Podcasts Business Community Signal Building Inclusive Communities, Workplaces, and an Inclusive Profession

Building Inclusive Communities, Workplaces, and an Inclusive Profession

Published: Aug. 3, 2020, 9:30 a.m.

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If you\\u2019re reading this, we\\u2019re guessing that you are in the community management profession. Hi, how are you holding up? Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and too many other Black people, ongoing protests for an end to systemic racism and inequality, and a looming presidential election that has a lot riding on it, life has been more challenging than usual, to say the least. And as community managers, we\\u2019re at the center of many of these conversations.

Whether we\\u2019re creating spaces for people to safely discuss these challenging topics, working to build and foster diverse communities and teams, or helping companies make the leap to a fully digital workplace, our skills and work are in high demand.

In this episode of Community Signal, Patrick speaks to three community professionals about how current events have impacted their lives and how they think about building inclusive communities. In the day-to-day, that might mean guiding conversations within our communities. In the broader sense, it\\u2019s thinking about how we build communities, tools, and platforms that have diversity, equity, inclusion, and the knowledge from our collective decades of experience in community management baked in from day one.

As our guest\\xa0Bassey Etim\\xa0puts it, \\u201cwe stand on the shoulders of the people before us, and we\\u2019re Called, and I mean \\u2018called\\u2019 with a capital C, Called to try to make this a more fair and just world.\\u201d\\xa0

Listen to Patrick, Bassey,\\xa0Marjorie Anderson, and\\xa0Nina Collins\\xa0as they discuss the following and more:

  • Supporting hard conversations in spaces where they need to happen
  • Building platforms that encourage diversity and stamp out racism
  • Identifying broader candidate groups when hiring
  • Designing systems that allow for proper flagging of abuse

Our Podcast is Made Possible By\\u2026

If you enjoy our show, please know that it\\u2019s only possible with the generous support of our sponsors:\\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community and\\xa0Localist, plan, promote, and measure events for your community.

Big Quotes

On fostering communities that embody inclusivity and empathy (3:55):\\xa0\\u201cWhat\\u2019s the tone that you set the minute that people sign up to come into your community and participate? What does that look and feel like? If it\\u2019s not one where it feels like people can speak up and have their voices be heard, then it\\u2019s really hard to course-correct [later on] and start to cultivate that feeling of belonging.\\u201d \\u2013@MarjorieAyyeee

Is the time for sarcasm over? (21:35):\\xa0\\u201cEarnesty, applied over time, just wins people over. It\\u2019s hard to combat it with sarcasm, irony, anger, all of those things.\\u201d \\u2013@BasseyE

Do paid communities encourage less moderation and more ownership? (22:10):\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019m finding now on The Woolfer community, we have people who behave; people are in bad moods, people are feeling sensitive sometimes, but generally, they are much more earnest, and I\\u2019ve attributed it to the fact that they\\u2019re paying for it, that people value things they pay for so they take better care of the space.\\u201d -Nina Collins

When what you share is what people will hold against you (37:34):\\xa0\\u201cThere is always this Libertarian utopian edge to [Mark Zuckerberg\\u2019s] promises and the promise of the internet where once we free ourselves of all of our clothing, once we put everything we are out there and everybody else is naked, it\\u2019ll be like, \\u2018Oh, well we\\u2019re all naked. Whatever.\\u2019 It turns out that some people, even when they\\u2019re naked, they\\u2019re going to be extremely judgmental about it. I don\\u2019t think this was necessarily something that was unknowable from the perspective of a lot of the folks who built platforms that undergird the internet today.\\u201d \\u2013@BasseyE

Talking to your community members (in a real way!) about the issues that impact their lives:

\\u201cOpen up the conversation gently. It doesn\\u2019t have to be, \\u2018What do you think of Black Lives Matter?\\u2019 It can be, \\u2018This is an unprecedented time that we\\u2019re in. I want to know how you\\u2019re feeling,\\u2019 and let them talk. \\u2026 You know there are people who are likely hurting and [if] you ignore that, how much does that make them feel like this is the community for them?\\u201d \\u2013@MarjorieAyyeee\\xa0(51:23)

\\u201cThis moment is a real moment for humility and for people to show up vulnerable and honest and careful about boundaries, but to be able to really talk about [race and racism] is vitally important. We\\u2019ve tried to make the space for them to do that.\\u201d -Nina Collins\\xa0(55:08)

Our responsibility as leaders and community builders (1:23:16):\\xa0\\u201cThe domination of the major [social media] platforms isn\\u2019t infinite. It\\u2019s going to end one day. It\\u2019s our responsibility to think about what are we going to build in its place.\\u201d \\u2013@BasseyE

Choosing to talk about race (1:26:54):\\xa0\\u201cAs someone who runs a community for women over 40, where we talk a lot about sex, health, and relationships, I\\u2019m known in my little teeny world for talking about anything. I\\u2019ll talk about my vagina. But I realized I was not talking about race with these women. Here I am, a Black woman running a community of lots of white women, and I was never talking about race. I\\u2019ve decided that\\u2019s over. I\\u2019m going to be having these conversations, and I\\u2019m okay with it.\\u201d -Nina Collins

On the responsibility of speaking up for diversity and inclusion within our organization (1:28:27):\\xa0\\u201cAs Black folks in America, if we\\u2019re in positions in organizations where we have voices that are going to be listened to, a big part of the legacy is that we stand on the shoulders of the people before us, and we\\u2019re Called, and I mean \\u2018called\\u2019 with a capital C, to try to make this a more fair and just world. \\u2026 We need to be agitating for getting professionals who can work on these things. We need to be agitating for change. \\u2026 For folks who do have the emotional energy to be able to deal with this, I definitely encourage you to make your voice heard.\\u201d \\u2013@BasseyE

Change will come (1:30:47):\\xa0\\u201cThings do change, but they don\\u2019t change if you lose your energy.\\u201d \\u2013@BasseyE

About Our Guests

Bassey Etim\\xa0is the editorial director for CNN\\u2019s NewsCo. He was previously the community editor at the\\xa0New York Times.

Marjorie Anderson\\xa0is the manager of digital communities at\\xa0Project Management Institute\\xa0and she also manages\\xa0Community by Association, a resource for community builders in the association space.

Nina Collins\\xa0is a writer, entrepreneur, and the founder of\\xa0The Woolfer, an online platform for like-minded women over forty.

Related Links

Transcript

Your Thoughts

If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment,\\xa0send me an email\\xa0or a\\xa0tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported\\xa0Community Signal on Patreon.

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