A couple of years ago, a coaching colleague, Fernando Lopez, recommended the book, Cultivating Communities of Practice and provided a summary of principles from the book. While the book is written from the perspective of using communities to enhance an organization’s performance, the authors define Communities of Practice as groups that "share a concern, a set of problems, or passion about a topic….and deepen their expertise and knowledge in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis."  So my guess is that their guidance applies to communities in the world at large as well.

Here are some of the gems for creating a vibrant community that Fernando provided from the book:

1. Design for evolution.

2. Open a dialogue between inside and outside (e.g., have outside speakers.)

3. Invite different levels of participation (e.g., don’t expect all members to contribute the same amount, instead have "roles" for all levels of contribution.)

4. Develop both public and private communities (e.g., connect members with similar intersts so they develop their own smaller private groups withing the communities.)

5. Focus on value.

6. Combine familiarity and excitement.

7. Create a rhythm for the community (e.g., a successful community does not mean having constant activity. To the contrary, many very successful communities revolve around one monthly event and that’s their rhythm.)

I would love to hear your own experience with building a community around a shared passion, either virtually or in-person.