Or: How do we weave thriving communities when everyone is stretched thin? — I recently was asked, what the biggest challenge is to having thriving communities. My answer? Time. Nobody got time for deep community. Everyone is stretched thin When I look at myself and at the people around me, it seems like everyone has too much going on and is maxed out. The non-stop hustle of…

Community = Living the questions together — Key ideas by Chelsea Robinson, Erin Dixon, Sita Magnuson, Michel Bachmann. Written by Fabian Pfortmüller. Many years ago, Chelsea Robinson, Michel Bachmann and I were dreaming up what a community of community weavers might look like (a project that would become “the Experiment” and eventually the Community Weavers Guild). As…

And why it’s often not a good investment… — Here is a scenario I have experienced many times. An organization tells us that in order to strengthen its community, it wants to invest a significant amount of money into developing their own tech platform, usually some variation of a virtual social network. …

A thought experiment: What if nation states remembered that they are simply very big communities? — Over the summer break, as we’ve been taking long train journeys through Europe, I’ve had plenty of time to look out of the window and play with silly thought experiments. Here is one of them. As I was reading the news and baffling about recent political news in the countries…

Instead, integrate into your members’ existing tech behavior. — The virtual social networks of most groups I’m part of are dead. Nobody is using them. Why is that? Who are you competing with? Imagine you’re an entrepreneur, you’re starting a website and you want people to regularly visit it. You are competing with all the other websites in the world that people are already…

And a reflection on how we define collective success… — Thought experiment #1 Imagine there are 3 different teams trying to solve the same challenge. You have to bet which of the groups is more likely to be successful. Team 1 is made up of 5 highly skilled people. Team 2 is made up of 5 highly skilled people who know each other…

Easy to forget. And yet the essence of all community weaving work. — Here is the most important thing about communities that I keep forgetting: Community = relationships Community isn’t structure. Community isn’t having a plan or a roadmap. Community isn’t the gatherings we organize to come together. Community certainly isn’t a social network or any other technology we use to connect. Community…

Or: Clarity in community is an ongoing, always temporary conversation — “We just need more clarity what this group is about”. That’s how it usually starts. A committee is formed. A series of strategy conversations are held. Lots of post-it notes are put up on physical or virtual walls. Long Google Docs are written. By the end everyone is pretty exhausted…

5 ideas: smaller sessions lead by participants, fractals, rhythm, roles and expanding the audience definition — Ideas and edits by Christine Lai, Michel Bachmann, Fabian Pfortmüller. Written by Fabian Pfortmüller. Together with my colleagues Christine Lai and Michel Bachmann, I recently had the opportunity to attend the Skoll World Forum, where 1500 people convened in Oxford, UK, for three days. It was a phenomenal event. Several…