{"id":17486,"date":"2021-10-22T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T06:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.munich-business-school.de\/insights\/?p=17486"},"modified":"2023-07-03T10:33:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T08:33:42","slug":"building-communities-of-community-builders-international-expert-panel-on-the-development-of-community-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.munich-business-school.de\/insights\/en\/2021\/building-communities-of-community-builders-international-expert-panel-on-the-development-of-community-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Communities of Community Builders: International Expert Panel on the Development of Community Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Community management, in which organizations seek to establish and nurture communities, has attracted increased significance in recent years. Communities have now become central pillars in many digital transformation initiatives; they enable organizations to develop unique characteristics that set themselves apart. Although practitioners of this discipline pool their expertise in professional special interest groups around the world, there has been only limited exchange between these groups to date. On October 7, during the annual GeNeMe (Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien; Communities in New Media) conference, Munich Business School\u2019s Prof. Dr. David Wagner invited leading international figures in the field of community management to join an expert panel aimed at stimulating discussion around the goals, activities and operations of five community organizations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jono Bacon, a community veteran from the technology industry, recently penned an article for the Harvard Business Review entitled \u2018When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage\u2019, which clearly illustrates the discipline\u2019s growing significance. So, how can companies develop relevant skills and expertise? What does that involve? And who can help them? There are a number of professional organizations around the world that are dedicated to community management and offer consultancy and support on the topic. Five key players joined the GeNeMe panel to put forward their perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virtual guests joined the discussion from Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Australia. The panel comprised: Tanja Laub, chair of the German Association for Community Management (BVCM)<\/strong><\/a>; Kirsten Wagenaar, co-founder and managing director of the Dutch community management agency Bind<\/strong><\/a>; David Spinks, founder of CMX<\/strong><\/a>, a network for community professionals, and author of \u2018The Business of Belonging\u2019; Rachel Happe, founder of The Community Roundtable<\/strong><\/a> and, more recently, Engaged Organizations; and Venessa Paech, co-founder of Australian Community Managers<\/strong><\/a> and a doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing all five community professionals have in common is their desire to develop and professionalize the discipline of community management. They strive to explain the possibilities and challenges of community management to stakeholders in the worlds of business and politics. Each employs different strategies to do so, and their organizations focus their activities on different areas.<\/p>\n\n\n

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For example, for the last ten years, The Community Roundtable has published a detailed annual industry report entitled \u2018The State of Community Management\u2019, which precisely evaluates various organizations\u2019 investments and programs and also develops new benchmarks. In addition to this report, however, Rachel Happe and her colleagues have also worked to establish a close-knit network so that participating organizations can exchange ideas and develop. In contrast, David Spinks and CMX primarily focus on live events to bring community professionals together; the annual CMX Summit is the world\u2019s largest community conference. For its part, the German Association for Community Management (BVCM) represents the interests of practitioners in business and politics by developing occupational profiles, conducting studies, and offering certification. Australian Community Managers offers its members an extensive portfolio of training, mentoring and coaching. At the same time, the center of excellence founded by Venessa Paech also regularly advises government, researchers and other leading bodies on issues such as the development of Australia\u2019s Online Safety Act. As a community management agency, offering consultancy services to all kinds of companies and organizations is a key priority for Bind, whether in relation to choosing the right community strategy, selecting and implementing suitable software, or on professional development opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how can we measure the progress of this discipline? Potential metrics include the number of people in companies specifically entrusted with community activities; increased budgets for community activities; the size of community teams; the field becoming more established within companies (e.g. as a separate department), or the community model being integrated in companies\u2019 mission statement and vision (i.e. identifying as a community-driven organization).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

When asked about key developments in community management, the panelists painted a complex picture. Vanessa Paech from Australian Community Managers argued that the field is concerned with nothing short of \u201cthe health of the Internet\u201d. This was a reference to issues such as debate culture and hate speech, which have become hot topics of discussion as prominent problems in online culture. Paech said that partially automated moderation \u2013 including with the help of artificial intelligence \u2013 would become increasingly important in future. In addition, the experts commented on the specialization of community activities, such as the use of internal communities. Another key issue, however, is training new skills and establishing a new mindset for network-based work among employees. In short, practitioners and researchers of this discipline have a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, community managers are not necessarily the best community members. Given their background and expertise, you might well expect them to be. Kirsten Wagenaar, however, responded to this notion with a definite \u201cno\u201d. She told the panel: \u201c[The idea that] community managers are more active online than others is an illusion.\u201d Indeed, the other experts agreed. Communities of community professionals function just as well as other communities \u2013 but they still need good communication, lots of meetings and moderation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe panel was a wonderful opportunity to exchange opinions with these fascinating people and better understand the approaches taken by various community organizations,\u201d summarized MBS\u2019 Prof. Dr. David Wagner, who also heads up the German Association for Community Management (BVCM) research committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference article below contains detailed profiles of the expert panelists and a selection of their publications on the topic. The proceedings from the entire GeNeMe conference will be made available shortly via this link<\/strong><\/a><\/pre>\n\n\n\n