In this month's edition of Ask the Expert, we're diving deep into the topic of employee communities with Tanja Laub, Community Strategist and founder of Walkabout Media. Tanja shares her extensive knowledge and experience in fostering and building internal employee communities.
My name is Tanja Laub and I have been working in the field of communities since 2006. I support people in building up their own communities and in entering into a better dialogue with the audiene. The communities can be aimed at internal target groups, the employees of a company, or external target groups, such as customers, interested parties, and business partners. I accompany companies at every step of the process, from the question "Do we need acommunity?", - because a community is not always the best solution for the challenges at hand - to the strategic development. This involves questions such as: What should be achieved with the community? What motivates the target group? Which measures are suitable for the community and what resources are needed?
An internal employee community is aimed at the employees of an organization. The purpose of such a community is to promote employee engagement and retention, strengthen the corporate culture, and ultimately increase the organization's productivity and efficiency.
The internal employee community can be fostered through various channels and methods, such as forums, groups, analog meetings, or specialized social networking platforms designed specifically for internal use. These platforms offer features such as discussion groups, chat rooms, file sharing, project management tools and so on to meet the needs of employees.
It is important to draw a clear distinction between a community and a work team. While work teams are usually focused on specific projects or tasks, with set goals and expectations, a community is characterized by its voluntary participation and intrinsic motivation of its members. In a community, there are no set goals or expected outcomes. Instead, the focus is on sharing knowledge, experiences, and ideas in order to learn and develop together. This open and flexible structure fosters creativity, collaboration, and a stronger sense of belonging within the organization.