The Two Ways for Leaders to Emerge Online

May 22

Note: This post originally appeared in the Gather Community Consulting Newsletter.

Hi Friend,

I was talking to one of the students in my Leading Online Communities course last week. She didn't know how to move forward with her ideas and kept second-guessing herself. Yet she was holding herself to a standard that didn't fit her leadership style.

I talk to hundreds of people every year who do the same thing. So allow me to share something about community leadership emergence that helped her and will help you get out of your own way:

There are - broadly speaking - two ways for leaders to emerge online.

First, there are communities that arise from the passion and personality of founders and a handful of early members. These leaders create content, serve as experts or connectors to experts, and organize the majority of gatherings. Most course communities operate this way, as do many brand communities, even if there are multiple leaders behind the scenes. I worked on CMX for ~4 years, and this is the leadership structure we kept, though we debated a transformation from time to time.

Second, there is the strategy of gathering the people. This is a democratic and perhaps even co-created community leadership structure. Different from the first approach, it is more organic, less expert-driven, and requires a sh*t ton more humility and patience. Leaders of these communities need not be experts or visionaries but instead facilitators of others' brilliance and energy.

I often hear online community managers describe their work based on the second approach when the first would fit them far better.

After all, the second approach sounds romantic and egalitarian and revolutionary!

Then those with emergent and nebulous community concepts often cut themselves down because they are not ready to be "the leader."

After all, the first approach sounds so clear-cut and heroic!

I'm here to tell you: Pick a lane.

Neither is better or worse. Get clear what you're really after: a co-created, democratic community effort or a space in which you/your organization are the expert and organizer.

You can focus on creating a founder-led structure if you (or your organization):

are a subject matter expert
are able to leverage existing strong relationships with people who want to join right away
are already clear on how best to organize discussions and programs

You can focus on co-creation and facilitation if you (or your organization):

have built a founder-led community but are stagnating or see the potential for something bigger (it's going to require a lot of humility to do this; most fail)
are trying to figure out what is really needed for the community you want to serve
don't know how you would convey the community's real value, but you do have 3-5 people you know who want to help you figure it out
are still wrapping your head around ideas and focus

You can always change structures later, but you can't get back lost time. Now get out there and keep building your way. ✨

Your friendly neighborhood community builder ⭐

Carrie Melissa Jones
Founder, Gather Community Consulting