The Performance Culture

CHAPTER 8Community Practice

Identify your crucial stakeholders, shift your perspective, and craft the story.

Building community is all about going from a tight group of your initial collaborators and partners, to preparing the insights and behaviors you’ve discovered for a broader audience. This, like everything we’ve discussed, takes intention, because as much as those earlier in the process were included, asked for their perspective, and brought along the journey, you’re now bringing something a bit more complete to a set of stakeholders who may not see how they are affected by the problem or why they should be interested in the solution.

This stage is where you have to embrace your inner storyteller, salesperson, and marketer. For some leaders that can feel counterintuitive. A common perception is that if this change is better, and more than a few of us can see how this would benefit a collection of us, why should I have to put any effort into packaging it for others to get on board?

While that’s a common reaction, it’s also a bit misguided, and one that any good leader needs to recognize and discard. Just because something is important to you, doesn’t mean it’s important to others. Just because your initial partners participated in identifying the problem and crafting behaviors to address it, doesn’t mean that this will rise to the level of importance for others. And even if it is important enough, how and when the message is delivered is pivotal to building community ...