In private life, we are all (or almost) part of one or more real or virtual communities: the community of parents of students, fans of pizzas or burgers, motorhomes, members of a association or sports club, etc.
According to Larousse.fr, a community is a “group of people united by links of interest, common habits, opinions or common characters”. Communities are essential because they make it possible to maintain the social bond that we have so lacked during successive confinements. It is also nice to belong to a group of people with whom we share a vision and points in common.
At work, too, communities are important. Find out why and how to create and animate a community of collaborators within your company.
Why create an internal community?
Today, more and more organizations are seeing the development of groups of employees who come together around common objectives and projects. If, generally, the goal of these groups is to bring together employees with common interests, they also help transform the company, offer new services and retain employees who want to give meaning to their work.
Companies have every interest in encouraging the development of internal communities because the benefits are numerous.
- They reinforce the feeling of belonging to the company.
- They help retain talent.
- They help improve the employee experience and the quality of life at work.
- They promote employee motivation and commitment.
- They encourage them to get more involved in the life and projects of the organization.
- They encourage them to be creative and innovative, to help each other and to share their knowledge.
- They allow the company to evolve, to resolve certain dysfunctions and, more generally, to improve its brand image.
As you will have understood, internal communities (or employee groups) are a significant asset for companies. Now find out how to create and run one or more communities within your organization.
5 tips for creating and animating a community of employees
Follow these 5 tips to build your internal community.
1. Bring together interested people
To get started, you need to find people who are interested in your project or goal. Don’t waste your time trying to convince the recalcitrant. Focus only on bringing together employees who, like you, want to make a difference.
To do this, you can organize events on a specific theme in order to promote meetings and exchanges between employees from different departments. In addition to sharing a friendly moment, it’s a great way to develop your network.
You can also use the Corporate Social Network (CSR) to spread a message that explains why you want to create a community and encourages people who share your vision to come forward.
Then, do not hesitate to contact each person individually in order to discuss with them your project, their interest and their possible involvement. This will allow you to get to know each other and start to bond.
2. Define the rules
Once you have formed a small core of loyal and motivated people, it is time to bring them together to determine what is the main purpose, mission and purpose of this community.
This meeting will also make it possible to establish the manifesto of the community, that is to say all the rules to be respected, the standards and the attitudes to be adopted within the community.
Don’t forget to define how members can communicate with each other (CSR, intranet, creation of a group on the company’s instant messaging, etc.) as well as the frequency of each meeting.
3. Organize regular activities
Physical meetings are very important for developing trust and forging strong bonds between members of a community. In order to create a close-knit community, it is essential that members participate together and regularly in different events and activities. These activities should make it possible to strengthen ties, but above all to achieve the objectives of the community as well as the professional (and personal) objectives of its members.
In addition, the organization of actions allows the community to be dynamic and to obtain results. As for its members, they share, exchange, develop their creativity and learn new skills. They are thus active, fulfilled and they feel involved in the community.
Finally, don’t forget to organize events as often as possible to celebrate every small victory or satisfactory result, but also the good news and the birthdays of your members. So many opportunities to come together, strengthen ties and develop a sense of belonging to your community.
4. Throw challenges
To animate your community, you can stimulate competition among its members by launching friendly challenges. For example, if your community’s goal is to make your business greener, offer the challenge “Who will manage to cut paper consumption in half in their department?” “.
The aim is to encourage members to participate, get involved and make an effort to achieve the set goal. It is also an excellent way to increase the feeling of belonging, motivation and to develop relationships between members of the community, and more generally within the company, since all departments can be affected by these actions. .
5. Think about recognition
We keep saying that recognition at work is essential to have happy, involved and productive employees. This also applies within a community.
Indeed, to ensure that members remain motivated and invested, it is essential that their efforts and commitment be recognized. Regularly, you should recognize and highlight the accomplishments of your members in order to set an example and encourage other members to follow in their footsteps.
To conclude, an internal community is a very good tool to unite your employees and improve certain aspects of your business. But that’s not all: it is a rewarding experience that allows employees to give meaning to their work, and therefore to be more motivated, involved and productive in their daily tasks.
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