We love to learn from the many great ERGs, communities of practice, service groups, and other workplace communities out there, but we also love finding inspiration from the different types of communities that exist all around us. So, what ideas can we adopt, and what lessons can we apply from communities and community-builders outside the workplace? Here are three examples; you tell us.

Wikipedia Editors: A global network of volunteer nerds

Read: What Makes Wikipedia's Volunteer Editors Volunteer? - Scientific American

An experiment with Wikipedia’s community of volunteer editors used recognition to drive individual identification with the community. They saw significant increases in the retention of new editors as a result. How are members of your workplace community recognized? What symbols might your community members use to align themselves with the community publicly?

Neighborhood Designers & Urban Planners: Literal community builders

Read: Engaging everyone: How design can help build an equitable 21st century community park. - The Stoss Journal

The project to redesign a community park in Boston included extensive outreach efforts designed to engage a wide variety of stakeholders throughout the community in co-creation. What kinds of opportunities do your community members have for contributing to the future design of the community? What stakeholders have been historically left out of the conversation about community development in your workplace? What ideas could you adopt from this article for making stakeholder outreach an enjoyable, collaborative experience?

Teachers: Building community in the classroom at every age

Read: Building a Healthy Classroom Community - ASCD.org

Teachers have to be intentional about building community between groups of students who may appear to have little in common when they first arrive in the classroom at the start of a new term. They apply a variety of activities and tools to the task. Were there any activities in the article you can imagine adapting for use with your community members?

While students spend most of their waking hours in the classroom, most adults spend hours at work, so what kind of culture bonds you and your colleagues in the workplace now? What overlaps do you see between the teacher’s role in building classroom community and the community manager’s role in building workplace community?

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