During the GCUCALL conference this year, Irish Kavanagh shared what she believed to be the top 5 qualities of a successful community manager. Knowing how much community managers can contribute to the success of a workspace, we asked Iris to expand a little on her reasoning and why she picks these qualities as part of her top 5 list.
Susan Smith once said that, “A true Community Manager enhances the connections and interactions of the coworker to bring them value and to actively accelerate serendipity. It’s not just a title. It’s a job that requires constant dedication and commitment in order to create and drive the right interactions that form a strong sense of community.”
It’s because of this dedication and commitment, as well as the serious people skills needed, that it takes someone special to nail the community manager job and foster a strong and healthy workspace community.
Going back to Iris’ top 5 qualities, here is her breakdown of why a person needs to be curious, helpful, happy, accountable, and kick-ass in order to be an effective community manager.
Curious: being curious allows the community manager to constantly seek information about members, about the space, about more efficient ways to work, and about different ways to connect with people. Being curious can help a community manager constantly stimulate the workspace environment without falling into a fixed routine.
Helpful: This one is a no-brainer. It’s important to be helpful as part of a community and as the customer service representative of the workspace, as it will contribute to the members’ happiness and level of comfort in the workspace.
Happy: I really think it’s important that a community manager is a happy person because their attitude sets the stage for the rest of the community. Community managers are leaders and they will set an example of the mood and feel of a workspace.
Accountable: As a former colleague used to say to me, “there’s only one person in this community with the title of facilities or community manager. At the end of the day, the community manager is the one responsible for making sure the business and the community are functioning.”
Kick-Ass: By this I mean that the community manager is hard-working and doesn’t give up or get frustrated easily. It’s a job that requires constantly facing different obstacles and in order to be successful a community manager has to always be up to the challenge and willing to find new and creative ways to address problems and issues that may arise.
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