Community Building for Organisations

Community building, as defined by Scott Peck, is a structured process for turning ‘groups that work’ into genuine teams – characterised by trust, openness and shared responsibility.

„The hard stuff is the easy stuff. The soft stuff is much harder than the hard stuff.“

Roger Enrico, Former Pepsi CEO

Community Building

What it’s all about

It’s about a culture in which people can truly connect with one another – even in the face of conflict, differences and dissatisfaction.

For businesses, this means:

In a nutshell

Stages & Effects

Community building typically involves four phases:

Pseudo-community

On the surface, things are polite, but many issues remain unspoken.
Chaos & Conflict
Tensions come to the surface – within a safe space where no one is ‘excluded’.
Emptiness
Habits and old roles are called into question; space is created for new, authentic encounters.
Community
The team finds genuine connection, trust and commitment – a culture that sustains them.
Source: compiled by the Ammersee Institute

In a business context, this fosters a team culture in which:

Psychological safety

Teams characterised by a high level of psychological safety:

The Microsoft Work Trend Index (2023) surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries to find out what skills we need for the future of work.

Emotional intelligence is one of the three most important skills for the future.

57%

greater cooperation

50%

increased productivity

74%

less stress

Source: Monet (2021), Accenture

Where does your team stand today?

To get a feel for whether community building is right for you, you could ask yourself these questions:

1
To what extent are even difficult topics discussed openly within the team?

2

How often are conflicts resolved through discussion – or do they tend to linger or be swept under the carpet?
3
Are mistakes used as opportunities to learn – or is there a tendency to look for someone to blame?

4

Are decisions supported by the team – or do they feel like orders imposed from outside?

5

Do you often find yourself worrying that you have to mediate and step in – or do your teams come up with their own solutions and take responsibility?

If you find yourself hesitating when answering several of these questions, community building can be a powerful tool for your team culture – particularly when changes, generational shifts or transformation processes are on the horizon.

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