How to Go the Extra Mile for Community Manager Appreciation Day 2022
The most wonderful day of the year is almost upon us.
Did you know Community Manager Appreciation Day is on January 24th?
This holiday dedicates a whole day to the vital work of Community Management and the folks who bring us together. It's a day to support the supporters and recognize their hard work and impact.
Workplace Community Managers are often the unsung heroes of organizational culture.
Alongside their day jobs, these leaders take the initiative to create spaces that help all employees feel more empowered, supported, and connected at work.
Want to celebrate your Workplace Community Managers but unsure of where to start? We've got you covered with some ideas and essential considerations:
Get engaged: Truly, all Community Managers want is to see you engaged and getting value out of your community! This is what they wake up every day to enable. So one of the best ways to show thanks is to get engaged in the community they’re working so hard to build.
Pay attention: Appreciation starts with understanding, so showing genuine interest in what Community Managers do is important. Do you know what is happening in the community? What are members most excited about? What has been the impact of their time in the community? Are there ways you could shout out their hard work in a company channel so that more people are aware of their contributions? Or are there ways you might volunteer to help support them? Community Managers love volunteers.
Involve members: No one can see a Community Manager's work quite like their members! This is why you should involve them in your celebrations! Ask members how they think their Community Manager (CM) should be celebrated. Use their input to create a word cloud, find the perfect gift, or share the sentiment on social media. The beauty of community is bringing together many folks with different skills and ideas and finding that the sum is somehow even more incredible than the individual people. Empowering members to take the lead creates an opportunity for more connection within the community, supporting the CM's mission in a meaningful way.
Make it personal: While gifts and large displays of gratitude can be lovely, CMs are all about authenticity and connection, so whatever you decide upon needs to be personal and heartfelt. Workplace CMs pride themselves on connection and know that personal, small gestures go a long way towards building trust and rapport. Often a heartfelt, handwritten card or a personalized video of appreciation will mean more than larger, less personalized gifts.
Invest in them: Workplace CMs are learning as they go, making magic with minimal resources. On this day of appreciation, how can your organization tangibly support the work? Do they need access to training and a supportive community of their own? Could you pay them for their additional work? Are there tools that would make their job easier? While budget matters can be tricky to navigate, thinking about how you support the people behind your workplace culture with tangible actions is important and will go a long way towards showing that you recognize the impact of this work.
Appreciate Community Managers every day: Community Manager Appreciation Day is a special occasion and a fantastic opportunity to recognize the impact that Workplace Community Leaders have on your internal culture. But in the end, it's just one day. Community stewardship happens every day of the year, often outside of business hours. How can you show gratitude for this work as part of your overall culture on a more regular basis?
Recognizing Workplace Community Managers as culture heroes is not just a nice thing to do; it's a critical part of building a sustainable and supportive organizational culture. At Cultivate, we're lucky to work with Workplace Community Managers from around the globe, building different types of workplace communities across departments, companies, and industries. They're the heart of what we do, and we're pretty sure that they're the heart of what you do, too.
To all of you Workplace Community Managers out there: We see you and we appreciate you. Your passion for bringing people together continues to inspire us. Your work changes lives, and you are having an impact, even in the most difficult of moments.
We’ll be celebrating all you great Workplace Community Managers in our Cultivators Community on January 24th.
Share your ideas. Solve problems. Make a difference.
We’re building a community where your voice is heard, solutions are shared, and changemakers around the world can mobilize for change. If you are passionate about change, culture, and innovation, this is the place for you.