Humans crave connection. We are herding creatures and we need each other. We like connection and many of us search out our people to find community. We search out connections...and we don’t like the thought of living our lives alone or without being able to share our gifts with others. Today, as community becomes the newest buzzword in business we must understand that not all community leaders or communities have our best interests in mind.

Enter WeWork

As a community strategist, I admire the concept of WeWork. I’m just not crazy about its founder. Watch the documentary produced by Hulu about Adam Neuman read the book The Cult of We and you may see why so many fell under his spell. 

Honestly, we can learn a lot from Adam. His story is an important symbol of what passes today as a community in many organizations. 

For those less aware, I’ll give you the short version. He built a real estate empire around his idea of community while promoting it to investors as a technology company. What he sold temporarily hid the truth and he was on his way to great riches.

By 2019, the company had 12,500 employees and was working towards a potential IPO valued at $47b. Had it gone through, it would have been the biggest IPO of all time!

By comparison, Facebook’s was only $16b.

Admittedly, Adam’s notion of community possessed something that people longed for. A place where they could pursue their dreams and do it alongside others with a similar drive to change the world.

Sources say the WeWork ecosystem released the best in people enabling those working there to thrive. I’m not surprised.

The truth is, when there is a healthy Community at the core of an organization, those that work there feel more connected, satisfied, and perform better.

Sadly, Adam’s hubris became too much for his company to bear.

As we know, his IPO plan blew up. Adam resigned on September 24, 2019. What ensued were massive layoffs. 67% of its workforce was cut, impacting 8,300 employees while Adam walked away with a settlement from Softbank of $1.7b. 

The company finally did go public with a stock price of around $10.00. Today, the entire enterprise has a market cap of just $554M, and if you want you could buy a share today (June 2023) for 26 cents.

Adam Newman got it right when it came to the importance of community in an organization. The promise of the We-Generation drove the growth of his company to remarkable heights.

But Adam didn’t keep his promise. His way of building community was not sustainable because he didn’t focus on the people he was serving. He was more concerned about what he could achieve.

His main problem was that he didn’t build on a solid foundation.

Those of us committed to building authentic communities focus on the needs of those we serve. We know that using people to get something out of them is not a sustainable community strategy. 

Right now, I’m struggling to find communities established with the primary purpose of helping employees or customers. Instead, the emphasis is placed on ROI, automation, and how a community can extract more value out of existing customers. I’m concerned because communities need to be sustainable over the long term to achieve their potential. It is our belief that sustainability in this space comes down to building on a secure foundation. And in founding a sustainable community the motivation of its leaders is important because motivation matters.

I’m convinced that any community strategy built explicitly to take from employees for profit or to coerce them into acting in a specific way should be avoided. People will eventually walk away when they sense they are being taken advantage of.

That’s where the notion of an authentic community is different. How it is built matters tremendously. It is not built for them. It is built with them.

An authentic community is formed by people desiring to work together to accomplish something they agree is important.

They just need a spark. That’s where you come in.

Technology can help, but more technology isn’t the answer. People desire human connections. We were designed to interact closely with others, especially in our work. I agree with author Dan Schawbel who writes in Back to Human:

“When we rely on devices to connect with other humans, our relationships become weaker.” 

When we feel disconnected from company culture it begins to influence how we think, talk, and behave.

Even companies that proclaimed during the pandemic that many of their employees would be fully remote realize today they had made a mistake. It took them a while, but I bet most of us knew that having most employees work remotely wouldn’t be permanent.

As a society, I think we are in trouble if we don’t admit we have an enemy.

Separation is the enemy

I call it separation.

The effects of prolonged separation can tempt people to act like rats in a cage being shocked by an outside force. As Dr. Chris Martenson, founder of Peak Prosperity asserts we can’t help but attack those closest to us.

Separation caused by how we are working contributes to feeling isolated, making our work harder, and I suspect encouraging the quiet quitting experienced during the pandemic.

Legacy ways of organizational design build separation into the fabric of how work is accomplished. We continue to institute an Us versus Them paradigm because of how hierarchies are constructed.

But what about the separation politics cause? 

We can be negatively influenced by political leaders or groups who care more about getting their way than anything else. This can also happen inside our organizations too.

We think it doesn’t affect us, however, we might be affected more than we admit. It impacts us when leaders withhold or suppress critical information affecting our work and lives. 

Incomplete information can lead to us judging others when seeking to understand is a healthier response. Perhaps one way to tell if you have been infected is if you feel your blood pressure increase when you overhear a person saying something that goes against your beliefs. If you feel like judging, you can know those in charge have got you where they want you. 

In our view, an authentic community built on trusting relationships can help reduce separation by changing our focus from noticing differences to searching for commonalities. Doing so requires us to think differently about our work and how we perform it.

From the book Authentic Conversations:

“You must no longer view your job as a way to make a living, but as an opportunity to create your future, engage others with a shared purpose, and infuse your life with meaning.”

And there are benefits to making this change according to Dan Schwabel, “. . . the strongest predictor of a long healthy life was the social integration or how much we interact with people throughout the day.”

Prolonged separation can make things worse

Let’s consider what might happen if we choose to leave things as they are.

Does the image above look familiar? 

In preparation for a talk or an article, I ask my network to see what our peers are experiencing right now. Do any of these findings resonate with you?

• My work never seems to end.

• Most of my days are filled with back-to-back meetings.

• When I do get a moment of discretionary time, everyone else is too busy.

• The company I work for feels like an internal call center; I have to open a ticket to get someone’s attention.

• My company works in silos so when we get together we focus on our area primarily

• I work in an office, but many people don’t come in anymore.

• I work at home and don’t feel as connected to my co-workers as I used to.

• I feel lonely

From my findings, my sense is that connection matters, now more than ever and our future success depends on it.

Let me share with you my working definition of an authentic community.

An authentic community is comprised of compassionate individuals who joyfully give their unique abilities to achieve a higher purpose through the continuous realization of a shared vision.

The good news is you can form a community in nearly any place and of any size across any medium.

If you are wondering if this can be done where you work. I know it can and I have written about it in detail through the years. 

Unlike Adam Neumann, you will build your authentic community on solid ground.

Bedrock will be the foundation for your community. BEDROCK is a framework that I constructed to help community builders remember the essentials of community building.

Authentic Community Is The Answer

The BEDROCK framework

Be Yourself. Envision a compelling future. Do it. Reach out. Offer value. Celebrate and Keep on going.

Be Yourself

I promise you can’t build an authentic community until you are willing to be real, yourself.

People are tired of phonies.

They are tired of those saying one thing and doing something else.

They are tired of corporate-speak.

They are also tired of us hiring “experts” to come and tell us what we should be doing when we already know.

Your best chance of curing separation is by building a community that brings people together. This might be your chance to be the one others are looking for.

By helping your people get what they want, you may find your influence increases when done with the right motives.

And it might be simpler than you think.

Commit to being yourself. Then, strive to become your Best Self.

I’ve discovered our influence increases when we fill the unmet needs of those we choose to serve . . . not because we have to . . . instead it is because of whom we are becoming.

If you’re not sure where to start, try any of these:

• Be positive.

• Be trustworthy.

• Be humble.

• Be kind.

• Be of service.

And as you do you will be moving to become your best self.

Envision a compelling future

What do you dream about? What could you do to make that happen at your work?

What is something that adds value to others that is too big for you to accomplish on your own?

Alone, you are limited, but with the help of others, you just might be able to make it a reality.

When you find others interested in what you intend to do, explore possibilities of what you could do, together.

Encourage others to consider joining you. Ask them what they dream about and how it might fit into where you are going. Then, evangelize your common vision.

When you have 2 to 5 others, it’s time to get to work.

Do it 

Do the work. Most people talk about what they would do but don’t follow through. Don’t let that be you.

Take the first step that we all know how to do. Make a plan with dates. 

Decide now, that whatever you do, it will be done with excellence. Do your best so you have no regrets.

Do it so well that others start copying you. When people begin following you or asking you to help them, you realize your influence has increased.

Make room for others to join you.

As you start doing something different, you may even start a movement.

Should that happen; don’t rest. Adapt. Learn. Read. Listen. Practice.

Reach out for help

Now it’s time to expand the vision. To scale your efforts, you will need to assemble a tribe beyond the 2–5 people you started with.

Receiving help requires caring about the builder’s perspective.

Building a community others love to join is based on ‘respect’.

The tribe you are building needs to know its voice is being heard and can influence the community’s direction.

You also have to model the way. Don’t expect anyone to perform a task you won’t do. Once you have earned the respect of your tribe, you can accomplish almost anything.

Now, ask other compassionate people to help and see what happens.

Building an authentic community isn’t necessarily about asking them ‘nicely’, but it is about inviting them into a shared experience where their lives can be enriched. It should be of no surprise that over time new community builders will follow other builders.

Offer value consistently

An offering can be a product, service, or an experience.

What do you do?

Craft experiences your constituents want.

Whatever you create with your community builders must be made with your members in mind. When you make something for everyone, you’ve made it for no one. That is why I’m convinced that so many polished programs fail to make a lasting impact.

Why do you do it?

We each have our why. Collectively, we want to bring people together to accomplish something important. We want to realize our shared vision and know our efforts made things better.

How do you do it?

Here is my challenge to you. Be courageous and do something a little bit different. Make it personal and execute it with excellence. Then, let your results speak for themselves!

Those that orchestrate the community, we call stewards and makeup 1% to 2% of the community population.

Up to 10 or 15 % will be the Builders; teams that plan and deliver value with the stewards.

We all serve to keep the environment healthy to benefit all members.

Warning!

Pay attention to aligning what you do with the organization’s objectives.

Be aware of those in authority. Help them, and they will support you.

Outshine them and you may find your efforts hindered.

Celebrate together

Celebration reinforces the importance of what you are doing. And establishing a pattern will build credibility and trust when performed consistently.

• Celebrate each person.

• Celebrate the effort.

• Celebrate each accomplishment.

• Celebrate the community.

• Over time, your community’s heartbeat will emerge.

Keep Going

Now is the time to persist. Protect the ground for the people you are serving. This is when you begin to recognize there is no owner of the community. We are all only stewards. Pass along what you have learned. Get out of the way and let others take a turn. The future belongs to those that come after you. If they value authentic community, they will also become stewards too. If not, know that you did well during your season.

What if you are still not sure you should invest effort in building an authentic community? Maybe you are too busy. I get that a lot. And it's true. Everyone is busy. This is what I tell them.

Your work isn’t going to stop. I doubt the hours you work will decrease. As it is, you are at work a large percentage of the time. How can anything get better without your help and support?

Are you going to let Separation get the best of you and those around you? Without your active contributions, your work environment may eventually turn toxic should your best people leave to find a healthier place to work.

Maybe you are thinking you don’t need community right now.

Would you feel differently if you were one of the 270,416 workers that have lost their jobs in 2023 Q1 (up 396% from last year)? Wouldn’t it be wise if you had already invested in others before you needed their help?

It might be that your efforts impact one person, a family, or a group, or maybe you can form a community where you work and impact hundreds or thousands of employees. Whatever it is for you, I’m convinced you can make things better.

Your influence will grow because most people want to help those who have helped them.

Now, imagine receiving a message from one of your community members.

It reads something like this:

I am so happy to have joined the community. Thank you for caring enough to make things better. I appreciate you taking the time to find a place for me to use my talent in service to others. I feel like I belong. The separation I used to feel I don’t feel anymore. Let me know if there is more, I can do to help you and the team.

Last Thoughts

If you want to increase your influence, improve your work environment, and live a healthier life, join me in building an authentic community where you work.

Sources referenced in the article