Community & Cold Coffee🥤😎| Ep-3: Understanding leaders in Community with Piper Wilson

Yes, we are in Episode 3, with an exciting topic to discuss.
Leaderful and Leaderless communities!

BTS #1: This is how "Leaderful" came into existence

BTS #2: From new word to Community & Cold Coffee Episode 3

BTS #3: Do you know who Piper Wilson is?

BTS #4: Piper Wilson, Community Manager of Grazitti Interactive. Started as community member, then moderator for 9 years and now a Community Manager

Community and Cold Coffee Ep 3: On a warm Sunday morning In India and a chilly Saturday Night in Texas, Varu and Piper are all set to virtually meet and chat about “Leaderless and leaderful communities.” 

Pic: Piper Wilson on the left and Varalakshmi on the right

But before delving into leaderless and leaderful communities, Piper was sharing who an ideal leader is. 

• Toxic leader = Toxic community - Toxicity is never a trait of a good leader. If there is a slight tinge of toxic personality, pivot 

• Empathy = Expressing Empathy - Leader should be empathetic. Precisely, should be able to express empathy

• Thoughts = Communicating Skills - Should be able to communicate their thoughts clearly

• Patience = Key formula - As a leader, he or she must come across different people. Knowing how to identify red flag situation, being patient when needed should be their second nature

• Clarity = Clear purpose-  Good leader has a very distinctive clarity. Know what the purpose is and drives community accordingly

• Good leader = Good listener - Leaders listen more

Tid-bit: “In fact, a good community is a reflection of good leadership. Every step of the way into the community, this will become very evident. From guideline setting tone, to community culture to other leaders and the way they encourage participation within the community, you will find a bit of the leader’s trace and if you feel safe and engaged, that is the kind of community leader you will want to associate with. “

TAKE BREAK FOLKS!

Meanwhile, how many of you said, “Couldn’t agree more?”
We feel you!

Back from break

And now, “leaderless and leaderful” communities it is. This time, Piper shared about leaderful communities and Varalakshmi shared about leaderless communities. 

A short pause later, Piper mentioned: “Well, let me put it this way. From my point of view, a community moderator can be considered as a leader and it does not have to involve any hierarchy. This is because the moderator sets the tone in the community and ensures that is being followed by every other member.” 

Imagine this exact scenario from a moderator’s point of view!

To set some context here, a community is what you make it or as mentioned above, reflection of the leader. Which means, setting the right tone and culture is the most crucial job of a leader so that the rest of the community members follow the same. And here, Piper says, a moderator does that job beautifully. 

So, the next question is - What helps setting tone in the community? To which, a unanimous answer is “Effective Community Guidelines.”

“Guidelines are critical for an online community as they become a guiding document of what culture you would want to inculcate, what you expect from the members, how members should interact in such a setup and what this community is for.” - Piper

According to Piper an effective guidelines should

• Convey the importance of treating people equitably

• Bridge the gap via clear communication without bias

• Prevent community from deviating 

• Foster kindness, avoid hate speech and direct community towards helping each other 

• Be civil (MOST IMPORTANT)

Folks, you need a break to pause and reflect now.

Uff, this will be a dream community to build. Agree with us?
Back from break to discuss further about burn out!

Community leader’s job is tedious, thankless and often ends up in burn out! 

Since community is a free space where people share relevant ideas anytime, it becomes hard for the community leader to be there for the community throughout the day. Here is what Piper had to say for this classic burn out scenario:

“To avoid burnout, here are a few tips to balance and maintain the mental health of the leaders.”

a. “You as an individual are not the community” - Good leaders identify leaders to pass the torch and function effectively even without them. It is important to identify leaders in the community and distribute the sense of ownership among them

b. “You cannot give what you do not have” - Do not over commit! Take what you can, so that you give what you can.

Free Cookies from our conversation

With such an intuitive conversation about community leaders, here are some informational cookies you can take back from this conversation. 

#1 Cookie: Both leaderless and leaderful communities are chaotic. Leader brings balance

#2 Cookie: Leaders are not determined by hierarchy and depend on many other qualities (mentioned above)

#3 Cookie: Moderators can be considered leaders in the community, as they set the tone 

#4 Cookie: Guidelines are the saviours for an online community

While you carry a basket of cookies from our conversation, here are some add ons.

Some amazing quotes that Piper said could help you if you are a community professional.

- Being bossy doesn't mean you are the boss
- You as an individual are not the community
- You cannot give what you don't have

Did you love our conversation? Show some love by sharing your comments here. 

And, if you want to check out our previous Community & Cold Coffee conversations, here is the link. 

C³ aka Community & Cold Coffee is an initiative to bring community professionals or enthusiasts together to discuss the Community ecosystem, methods, and techniques, etc. candidly. No agenda is our agenda. Community & Cold Coffee happens on all Saturdays at 2.30 PM, which means you can hop in at 2.30 PM on Saturday and chat your heart out about communities.

NOTE: Don’t forget to bring your Cold coffee :p

To be a part and to have a look or contribute ideas, do join our Community and Cold Coffee by booking the slot with us.