Wait for It… Emergence Happens

by Rachel Happe on February 19, 2010

One of the most enjoyable and gratifying moments of being a community manager is when members of the community start to step up, create content, proactively initiate something, build relationships with people they’ve discovered, and feel comfortable enough to show more of their personalities.  This is all emergent behavior that as a community manager you want desperately to encourage but which is almost impossible to directly induce. In new communities it is wonderful to watch the new shoots of activity happen.  But… it goes in fits and starts. Some days it feels like everyone chimes in and some days, it feels like no one is paying attention.  One of the hardest things do to – especially if you are getting pressure from other stakeholders – is to wait for it.

Waiting is not a business activity that is recognized as having any value but it’s kind of like lurking – it has a lot more value than it appears to have on the surface.  Amber Naslund wrote a recent post about the spaces in between and it gets to something that has been foundational in my thinking for a long time – contrast enables clarity.  What I mean by that is that you can’t have success without failure leading up to it. You can’t have light without dark. You can’t have activity without quiet. You would not be able to recognize the good things if you the bad things didn’t exist. But waiting in a business context can kind of feel like goofing off. It is the perfect time to go for a walk/clean out your inbox/etc.  Knowing and having the confidence to hold back and not overwhelm the community with your own content and activity is so, so critical. Because if you do it all, your members will see no need or benefit to participating themselves.  You can over-water a plant. That doesn’t mean you build it and wait for them to come either but knowing how to seed a little, nudge a little… and then wait…. is the trick.

How do you spend your time while you wait? How do you explain that dynamic to people around you?

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  • Thanks Claire - it's something I've been thinking about (and Jim practices better than I do) but your comments made me smile because I understood the feeling. You start seeing things that you've been hoping for and waiting on... and finally you see things taking shape without your own direct intervention even though you likely planted the seeds of that activity long ago. It is a lot of fun to watch - and very satisfying!
  • Claire Flanagan
    I love this blog post. As you know it was near and dear to my heart this past week. People who know me know I am a go-getter. But they're often shocked when my reaction is more relaxed when a group is not quite 'ready' to accept change. When you're working in social collaboration tools - you really notice social styles more - I'm talking about personality and learning social styles. And I have always been a firm believer in knowing when to push forward, knowing when to guide and knowing when to back off. Like I said, people who know me are shocked at the patience with which I approach org change. But I do think it's critical to recognize that not everyone has the same temperament or learning style. And if you can reach a larger audience, the rest will follow.

    This past week, my little success was a little dream I had that I never shared and never promoted. But I'm seeing this little seeds I planted start to grow on their own. Yes, as a community manager, that is an incredible feeling.

    Thank you for articulating this aspect, and skill really, in community management. It takes work for some of us.
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