What have we learnt since hosting Jisc’s internal community health checks?

Our health check process started in 2024, bringing different Jisc-led community together to reflect on activity and find new possibilities. Learn more about the process in part 1. It has captured our community landscape confirming that connecting institutions to share their work create invaluable support. This is thanks to the people that manage them and everyone who shows up. So, what did we learn?

What does a healthy community mean?

A healthy community knows exactly what it is doing and for whom. A clear purpose creates clear expectations and is easy to communicate. Whether the community a place to ask questions, access and co-create resources or just network this will guide the expected results and behaviours.

The reality of community

Success is subjective. High membership or busy chats are not always essential. Communities have time poor members who need quick access to resources or newsletters to summarise updates. Sometimes they may not have time to attend every meet up, so need different opportunities to listen and absorb information.

Communities need validation that they are on the right track by confirming what really matters. Use a minimum viable community approach to test and get data. This way the community evolves as and when the requirements do.

Meet ups are the showstopper of community activity.

Meet ups are the main attraction. They create focused time and when done consistently build momentum and trust. Our most common formats are webinars with guest speakers or workshops.

Community activity corresponds with patterns of the academic year so we can focus our attention in the busy periods; November, March and June, and experiment when things are quieter in December, July and August.

Top tips for events

Great meet ups have a strong hook. Online is more accessible to more people but there is appetite for in-person meet ups when communities need a hands-on experience with innovative technology. You can read this blog for more tips on facilitating online community meetups.

Engagement is a long but rewarding journey.

Engagement is a direct result of trust, which builds over time. As mentioned, not every community needs high engagement, but all need tactics to spark interest. Variety really is the spice of life, and experimentation is key. When variety is not possible, consistency is the next best thing.

Do not be afraid of quiet moments, and do not let that stop you from experimenting. You can read more in our ten ideas for online community engagement blog.

Cross-community support and dialogue

As our communities move to maturity, we are seeing them join forces to reach to wider audiences and cover relating topics. Even with a well-established community, working with other groups shares the workload and creates new conversation that might not have happened before.

The health checks worked with two or more communities sharing their data and reflecting together to get insights and validation. Community managers also shared back the findings to individual communities e.g. activity stats, new objectives, or a meet up reviews to keep the conversation going.

Key takeaways

• One size does not fit all. Do not compare with other communities, rather with what your community is saying.
• There is no perfect platform. Instead, focus on your content and events to build the community ecosystem around them.
• Check in with your community to review and adapt. Give the community what they want and need.
• Have a systematic approach and look for the quick wins. Embrace an experimentation mindset and do not be afraid to try new things, just keep track.

Community building takes patience and curiosity but is always worth the effort. To get support or join one of our communities, visit our Get Involved page.