How to Retain Your Members by Giving Them a Sense of Responsibility

Using Organisational Psychology to Improve Member Retention [3]: Increasing Autonomy, Interdependence, and Fairness to Inculcate Responsibility

Role characteristics associated with responsibility, and strategies to embed each one in your community

While this link between power and responsibility has been widely cemented since first published in Stan Lee’s Spider-Man, not close to enough attention has been given to their opposite relationship, which can be summed up as — with great responsibility, comes great power.

What do I mean by this? In the context of community management, responsibility refers to how members need to feel personally accountable for the outcomes or results of their roles. Putting your members in a position of ownership or influence (great responsibility) can empower them to perform better and be more engaged (great power) and less likely to leave your organisation.