 2023 State of Community Management Advisory Board, Ashleigh Brookshaw provided guidance and expertise for research in the Culture competency of the research. She shared three ideas on the state of culture in communities with us.

On focusing on the positive…

“Through many conversations with community managers, I’ve realized that sometimes we get focused on the bad things within an organizational culture and kind of get stuck on that. It’s really important to highlight the positive, and find those elements that you can use – and are also measurable. If there are aspects that are measured either through a sentiment survey or functionality, make sure that they’re highlighting cultural elements, and have a mechanism to gather that feedback.”

On community and change management…

“One of the main things that is difficult for many community professionals is continuously reinforcing the business value of community. [This is where] having the organizational structure, policies, and procedures to affect that culture change long-term, enables those business conversations with the appropriate stakeholders. You have to be able to articulate what is the business value of community in terms that they understand: impacting the bottom line, etc.”

On disrupting “tap on the shoulder culture”…

Community is a great place to enact meaningful culture change. Ashleigh shared an example from her career, “There was a lot of what I’ll call “dissent” among marginalized groups within the community, on seeing the same types of speakers at the annual conference. It’s always the same people, that organizational culture was what I would call a ‘tap on the shoulder culture’, they kept tapping the same people over and over to show up in different spaces. So in the community, I saw some conversation, “Why do you guys always have the same speakers?” I took that to the professional development team and showed them, “There is a gap that’s being discussed via the members, let’s address that and then circle back to them.” It was a very real world, tangible way to use community to kind of disrupt that ‘tap-on-the-shoulder’ culture that had been there all along. This led to a holistic DEIB strategic discussion, and resulted in the organization acting meaningfully and highlighting opportunities across all channels not just through cliques.”

About Ashleigh Brookshaw

Ashleigh Brookshaw, M.A. is a detail oriented and digital change enthusiast with expertise in online community engagement, cultural & transformative change management through DEI, and strategic digital marketing communications to drive business results.   

She has worked with both internal and external audiences with a variety of organizations including nonprofits like Chicago Gateway Green, Fortune 500 companies like Allstate Insurance and professional associations like the American Society of Safety Professionals. 

Ashleigh holds a B.A. in Advertising/Public Relations and minors in Marketing & Spanish from Loyola University Chicago.  She also holds an M.A. in Multicultural/Organizational Communication with a concentration in Training & Development and a project management certificate from Depaul University.  

Contact her at ashleigh@c2mdigital.co

  • Ashleigh Brookshaw, M.A. on Changing Community Culture
  • Three Ways to Improve Your Community’s Culture
  • Anne Larsen on Community Culture
    Anne Larsen on Community Culture

About Jim Storer

Jim has always been interested in bringing people together and connecting them to one another, whether it’s for events, online communities or a food/craft beer tasting. Connect with Jim on Twitter or Linkedin.

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