The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

  • About Us
    • Our Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Clients
      • Client Success Stories
    • Community Leadership Awards
      • Community Leadership Awards 2024
      • Community Leadership Awards 2023
      • Community Leadership Awards 2022
      • Community Leadership Awards 2021
  • Services
    • Benchmarking and Audits
      • Community Performance Benchmark
      • Community Readiness Audits
      • Community ROI Calculator
      • The Community Score
    • Models and Frameworks
      • Community Maturity Model™
      • Community Engagement Framework™
      • Community Skills Framework™
      • Community Technology Framework™
      • The Social Executive
  • Research
    • The State of Community Management
      • SOCM 2024
      • SOCM 2023
      • SOCM 2022
      • SOCM 2021
      • SOCM 2020
    • Community Careers and Compensation
    • The Community Manager Handbook
      • 2022 Edition
      • 2015 Edition
    • The Social Executive
    • Special Reports
    • Case Studies
  • Events
    • Connect
      • Connect 2024
      • Connect 2023
      • Connect 2022
    • Community Technology Summit
    • Professional Development
    • Resource Bundles
    • Upcoming Events
    • Community Manager Appreciation Day
      • Community Manager Appreciation Day 2025
      • Community Manager Appreciation Day 2024
  • I’m looking for…
    • Community Engagement Resources
    • Executive Support Resources
    • Community Reporting Resources
    • Platform and Technology Resources
    • Community Strategy Resources
    • Community Programming Resources
    • Community Career Resources
    • Something Else
      • Vendor Resource Center
      • Community FAQs
      • Community Management Podcasts
        • Community Conversations
        • Lessons From The NEW Community Manager Handbook
      • Community 101
        • Community Management Glossary
        • Community Management FAQs
      • Case Studies
      • Community Webinars
  • Community
    • The Network
      • Member Login
      • Join The Network
      • Roundtable Call Library
    • The Library
      • Subscriber Login
      • Subscribe to The Library
  • Blog

Executive Perspectives on How the Way the World Works is Changing

October 16, 2020 By Rachel Happe

The State of Community Management 2020: Changing the way the World Works

Every year members of TheCR Network, who are among the world’s most innovative practitioners in helping organizations transform their culture and communication practices, convene for TheCR Connect. This year, that looks a little different – and we’ve staggered sessions throughout the month of October – and included a Technology Track and is open and free to the public.

While there is nothing like the intimacy and fun of year’s past when we assembled in Boston, the digital channel has given us opportunities to rethink the goals of our annual event – and get creative about how to replicate those objectives with virtual experiences. It changed how we work, which is just what online communities are doing for organizations across the globe.

In fielding the 2020 State of Community Management research, we saw exciting shifts in the strategic impact and influence of many community programs on organizations. And then COVID-19 hit like a train bursting out of a tunnel. Overnight, organizations went virtual and everyone got comfortable with video calls – even if they might still need a ‘You’re on mute’ sign now and again. Untethered from offices, executives started to understand the purpose of online networks in which employees could socialize, run into each other serendipitously, and collaborate in new ways. Everyone understands, suddenly and viscerally, that ‘The Office’ was never about the building but about the community of people it enabled to connect, discuss, meet, and collaborate.

Community. In the physical world, we take our communities for granted. Communities seem to develop magically – in part because they are complex adaptive systems that we cannot possibly see in aggregate. In reality, communities develop because of a million little behaviors of each member; saying hello or ignoring each other in the morning, bringing in leftover chocolate cake to share, stopping in the hall to chat, seeing the frustration on someone’s face, and asking how they feel, cc’ing executives on emails to deflect accountability, and validating (or invalidating) co-workers in meetings. These little behaviors – or fractals – of the complex system of culture determine whether cultures are healthy and positive or destructive and toxic. In online communities, we can see it all – including how the aggregate of those little behaviors impacts the trajectory of the community culture as a whole, which we categorize in the Community Engagement Framework as a way to measure them and with it, the culture of a group, community, or organization.

engagement behaviors - How the Way the World Works is Changing


Online communities have made what was once implicit, explicit. In doing so we can understand the behaviors that contribute to generating value – and those that destroy trust and value. It has given rise to an entirely new profession – that of community management.

Last week for TheCR Connect, I had the pleasure of inviting three pioneers – Eric Meyers, Céline Schillinger, and Michael Merk – to share what they have learned over the past decade about building communities inside global organizations. These pioneers discovered how online communities could address some of the most pressing communications, leadership, and strategic challenges their organizations faced. Each of them worked at organizations that were straining under the weight and pace of old communications tools and habits while trying to innovate; BASF, Steelcase, Hilti, and Sanofi. Each learned unique and valuable lessons as they navigated this emerging world of digital communities – and each championed and executed innovative approaches.

We touched on the power of online communities to create transparency and trust, accelerate performance, build relationships and culture, and ensure accurate information is available to all. We also touched on many of the challenges; helping break cultures dependency and protection by giving everyone an avenue to lead, helping executives wade in and around the personal and leadership landmines of transparency, and most of all how to help people understand the way power is transformed from something that is risky to share into something that combusts when shared – in ways that propel everyone forward and catalyze collective energy.

Have a listen:


About Rachel Happe

comments powered by Disqus
Community best practices

Resources for the people who build online communities.

ABOUT US
Our Values
Our Team
Our Clients
Careers

RESOURCES
Vendor Resource Center
Podcasts 
Community 101
Case Studies
Webinars

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Benchmarking and Audits
Models and Frameworks
Research
Professional Development

QUICK LINKS
Blog
Newsletter
About The Network
About The Library
About The Academy

LOGIN
The Network
The Library
The Academy

Contact
Support
Partnership
Inquiries
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter