By Scott Karren, CEO Channel Ventures and Executive Conversation Consulting Executive
Social networks are all the rage right now. If you are not talking about ‘friends’ and ‘community’ you are SO 2009. With all of the smoke, it is hard to even get a glimpse at the mirrors.
I was recently engaged to facilitate a small channel community. Since the group met face-to-face only a couple times a year, we used web forums, teleconferences, and one-on-one phone calls to facilitate interaction. Because the group was hand picked by the vendor and all members had significant common interests, we were surprised at how hard the process was. Some community building principles have come to light through this process.
First
The facilitation team must have a member who is obsessed by the topic and issues. The team must have an individual who is not only super smart and experienced, but also endowed with boundless enthusiasm; someone who wakes up at two in the morning with valuable insights that must be communicated. This person can be a customer, an employee, an analyst or even a consultant, but has to have an unstoppable obsession for the group and for the topic.
Second
Communications within the group must be open and interesting. Conversations cannot be overtly censored or even covertly managed. If members get the sense that they cannot speak openly, they go mute. Although communication should be respectful, the objective is not to restate the party line or reiterate the program benefits. It is simply to explore, refine and document critical issues and their solutions. Because the issues are important, expect (even encourage) disagreement and strong feelings.
Third
Groups must have true leadership. People want to know their contributions are significant and that they make a difference. Communities can suffer from two kinds of failures: 1) lack of direction; and 2) lack of motivation. One is like being lost and the other is like being in a storm. Leadership is the ability to deliver both of these issues at the right times.
Without clear objectives, the individuals that make up a company, channel or community question whether or not they are in the right place. Loss of faith in a channel takes a long time to dissolve a community, but if it gets momentum, it is often fatal.
More sudden and more violent are the outbreaks of frustration that are manifest when community members feel disenfranchised or ignored. While they may still believe in the strategy and vision, they stop contributing positively because they are unrecognized. While most employers understand the need for providing recognition for employee contributions, channel managers often take the morale of their channel for granted.
‘Community’ is hot. We see it discussed in all of the news magazines. Yet even with all of the new community building tools (e.g. Facebook and LinkedIn), true communities are still hard to create and grow. Without enthusiasm, candor and leadership they will never produce the returns both vendors and partners desire.
