What motivates people to repeatedly engage in a community?

5 sources of energy for long-term engagement

Photo by Sudharsanan Muralidharan

For many groups, one of the biggest struggles is sustained member engagement. It’s easy to get people to show up once or twice, but how do they become long-term active members?

One way to think about long-term engagement is to think about value - what do people get out of it? At Together Institute, we prefer to think about the notion of “energy” - a close cousin of “value”, but one that feels less transactional. Our assumption is simple: People repeatedly engage, if they receive more energy than they put in. This is true in many parts of life, but especially in communities, where people participate and contribute (hopefully) out of their own free will. Unlike at work, there is no contract, no hierarchy, no pay, no external incentives to engage. People will engage if they get energy. In the Community Weaving Framework we visualized that energy as a fire in the middle, a source of warmth, something that attracts us and keeps us coming back. If there is no energy in the middle, there is no community.

So if a thriving community is all about energy, then our role as community weavers is not to create that energy for others (as I need to keep reminding myself], but to sense where potential sources of energy are for our group. Our work - especially in early phases and transition moments - becomes about energy discovery: Where is the energy at? What moments, places, activities and concepts are sources of high energy? Who are sources of high energy? And how can we create simple structures and formats that will help people to tap into that energy regularly?

5 sources of energy

Every group gets its energy from a variety of sources. As repeat “energy detectives”, we keep looking for energy in the following five areas:

I - Possibility / Purpose

Why? What becomes possible when we are together?

At the heart of many communities is a shared dream: the possibility that when we are in closer relationship things become possible that otherwise would not be possible. That dream, that possibility, when clearly articulated, is a huge source of energy. For example, I feel energized to contribute actively to Wasan Network, because its purpose (of making the case for relational approaches to systems change) is closely aligned with my own purpose and I can imagine how as a collective we can have a much bigger impact towards that dream than as a sole individual. By investing energy into Wasan, I automatically invest energy into my life’s purpose.

A way to tap into this energy is to host a conversation about the shared dream. What do we believe will become possible when we are more connected? These conversations naturally come up in the early stages, but can be equally energizing in later stages. Another potential intervention (as with many of the more abstract elements below) can be around clarity. Most groups have a purpose and possibility. But are we clear what it is and can we articulate it in a simple and consistent way where? (Tools like the Minimal Viable Community canvas can help).

II - People

Who? Who is this group for? Who are we?

The type and quality of people are a huge source of energy. Whenever I enter a new group, I ask myself: Are these my people? Are these people I want to be more connected with? Do we share an identity? For example, I’m always eager to connect to fellow long-distance hikers and have seemingly endless energy to talk to them. Being a hiker is such an important part of my identity, because hiking is such a source of joy in my life. So groups with hikers give me energy, because they strengthen my identity, give me a sense of belonging and allow me to live my passion.

A simple way to increase a group’s energy is to mindfully bring in new people. New people, when purpose- and values-aligned, bring in healthy fresh energy.

III - Values / Principles

How? How do we treat each other? What’s important to us? What’s our culture, our tone, our vibe?

The values are deeply connected to the people. They qualify the people. There are hikers who believe that long-distance hiking is about coming into relationship with nature and there are hikers who believe that it’s about covering the distance as quickly as possible. The first ones are my people, while the second ones aren't.

Values are one of the most underestimated and overlooked sources of long-term energy. It’s easy to find people to connect with. It’s hard to find people that truly embody values I feel aligned with. And the embodiment of values becomes the group’s culture, its tone, or its “vibe”. As my colleague Michel Bachmann likes to say, “your vibe attracts your tribe”. For example, when we started Sandbox, we didn’t have much going for ourselves. There were other, more established entrepreneurial networks with bigger budgets and more sophisticated experiences. But what, in my opinion, made the difference then - and still does today - is a strong set of implicit values around kindness, generosity, not-taking-yourself-too-seriously, curiosity. While the group’s purpose wasn’t always clear and the value proposition continued to change, the values stayed steady and were a huge source of continued energy.

IV - Place

Where? Where do we belong? What’s our shared relationship with land?

Feeling connected to the same land, the same neighborhood, having a shared cultural context, feeling a mutual sense of home, these are all huge sources of energy. It’s much easier to be energized by physical proximity than through virtual connection. For example, I feel energized to invest into the relationships with my neighbors because we have a clear local shared context. This is our shared home.

V - Shared Activities & Infrastructure

What? What are we doing together and how does it create value for me? What becomes possible together?

The elements above are powerful, but at times they can feel rather abstract. People also need tangible reasons to get involved and stay involved. A more short-term value. We see the more tangible value falling into four sub-categories, all shaped by their mutuality:

Being together

We get energized by the relationships that form thanks to this community: the care, the friendships, the sense of belonging, the mutual support. This is a huuuuge - and I would argue the most sustainable - source of energy: People keep showing up for people they care about. And the more time they spend together, the more likely they are to show up again. For example, while I feel deeply aligned with Wasan’s purpose, it’s in the end the friendships and the joyful moments we spend together that motivates me to keep showing up.

Learning & Growing together

Communities can be great environments to grow and expand, both personally and professionally. We get energized by learning with and from our peers. And communities can provide us not only with a way to grow, but to do so in a safe, relational environment, allowing for deeper learning and personal transformation. For example, I could learn about communities and networks by simply reading books and blog posts. But the relational environment of Wasan makes learning so much richer. As I learn about people’s perspectives, my own horizon grows, my opinions change, I change. And meanwhile my friendships deepen through our shared conversations.

Doing together

Certain people get antsy when a group is just about the relational, they are eager to do something concrete together. They crave concrete outputs. For them, it’s obvious that they could never do alone what is possible in collaboration. So they are energized to show up and co-create. The myriad of potential outputs from collaborations can be very energizing.

Investing together

Groups create value by investing into shared infrastructure and unlocking benefits of scale. This can take many shapes, from shared software accounts to a library of books to collective physical infrastructure like a shared park. For example, I’m part of a co-working collective called Post Office and while I get energized by the community’s decentralized mission and values, it’s the tangible value of having access to a shared workspace that keeps me coming back.

A spectrum: from abstract to tangible

If you look at the list above, they range from the very abstract to the more tangible and short-term sources of energy. My hypothesis is that healthy groups have a mix of both: they offer something tangible to draw people in and give them a clear experience of “value”, while also being rooted in the longer-term sources of energy.

I have a different mix of energy sources for each group

As I was thinking through examples, I realized that my own energy to show up was made up of a patchwork of different factors, and the mixture was different for each group. And depending on the mix, I would engage more or less long-term. For example:

• Wasan Network: What energizes me are the mission, the people and the friendships we created, the implicit values around kindness / friendship / generosity. I get tangible value from the friendships, but also I learn a lot from the group and I have found collaborators for projects. I have quite a varied “energy portfolio” and therefore I am quite consistently motivated to show up.

• For some years I was part of a community in the US of ambitious change makers, with fabulous retreats organized in unique locations. I got tangible value from meeting interesting people, but I never felt aligned with the group’s values and didn’t really believe in the group’s purpose. As a result my interactions stayed quite transactional and opportunistic.

What are your sources of energy in community? I’d love to hear! Thank you to Michel Bachmann for his valuable edits and additions to this post!

Till next time - Fab

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About Entangled

// Entangled: Welcome to Entangled, celebrating the people, insights and practices that help purpose-driven communities & networks thrive. If you care about bringing people together, this might be for you.

// Hello, I’m Fabian, co-founder of the Together Institute where we work with purpose-driven communities, networks and their leaders to help them thrive.