Support Everyone’s Membership Journey

A community needs people to be a community. In fact, people are part of a community even when they’re not in the community!?

What do we mean by that??

As we see it, there are actually four stages to community membership, and your role as community steward is to support their journey through the stages.

1. Prospective members are those who haven’t yet “joined” but are interested. Maybe they’ve visited your website, or dropped by an event. They are not technically members, but they are still in some ways now a part of your community.

2. New members have just signed up. They’ve taken the leap to committing, but are still getting to know their way around, and may feel unsure of whether they belong or not yet.?

3. Veteran members have been around for enough time to feel like they understand how things work and often have a deeper sense of commitment and belonging than new members do.

4. Past members may be gone, but they are not forgotten. In some communities, they may have been so foundational, they are still considered members long after they are no longer part of the group.

There is a place and a need for each type of member within a community because of the dynamic and flow that happens as new people arrive and others leave. If you feel that your community membership is sitting squarely within the “veteran members” category, you may want to think about how this might be impacting the development of new ideas. Likewise, if you are full of new members, this will also impact how your community operates.?

Creating a balance between these stages of membership means setting up a system to consciously move people through from stage to stage.

Prospective members:

• Have a transparent and explicit process for how to join. The best way to do this is to put it in writing–it can be on a website or an email that is shared with interested new members. Consider what the “rules” are for becoming a member, and how informal or less formal you want to group to be. An informal group, for example a monthly meetup for new fathers, might consider the new membership process as joining a Facebook group or creating a rule where a current member can invite a new person. The point here is: Make it obvious to everyone in the group how a person can be a new member.?

• Be clear about what the expectations of new membership are. How does one maintain membership? For example, maybe it’s just being part of the Facebook group. Or possibly, being part of an email list. What type of behavior is expected? Clarifying about what it means to be a member, helps to build trust from the beginning–when people enter into the community.?

• Set the stage. Make sure it is known to everyone about the purpose of your group. This may mean having a committee or point person whose role it is to meet with prospective members to answer questions, or a series of questions that prospective members can answer that helps them decide if membership is a good option for them.

• Provide opportunities for getting their feet wet. Prospective members should have a way to get to know the community in a low commitment way before actually joining. This could look like a preview of a Facebook page, or an open public community event where prospective members can actually interact with a new member.?

New members

When a prospective member completes the process for becoming a new member, how do they know that they are now a member? Do they know what to do and how to access the features of membership? Is there a place for them to learn more about the community and have their questions answered? Here are some things to keep in mind to help new members feel welcomed, build trust in the community, and get ready to jump in:?

• Acknowledge their membership. This means letting the community know that a new members has joined (e.g. announcing new members on your social media platforms or at meetings or via your newsletter), as well as making sure that things are set up for them behind the scenes so they can now fully participate, (do their names get added to certain lists, or are there other “back end” protocols you need to make sure are updated for them?). If your group has swag or other materials, make sure they receive those items.

• Create a template welcome email. This email is sent to new members to describe next steps for getting started as a member–make sure to personalize these messages so it doesn’t come off as mechanical. Or if it is a template, acknowledge that!?

• Pay attention to names. Remember members’ names and how to pronounce them. People’s names are important to them–they are often associated with their culture and personal history. If in doubt, ask people how to say their names. Core community members can also set an example by adding phonetic spellings to their own names or use applications to create recordings of their names and adding these to profiles or email signatures.

• Create a volunteer onboarding group. Community members often love getting involved in welcoming new members–they get to meet new people and expand their network–so give them space to get directly involved in the onboarding process.?

• Give them time to warm up. While some people rush into a community with full steam, others may take some time to get settled in and feel comfortable enough to really get rolling. Make sure the involvement options are clear, then give members some time and space to figure out how they want to engage. Be aware that often new members are cautiously checking out the community to see if they actually do want to be a part of it. At this stage, the goal is to help keep them in the loop (so they don’t forget about the community), and give them time and opportunities to get to know what the community is about.?

• Send out regular communications. Communicating about the culture, events, and tone of the community on a regular basis helps new members transition into veteran members. This could look like a newsletter that is sent out regularly. The goals of the newsletter should provide the tone for the community, make people aware of the events and opportunities coming up, and be used as a clear metric for “being a member” (i.e., receive and read the newsletter each time it comes out).?

• Tech tip: Invite introductions. Networking platforms like Slack, Discord, or Facebook are great ways to help new members connect with more veteran members. For example, in the welcome email, you could ask new members to introduce themselves in a public chat.?

Veteran members

These are members who have been around for a while. By this point they should have a pretty good sense of what the community is all about. Veteran members are usually fairly committed to the community. Not only that, but they are familiar with how the community works–its norms and practices. They might even want to take on leadership roles in the community. The key here is to create really diverse types of opportunities for veteran members to get involved in, while considering that their ability to participate might change over time.?

• Create specific roles for veteran members. Roles could be one-off activities like asking for feedback on documents, or hosting an event, or could be larger/longer term, like hosting a welcoming committee for new members. Also consider that some roles can be done asynchronously (whenever they have spare time) or require some synchronous activity like attending meetings.?

• Provide the opportunity for mentorship. Since veteran members are ostensibly more familiar with the community than new members are, they may be a great fit for helping newer members navigate the community. Whether it’s partnering on planning an event, attending a workshop together, or just meeting up for coffee and a chat, we encourage you to invite your veteran members into the process of supporting newer members, however fits.

• Aim for leadership. What you really want your veteran members to be are community champions. These are people who help lead the community, and bring their own interpretations to the community. They promote the community, and help others feel welcome in the community. When you feel you have a great pool of veteran members, find ways to open the door for leadership opportunities in the community – this means roles that make real impact and have real decision-making power in the community such as an advisory board.??

Past Members?

Just as you thoughtfully welcome prospective members to get a feel of your group and join you, putting effort into “off-boarding” members is equally as important. Here are some ideas for ways to honor and remember those who came before.

• Acknowledge their exit. You can announce who is leaving in the same way as you announce who is joining. Posting on social media or your interactive communications platform can allow members to say their goodbyes, offer gratitude, or share contact information before the member formally leaves. You may also want to give exiting members an opportunity to share their experience in your newsletter or other venue (e.g. at a community celebration). This is also an opportunity to acknowledge any positive impact the community member had on the community.?

• Solicit their feedback. Understanding why community members are leaving the community is an opportunity for you to make improvements. Exit interviews, surveys, or simply informally asking for feedback are all possible ways of gathering this type of useful data.

• Offer ways to stay in touch. Creating a newsletter or social media page specifically for “alumni” of your community can help them stay in the loop, even after they have formally stepped away. Contact lists or other document access might be something you’d like to offer as “evergreen” to people who are no longer official members, but who still want to be connected.??

• Keep the door open. Since people’s lives change all the time, members may decide to come back at some point. If you host open events, you may see them showing up, (or you might just run into them at the grocery store). In some ways, past members are like prospective members, so keeping the door open for them in any way you can sets the tone that they are always welcomed back.

We invite you to spend time thinking about how you bring people into the community and help them build up the feeling of intimacy that makes a community so rewarding, passing over more leadership opportunities as you go, and offering a gentle off-ramp. Setting up this journey will help everyone feel like they are being met where they are at, and adds a level of conscious guidance to their time with you.