Blog - October 3, 2021

Community by design

Many years ago, I studied and graduated with a university degree. The degree was graphic design ✎, something that used to be taught through apprenticeships as a trade craft in a workshop. Every craftsman had unique and specialist unique skills, together as a community of practice. Technology liberated workers from these trade halls as specialist skills became diversified and supported by computers. After graduating I felt abandoned from my professors, alone in the workplace without any support, I struggled to find my place. In large studios there is a support hierarchy of senior, middle and junior but not in the small studio where I was. Who would I call upon when I needed help, guidance or feedback; no one .  

It struck me very early that it would be great to have a colleague to call, more than once I imagined Who Wants to be a Millionaire and their ‘Phone a friend’ feature for difficult answers.

As a student we were taught that feedback was a critical component in the design process but where was mine, there was no one to ask but the client who had a commercial imperative to get it done quickly; without mistakes. Sure, I had student friends I could call and did but they had the same questions I had. I was looking for a mentor, Yoda to a young Skywalker. There have been fleeting glimpses of these people in my career but as one moves between positions and companies these people come and go. The occasional email exchange became less frequent as time moved on.

There must be a technology solution to make this easier? Along came MySpace but I wasn’t in a band and self-promotion so that boat sailed. Bulletin boards might have been an option but I was not a conspiracy theorist seeking solace in the shadows. Facebook arrived but it too seemed it wasn’t for me with members taking selfies of their breakfast, lunch and dinner. YouTube offered vloggers, extended video selfies but it was just another form of self-promotion and let’s not even look at the comments. There seemed to be no solution so I just stopped looking, I’ll just have to figure it out on my own. In 2015 I started work in a university business school. The school delivered one of the highest rated MBAs in Australia. Participants consistently cited their reason for joining was:

to meet like-minded peers. Selective entry criteria meant a community with very similar attributes, they had found their tribe. Cohort graduates would often start businesses together.

I must admit I was jealous, my own masters’ degree was almost entirely completed alone in the library with a database and word processor. This got me thinking though. Everywhere I looked I could now see communities. Old Boys school networks, sporting organisations and even book club. Whether around the corner or across the globe, they provided a foundation, a sense of place and belonging. I was a even member of a running club and didn’t even realise it was a community. I needed to do better. Revisiting Facebook I discovered Facebook Groups – a selective cohort on a specific topic. I joined a video editors’ group. I asked questions and people answered, it was so simple. Enthused I even posted answers to other people questions. The breakfast photos were shots of their newest video graphics card which had flashing lights, industry news came to me. Those purple LED lights are awesome I commented. The owner put a LIKE on my comment and we both felt elated. Time to research that video graphics card further but it still wasn’t the home I was looking for. Next I discovered the Front page of the internet or Reddit as it is formally known. I had heard President Obama was holding live Q&A session sessions here, the Yoda of all Yodas. Perhaps this is the place I was looking for, a suitable mentor for sure. Reddit is like a YouTube post without the video focus, it’s all comments. A media element starter – pic, video or thought and then comment, comment, comment. Surely this is a community? Reddit, however is known for it toxic comments, people feel very free to contribute what they would not say in person. Perhaps this community is just too big? Too diverse? Too open? Time to narrow the search. I considered Instagram, Snapchat but again they seemed individualistic and insular. The gaming community has Discord but where is my team? Companies were becoming aware of the power of communities and were running Facebook Groups now for their products. Gold’s Gym – 6,000 members; Peloton 245,000 members and Canva the online graphic design software 10,000 members. The Facebook Group I was a member of had 25,000 members, impressive I thought until I realized the largest was Our Evergreen Bangladesh with 6.4 million members and Instant Pot, a rice cooker 2.7 million and 10,000 posts a month! There must be something to corporate customer engagement beyond support tickets or phone call. A company has customers, customers have questions, customers can become advocates (evangelists if your Apple), customers are your community. But these are Facebook’s communities, Facebook sets the parameters of engagement and the very long terms and conditions you don’t read then sell your data to the highest bidder. Facebook knows communities are important: Research shows that strengthening our relationships improves our well-being and happiness.

So, I set up a Facebook Group for LearnWorlds, a learning management system on of my clients uses. The developer didn’t have one so I just started it. Online chat in the group is vibrant  and topical . Every few days I get a new member request, yesterday members of the LearnWorlds management team requested to join their own community. Obviously, I am now following a trail others have walked as there is an entire software platform category built to support businesses and their customer communities. Tribe is a community engagement platform so if you are selling shoes, taps or chairs a Tribe platform gives business owners a way to engage with customers the customers each other. I’ve worked at probably over 20 companies over the years. I was part of their community but now no longer. Wouldn’t it be great if they were still connected to me. I left to advance my career in a new job and skills and I could return with these new skills and fit back into the culture I knew and enjoyed? There’s an opportunity for business for maintain contact with their alumni and reap the benefits of old employees returning to the fold bringing new insights, industry connections and innovation. For over eight years I was a face to face design teacher, my students had the same experiences I had once they graduated. I moved from teaching face to face to teaching online and then building online courses. I was always disappointed in the class forums I setup expecting students to be engaged, they never were. They knew how to do it, I watched them post selfies to Facebook and Instagram and they were keen followers of celebrities they would never meet so the ‘how’ was certainly not a question. Why were they not interested in my class forum? It was simple really, there were there to complete the assignment, not chat or share and besides the software is ‘pretty crap’ I was told. There must be a better way…

I was looking for a platform that was both social, educational and not ‘pretty crap’. I was seeking social learning. I wanted social + courses because I wanted to learn stuff, have my questions answered.

Social learning theory is a theory of learning process and social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. Albert Bandura Then I discovered Mighty Networks, it seemed to address every paragraph in this post with a tick . You create your own private community. It’s like a Facebook Group + courses with no advertising or user data tracking and a host of other features that build community engagement. How had I missed this product and where had it been all my life? To be fair to Mighty Networks has only been around since 2017, traction and product development takes time. It evolved from the former CEO of Ning a social networking platform from back in the day… and the day was 2011. Mighty Networks mission statement is ‘We serve the rapidly growing world of “creators with a purpose” in the emerging category called The Passion Economy.’ I think I finally found my tribe. My first foray into the passion economy is with Gravitas Executive. A community of like-minded executive coaches, leadership experts and HR professionals. Individuals that often work in isolation and are geographically  fragmented finally united at one location. Covid   has given us end of week virtual drinks and Gravitas Executive host monthly ‘Yoda led’ events, a place to learn, connect and converse. Who else works in isolation and is geographically fragmented? Start with you know they say. I did. Mass Diplomacy for high schools is a community of practice (COP) to help and support teachers connect to each other, to learn new skills, to advance their career, to find their Yoda. Teachers can: We start with conversation, articles, events and courses. Courses are designed and created by current teachers who do the do – teachers with passion and expertise to share. It is like a matchmaking service done through the Search bar. Each course has it’s own sub-community of alumni who have completed the course. Alumni can ask questions of the instructor or provide answers to others. It is a continuous learning model aimed at professional development. Q&A and courses are just-in-time learning, answers when you need them, it forms part of a teachers The Continuous Learning Model – their professional development.

  I am unable to return to the trade hall I am able to create one for others not just down the street but around the world. Am I alone in my quest to find my tribe? I don’t think so. One thing Covid has taught us is that ‘we are all in this together’.