Three Tips for Creating a Thriving Learning Community
People love communities. But not all communities are created equal.
I have a learning community and it can be hard. It's not hard to create; that was pretty easy. But it's hard to get people to engage. That's where the work is.
To get better at this, I've been reading books and listening to podcasts about community and I've been reflecting on communities that I'm a part of. I want to share some of the things I've learned.
That’s why on this episode, I give you three tips for creating a thriving learning community in your organization.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
04:41 Communicating the value of a learning community
08:06 Encouraging learning community participation
09:52 Prioritizing relationships in your learning community
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Three Tips for Creating a Thriving Learning Community
In March, Dave Castro posted a mysterious reel on Instagram, hinting at the next workout to appear in the CrossFit Open. Within less than 24 hours, this reel had been liked by almost 30,000 people and had almost 3000 people in the comments guessing what the workout would be.
To say that CrossFit has created a dedicated community would be an understatement.
And they aren't the only ones.
The Nugget Comfort Couch hides clues about its next color release in its social media posts. For those who aren't familiar, it's a modular couch that you can build forts and slides and other things out of. These posts make Nugget fans go wild. The anticipation builds for each release, and they sell like hotcakes.
Not just that, but when their Nugget arrives, people pose their babies, their kids, their dogs, and even themselves on their porch with the giant orange box it's delivered in. And there are entire groups dedicated to posting new ways to use the couch.
People love communities. But not all communities are created equal. And that's why I want to talk about communities today. And give you three tips for creating a thriving learning community in your organization.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
I have a community, the Nonprofit Learning & Development Collective, which I'm building and hosting for anyone who creates training and leadership development initiatives inside of nonprofits.
And it's hard.
It's not hard to create; that was pretty easy. But it's hard to get people to ENGAGE.
Before I started this community, I did some research and asked around to see if people wanted it. And I heard a resounding yes. But that doesn't mean that people are ready to jump in and share with strangers. So that's where the work is.
I have to foster those relationships among members of this group so that people are comfortable enough with each other, to share what's on their mind.
And to get better at this, I've been reading books and listening to podcasts about community and I've been reflecting on communities that I'm a part of. I want to share some of the things I've learned so far.
1) Communicating the Value of a Learning Community
Just because you create it, doesn't mean they will come.
You have to continuously clarify and communicate the value of the community.
Now I get that in a learning community setting, people might not have a choice to be in the community. But that doesn't mean they will participate. We have to be able to communicate the value of the community in a way that motivates them.
You might be thinking that the community is the value add, so why even think about the value? The community is the value.
And it's true. Community itself is a value add, and people need community. But they want more than that. So the value has to go beyond networking.
Start thinking about the value of your learning community.
Some questions you can think about.
What will this learning community do for your learners that they can't get somewhere else?
How will it make their jobs easier?
How will it support their career development goals?
What problem will they solve potentially by engaging with their peers in this way?
What support will the community provide to them?
Answering questions like these will help you clarify the value of your learning community.
Let's take the Nugget Comfort groups that I mentioned.
If you join a group like this:
You will have a group of people who share an interest (maybe even an obsession) with these modular couches.
They post pictures of different builds they do and instructions for how to make those things come to life.
They share advice on how to spot clean or wash the couch covers. And that might not seem like much, but for a couch that markets to families with young kids, so many of them end up with yogurt or permanent marker stains or worse. Cleaning tips become really important.
Those are just a few of the things that make this group valuable to its members.
What's the value of your learning community, not to you, but to your learners?
Take the time to figure that out. And then make sure that value is constantly shared so people are motivated to participate.
That leads me to point two…
2) Encouraging Learning Community Participation
Community participation doesn't always come naturally.
To participate in a community, we have to teach people how.
So let's assume the value is clear and people want to participate, there's still another hurdle - they don't always know how to participate.
It might seem easy to you, as the creator of the community. But they weren't there when you were envisioning and building the community. And so it might not be as easy or straightforward or clear to them.
So instead of saying something like:
“Hey, welcome, go introduce yourself to the group.”
Rather, point them to a specific place with specific instructions. Maybe they answer a specific question. So the prompt might be:
“Hey, use this link which is going to take you to a specific place in the group to introduce yourself, answer the question that you see on the screen, and select post at the bottom.”
It has to be specific.
What do you need to teach them? Think about these questions.
How do you want them to use the community?
How do you want them to engage?
What do they need to do to get the most value from the community?
Think through questions like that and then be specific in your instructions that teach them how.
3) Prioritizing Relationships in Your Learning Community
Now the third thing I've learned is that community relationships are still individual relationships.
You have to build one-on-one relationships with people in the community and help them build one-on-one relationships with each other.
Even after you've shared the value of the community and taught people how to engage with the community, there is still one more hurdle to jump.
Comfort
People need to feel comfortable sharing in the community. They need to feel like they can trust the people they are with. And that comes back, as many things do, to relationships.
A community is made up of individuals and the moderator in the community has to take the time to build relationships with those individuals. Plus, the moderator should help those individuals build relationships with each other.
Let's go back to the CrossFit example.
Relationships are core to CrossFit. So many people who have never been able to keep up with a healthy lifestyle, find themselves succeeding with CrossFit, which I’d argue is one of the harder styles of working out.
Why then, when it's harder to do, do people stick with it?
Relationships
When someone walks in the door of a CrossFit gym, they immediately meet their coach. And any good coach is going to build a connection with that individual, they're going to get to know them, they're going to encourage them, and they're going to help them be successful in that class.
They're also going to meet their peers, and not one person in that class is going to make them feel silly for not knowing how to do a movement, not being able to lift much weight, or not moving very fast. Instead, the peers they’ve just met will be the ones cheering them on as they do that last burpee at the end of the workout.
It's the same in our learning communities.
Learners need to know that they won't be laughed at, criticized, or disciplined for not knowing something.
They need to know they're joining a supportive environment with a moderator who wants the best for them and peers who are going to support them on the journey.
That only comes through relationships. So prioritize those relationships in the design of the community and the moderation of the community.
I am barely scratching the surface of community best practices. But to me, these are the most urgent. Without these three things, communities fail.
To hear the full conversation I had on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 82.
The Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective
Do you wish you could connect with other nonprofit learning and development leaders?
I know what it feels like to want someone to bounce ideas off of and to learn from, someone who really understands you and your work. Imagine if you could have a simple way to meet people in the field, ask questions, and share information.
That's why I created the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective – so nonprofit L&D, talent management, and DEI leaders can connect with each other quickly and easily in a virtual space.
When you join this community, you will walk away with a new, diverse, and powerful network – and a sounding board for your staff development needs.
So if you're ready to exchange ideas and collaborate with your peers, come join the Nonprofit L&D Collective.
