Nurturing groups - Building a partnership with your group champion

Lately, I've been noticing how crucial Group Champions (GCs) are for the growth of each group, as we continue to launch more groups in our community. That got me feeling like it's the perfect time to share my experiences about building a partnership with your GC. It’s obviously no walk in the park, but there have been some key elements that helped make this happen.

But before we dive in, I gotta ask:

How do you handle group ownership in your community?

Does the Community Manager nurture all groups in your organization? Or are there specific people from your organization for that?

Here’s how I do it, and some of my learnings:

1. Scouting for the right GC: 
   1. The initial step is to identify the right team and the suitable individual within that team who would thrive in the GC role specific to your interest group.
   2. In my case, I was still relatively new to my role and didn't know everyone in the organization yet, so my manager, @Seth, guided me in the right direction. 
   3. It's also essential to gain buy-in from both teams and their managers to make it a seamless fit in their daily routine, as taking on this additional responsibility may seem overwhelming for them.
2. Treat them like you would want to be treated when you are newly inducted into a role:
   1. When your GC steps into their new role, it's vital to provide a comprehensive onboarding experience to alleviate any feelings of overwhelm. Remember that this may be the first time they’re putting themselves out in public in this way!
   2. Personally, I spent our first three to four meetings focusing on onboarding them, until I knew that my GC was comfortable kickstarting things.
   3. Dedicate time to talk with them about “What good looks like” (and what’s possible!):
      1. Handling moderation
      2. Provide walkthroughs of promotional spaces within the community to increase group visibility
      3. Familiarize them with back-end modules
      4. Guide them in welcoming new members etc
      5. For instance, a handy trick is to have them draft posts in advance, allowing them to manage their time effectively while ensuring timely group updates. 
3. Finding a planning cadence:
   1. It’s useful to keep a weekly connect to start off with and then reduce the rhythm once things set into motion
   2. This is a great opportunity to determine the frequency of posts, group events, and other engagements based on the time that the GC can realistically dedicate, considering their daily workload. to understand and set a level of frequency for posts, group events etc, basis the time that the GC can practically dedicate (keeping aside their daily work otherwise)
4. Plan responsibilities based and partnership based elements:
   1. As you plan your content together, you will constantly realize the value they bring with their expertise. Leave it to them to experiment with variations of sharing into the group and trust them to take the lead on it.
   2. As a community manager, you can support them through multiple of the ideas born from your brainstorming sessions - help them whip up a skeleton for a newsletter, think of unique fun ways to put across their expertise that can’t be easily found anywhere else - like quizzes, or word puzzles!
5. Re-assure your GC:
   1. I feel like this is so important that I can’t avoid keeping it as a separate point altogether. As a community manager, you may be accustomed to the ebb and flow of engagement, but your GC might feel uncertain or demotivated when engagement drops or takes time to pick up. 
   2. Share your key insights and experiences regarding engagement with them so that they can develop realistic expectations and avoid giving up too soon.
6. Celebrate wins together!
   1. In our eagerness to see frequent engagement, we often forget to celebrate even the smallest victories.
   2. Use your planned connects to celebrate the growth of the group, positive member comments, launch of new ideas etc. 
   3. These positive moments helps to keep your GC powerfully motivated

I want to leave you with something to ponder on: 

Where do we draw a line when it comes to a CM nurturing a group - with or without the support of a GC?

Personally, I believe in finding a balance where GC is the backbone of the group and the CM acts as their trusty sidekick - constantly offering support, brainstorming ideas and creatively turning wheels together.

I’d love to hear how you see this - differently or not, it’s still a learning moment for me and others on here!