The Most Important Ingredient for a Thriving Community
What we’re unpacking today:
Who “founding members” are and why they’re essential
How to build a leadership program in your community
Why there are never too many cooks in the kitchen
We—Carrie and Kelly from Team CMJ—use these interviews to explore trends, tensions, and issues related to community building (and those em-dashes are human-written; no AI is used in creating these newsletters).
We share more about our goal for these conversations in our “community newsletter experiment” post.
KELLY: Whenever a client of ours is launching a community, one of the first questions we ask is, “Who are your founding members?”
They’re the ones we can count on to be highly invested in the new community, eager to be involved and influential in the behind-the-scenes launch process. The hope is that they continue to be super engaged, lead the way in creating a sense of belonging for other members, and make a serious contribution to the community’s overall success.
In fact, these members are so valuable that we consider them the most important ingredient for a successful community. Because without an engaged, active, small core of members, a community will flounder.
Carrie, I'm curious what you think: Do people planning to launch a new community tend to understand just how crucial these members are? And, realistically, how many do you need at launch?
CARRIE: Most community builders vastly underestimate how important a small, strong core is to their success, at launch and throughout their entire journey. It makes sense because social media and Western culture generally show us: more = better. This isn’t true in communities. No one wants to be part of a nameless, faceless crowd.
The problem is that community builders think they need to engage with and build relationships with everyone equally, and expect the same commitment from all their members. That’s also just not how communities work. Ever.
There are very few things that are true in ALL communities, but this is one of them: A small core group of members (just 4-20%) will provide most of the value to the rest of your community. It’s your job to be present, caring, and appreciative of this small core.
I always say: Start with 10. Enterprise leaders or those with enormous audiences scoff at this number because it feels so small. It’s actually huge. Those 10 people plant the seed for everything to come. And if you can’t think of 10 people you want to gather and spend time with, you shouldn't be building a community.
KELLY: What should the core community's roles be?
CARRIE: When you’re getting started, their role is to create content and respond to posts with you, usually informally. As you grow, they can be counted on to show up to your gatherings, co-organize with you, give you feedback, and stoke conversation. It will be different in every community, but there is always work to be done, and there are never too many cooks in the kitchen.
KELLY: And how does this group evolve over time?
CARRIE: Over time, that group of 10 will blossom into the 4-20% of your membership. Then your job is to tend to relationships with those folks and find the natural leaders among them. Your job is not to be everyone’s bff but to create a culture that invites others to build relationships. You may personally never see the fruits of those labors, but that doesn't mean they are not real and life-changing for members.
KELLY: We hear time and again that people think leaders will emerge organically and that their community will be “self-managed.” What does it actually look like to cultivate leaders in a community, and why is it important?
CARRIE: Yes! A lot of community builders think your strong core has to be a totally organic effort. In reality, it can (and in many cases should) be a structured program like an MVP program, fellowship, or ambassador program. Here’s how we approach this:
Qualification: Make sure they’re the right fit. Either hand-pick or introduce an application or nomination process.
Onboarding: Bring them on in a cohort-style welcome process. Keep it small and tight-knit and make it clear that the program is time-bound so you can learn and make changes.
Monitoring: Keep a close eye on workload, who is doing what, and encourage the great work being done. Let folks go who aren’t following through on their commitments or are taking more than they give. (If you don't, it kills morale for everyone else.)
Final Assessment: Look back at a specified time to see what you learned, who stood out, and what you’ll do better next time.
Recognition: Acknowledge leaders’ work with something meaningful and beneficial to them. In our community, we provide 1:1 coaching, a certificate of completion, language for your resume or LinkedIn, and references. Figure out the special mix for you.
Iteration: Change it up, run it again, and learn even more with all the new knowledge you have!
KELLY: So much work goes on behind the scenes to keep a community running. Keeping up with your volunteers is basically a whole job in and of itself! But this goes back to what you said earlier: The community leader’s job is to tend to these relationships. How is that done well, and what does the outcome look like?
CARRIE: It totally is a whole job! The most successful communities/memberships have someone in charge of this (we have our amazing Community Manager, Nicole, who owns this process). The leader’s job is to welcome, encourage, and iterate. Not to be perfect or to have all the answers.
They should ensure no one is falling behind and catch up with those who do. In the end, the outcome looks like a group of people who feel seen and cared for, who are both giving and receiving in equal measure, and you have a more solid culture in your community, stewarded not just by you, the owner or manager, but by members themselves. That’s what a more self-managing community looks like, but as you pointed out, it’s just being managed diligently behind the scenes!
KELLY: Yep, no one can or should do this work alone. The small group of active, highly contributing members at the core of your community are the ones who uphold the culture and ~vibes~, reduce burnout for community owners/managers, and, honestly, make community building fun. We love them! ❤️🔥
