The Community Roundtable

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

Ashleigh Brookshaw, M.A. on Changing Community Culture

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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

Three Ways to Improve Your Community’s Culture

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The Community Maturity Model’s™ Culture competency pertains to various aspects of your organization or community’s habits, motivators (intrinsic and extrinsic), social norms, communication, decision-making processes, development processes, and learning approaches. By recognizing and anticipating cultural obstacles and embracing change, organizations can effectively manage risks and successfully establish their community program

This is almost always easier said that done. Like many individuals, organizations and even single communities are hesitant to change – even when it is clearly in their best interest. The three suggestions below are research-backed ideas to help you begin to (slowly) shift the culture in your organization to be more productive, transparent, and community-focused.

Three Ways to Improve Your Community’s Culture

1. Ride the wave. Acknowledge the idiosyncrasies of your corporate culture and lean into those aspects that will help community approaches be successful. Not all cultures are all-in on community, but by focusing on the aspects that are supportive you’re more likely to achieve success.

2. Build consensus with small wins. When you identify people that are embracing new approaches, encourage them to help you share throughout the organization and/or with other people in the community. Ask them to focus on recognizing small changes that are moving behaviors in the right direction. As the Chinese proverb says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

3. Blow your horn! It’s not enough to grow a successful community initiative by staying within a division or group. Get out there, talking about how the community is supporting other business units with their goals. Identify community cheerleaders (and skeptics) across the organization and answer their questions to bring them along for the ride.

Don’t be discouraged if traction for this ideas takes longer than you’d like. Culture is a such an ingrained part of a community, even small changes should be considered big wins!

Download the State of Community Management 2023 to learn more about how you can leverage communities as effective behavior change-makers at your orgs.

State of Community Management 2023

3 Tips for Building Safe and Inclusive Community Spaces

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Ashleigh Brookshaw has spent her career building community in the insurance, association, and now software spaces, so she knows her way around the foundations of community management. Still, some things surprise her.

“You may think people would want to create a welcoming environment for all but that’s not always the case. There may be organizational departments that are only focused on their own deliverables and objectives. They may not be thinking from an organizational and strategic perspective.”

One barrier Ashleigh has seen to progress as it relates to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) and an organization’s culture is that the organization just isn’t ready for it.

3 Tips for Building Safe and Inclusive Community Spaces

“I know people don’t necessarily like to have [DEIB] conversations, but your executive stakeholders — your senior leadership — might not see it as a priority.”

Ashleigh has seen organizations where DEIB isn’t set as a strategic priority and can be viewed as a check-the-box exercise. For example, “We’re going to make a statement on DEIB” with no tangible action or resourcing to support it due to other priorities.

Ashleigh shared 3 tips for building safe and inclusive community spaces.

“Having a conversation with those who haven’t traditionally had to think about intersectionality can be a hard conversation. Community professionals must balance the needs of users with different identities and educating others on the importance of an inclusive approach. You have to have immense patience.”

  1. Take a look around. When you start to think about building space and inclusive community spaces, think about your organizational tone and culture? Use these conversations and reflections about DEIB as an opportunity to define it for your community through programming and governance or align the community tone and culture to the organization.
  2. Ask (better) questions. The best way to get the cultural pulse of your community? Ask them. “If you’re not doing regular surveys or check-ins with users, take the time to do so. Ask questions about culture, targeting the elements of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging to see if users find programming relevant. How can we be delivering better content? How do you feel about our community?”
  3. Build a Support Coalition. Any role at any organization that incorporates a focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging is a very energy-intensive job. You can’t build safe and inclusive spaces if you don’t already feel like you belong and are valued. Make sure you have a supportive environment of peers and executives.

Ashleigh encourages anyone focused on DEIB work in their community, “Not everyone thinks Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging is important, but creating a space of belonging where people feel safe to participate and express themselves is critical. I always position communities as an organizational asset that needs to be a reflection of your dominant organizational culture.”

About The NEW Community Manager Handbook

The NEW Community Manager Handbook features 21 profiles of community leaders sharing advice and ideas on everything from accessibility, hiring, strategy, gamification, defining the digital workplace, technology, and more. Each profile is paired with research from the State of Community Management reports and includes tactical advice for implementing what you’ve learned.

Learn from community management experts at Easterseals, Glencore, Microsoft, UKG, the World Bank Group, Analog Devices, Inc., AAMC, Zapier, Doctors Without Borders, and more.

5 Ways to Build Engagement

Ashleigh Brookshaw on DEIB in Community

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Ashleigh Brookshaw on DEIB in Community

Lessons from The NEW Community Manager Handbook is a limited-run podcast series, featuring the 21 community leaders showcased in the Handbook in conversation with Anne Mbugua.

Episode 11 features Ashleigh Brookshaw, Senior Manager – Customer Experience & Community at NICE CXone.

Ashleigh Brookshaw has spent her career building community in the insurance, association, and now software spaces, so she knows her way around the foundations of community management. Still, some things surprise her.

Ashleigh Brookshaw on DEIB in Community

Listen in as Ashleigh, and host, Anne Mbugua discuss how to build an authentic focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in online community programs.

Listen to Ashleigh Brookshaw on DEIB in Community

Podcast (handbook-podcast): Play in new window | Download

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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, professional associations like the American Society of Safety Professionals, and the SAAS industry like NICE CX One.

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.

About NICE CXone

At NICE we are passionate about removing the friction between companies and consumers, creating extraordinary experiences that build brand loyalty and create unbreakable bonds.

We enable organizations to address today’s consumer and employee expectations, by delivering effortless, consistent, and personalized digital-first experiences with CXone, the world’s leading cloud CX platform.

We are known for our innovation and comprehensive end-to-end CX approach, combining digital entry points, journey orchestration, smart self-service, prepared agents and complete performance suite, all embedded with our purpose-built CX Analytics, AI, and domain expertise.

About The NEW Community Manager Handbook

The NEW Community Manager Handbook features 21 profiles of community leaders sharing advice and ideas on everything from accessibility, hiring, strategy, gamification, defining the digital workplace, technology, and more. Each profile is paired with research from the State of Community Management reports and includes tactical advice for implementing what you’ve learned.

Learn from community management experts at Easterseals, Glencore, Microsoft, UKG, the World Bank Group, Analog Devices, Inc., AAMC, Zapier, Doctors Without Borders, and more.

5 Ways to Build Engagement

(Roundtable) How To Scale Your ERGs

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How do you scale an Employee Resource Group (ERGs)? “ERGs are employee-led groups whose main goal is to support employees who share similar characteristics or backgrounds.” Sometimes ERGs seem to fall short on the impact it has on internal communities. ERGs provide opportunities for employees to learn, share, and be heard…they increase awareness and establish safe spaces for meaningful conversations and much more.

Who is this call for:

  • You’ve started an ERG or have multiple ERGs
  • You’re wondering what’s next for your ERGs
  • You’re thinking of starting an ERG
  • You’re curious what ERGs are about