Back in August, about 100 leaders and members of the Company of Friends gathered in Denver for Community@Work, the first-ever CoF summit. The three-day event served as a test bed for exploring the problems and possibilities that come with developing a community organization that has both strong local presence and broad global reach. Representing CoF cells from six countries, participants convened to learn from other community builders, to exchange tools for making cells work better, and to chart a shared vision for the future of the network. Here, adapted from postings on the Community@Work Web site, are outtakes from the mile-high weekend.
How does a growing organization reconcile rapid expansion with a continuing commitment to human connection? Thought leaders who have appeared in Fast Company joined summit participants to share their insights on the ups and downs of community building. Dan Hanson, a former Land O'Lakes executive and now a professor at Augsburg College, in Minneapolis: 'Growth isn't always a good thing. When I learned that I had cancer, that led me to think about organizational cancers - situations in which growth is out of sync with relationships and in which people feel disconnected. We feel disconnected when we leave our heart outside of work.'
Amy Jo Kim, creative director of Naima, an El Granada, California - based firm that provides strategic design for Web communities: 'The overriding struggle is about intimacy: How do you balance social cohesion with scale? One way is to develop spawning centers - areas in which members can initiate subgroups that are more focused but that exist within the larger community. Layer the community so that it can sustain itself.'
What about the nitty-gritty work of keeping a community alive and on track? Summit attendees traded tips on organizing meetings.
Ken Keberle, of Phoenix: 'I made a mistake when I tried to accommodate as many people as possible. I gave people the impression that we weren't worth the effort. Eventually, I just decided on my own when we would meet.'
Brent Hodgins, of New York: 'We always meet on the 13th of the month. It's always on a different day of the week, so people who can't make it on set days of the week can still come.'
Theresa Quintanilla, of Houston: 'There's a lot of hunger for a support network among people who are trying to start a business or a career. When we address that, meetings just explode.'
CoF leaders also met to discuss the group itself: Is CoF a single, unified movement, or is each cell a movement unto itself?
Ingrid Bredenberg, of Montague, Massachusetts, suggested that the CoF movement is like a dance company: 'Every meeting has its own choreography.'
Peter Lawrence, of Boston, also emphasized cell diversity. 'A cell is a place for conversation and connection, and there are 140 different ways to do those things,' he argued. 'The challenge is to support independence and still provide structure.'
Bill Strickland, of Pittsburgh, however, urged attendees to take a long view. Strickland, president and CEO of both the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, counseled CoF leaders against attempting to do too much too fast: 'Take a deep breath, and give yourselves the appropriate amount of time to accomplish the impossible.'
Coordinates: Community@Work, www.fastcompany.com/summit
