Podcasts Business Community Signal Leveling Up Your Community Team With Specialized Roles

Leveling Up Your Community Team With Specialized Roles

Published: Feb. 21, 2022, 10:30 a.m.

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As community leaders, we\\u2019re responsible for people. The people in our communities and the people that serve them. In this episode,\\xa0Chris Catania, head of community at\\xa0Esri, shares how he approaches planning for growth and specialization for his community organization, for his people, and for his own role.

Chris is currently hiring for three roles, a community operations manager, a community manager for engagement and content, and a community manager for\\xa0ArcGIS Ideas. Chris shares the responsibilities and scope for each of these roles, in addition to the challenges and advantages of hiring right now. In addition to the effects of the \\u201cgreat resignation,\\u201d as specialization and scope of responsibility within the community industry grows, so does the need to be clear in our job listings, success metrics, and paths to growth.

Chris and Patrick also discuss:

  • The role specializations and career paths that Chris is charting for his team and himself
  • Hiring for specializations within community
  • Communicating your team\\u2019s value to other execs (and around the dinner table)

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 sponsor:\\xa0Hivebrite, the community engagement platform.

Big Quotes

Esri\\u2019s community team is two sides of the house\\xa0(1:49): \\u201c[Our community team has] a structure where we have two halves. I\\u2019ve been using the analogy of a house: Two sides of the house. \\u2026 An operational side, community ops, and on the other side, we have community experience and programs.\\u201d \\u2013@chriscatania

The current landscape for job applicants and hiring managers\\xa0(4:31):\\xa0\\u201cThere\\u2019s a multi-layer effect that\\u2019s going on in the job market where you have the Great Resignation going on \\u2026 [and] then you have this other layer that has emerged over the last five years where you have this proliferation of community jobs.\\u201d \\u2013@chriscatania

All job candidates have areas where they need help\\xa0(10:20):\\xa0\\u201cHaving been in the community industry for a while, [I\\u2019ve been able to] get a good idea of all the different paths that you can take. \\u2026 [This is] influencing how we are approaching the strategy of the hiring process, and knowing that there\\u2019s not one person out there that is going to do everything that we [need a given] role to do.\\u201d \\u2013@chriscatania

Planning for your team\\u2019s growth\\xa0(24:46):\\xa0\\u201cI started really looking at our new org structure for the community team early last year because I saw the team was growing, \\u2026 individually and as a team. I saw the community industry starting to advance \\u2026 people coming into it were really accelerating. I looked at my team, and [said], \\u2018Okay, I need to think about promotions. I need to think about their path.\'\\u201d \\u2013@chriscatania

Planting the seeds to grow and promote your team\\xa0(25:33):\\xa0\\u201cAs I have meetings with my boss about our team and what our team is doing, I plant seeds with them. \\u2018Look what this person\\u2019s doing.\\u2019 Because I\\u2019ve seen that work with executives over the years of trying to get buy-in incrementally, just walking in and boom, put down the plan. I like to plant seeds. I like to make a case over time so that when you go for the ask [to grow or promote], it\\u2019s like, \\u2018Yes, you got it.\'\\u201d \\u2013@chriscatania

Giving out skimpy raises will often lose you money\\xa0(28:41):\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019ve worked at places where I\\u2019d have to grind out an $8,000 raise to go with a promotion for someone who\\u2019s been there five years. I was like, \\u2018They need $10,000.\\u2019 \\u2018You can have $8,000.\\u2019 That $2,000 in our pocket, it\\u2019s worth nothing. That $2,000 in their pocket is worth something, because if we lose that person, the amount of time that I\\u2019m going to have to spend training, interviewing, we\\u2019re going to lose way more than that, in my time and in our company\\u2019s time.\\u201d \\u2013@patrickokeefe

About Chris Catania

For more than 20 years,\\xa0Chris Catania\\xa0has developed a versatile array of skills and experiences in strategic communication, community management, customer experience, global business strategy and emerging media production. He is a dedicated community and collaboration leader, who always thinks \\u201cpeople first, technology next,\\u201d and uses his passion for emerging community and communication strategies to drive measurable business results and design meaningful experiences for employee and customer audiences. Chris is currently the head of community at\\xa0Esri.

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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