Building Communities That Enable Delivery
Many transformation initiatives involve building cross-organisational communities—networks of practitioners working on similar challenges across different parts of government or the public sector.
When communities work well, they enable knowledge sharing, peer learning, and coordinated action. When they don’t, they become another meeting people don’t have time for.
What Makes Communities Effective
Effective communities share several characteristics:
Clear Purpose
The best communities have a clear reason to exist. They’re not built because “we should have a community”. They’re built because people working on similar challenges need a space to share learning, coordinate action, or solve problems collectively.
Purpose might be:
- Sharing practice and learning across organisational boundaries
- Coordinating delivery across multiple organisations
- Building shared capability on emerging challenges
- Creating collective resources or guidance
Without clear purpose, communities struggle to maintain engagement.
Active Leadership
Communities don’t run themselves. Effective communities have dedicated leadership—people who:
- Facilitate connections between members
- Organise events and activities
- Create and curate resources
- Maintain momentum between formal events
- Represent community needs to senior stakeholders
This leadership might be formal (a dedicated community manager) or distributed (active members who take on facilitation roles). But it needs to exist.
Value for Members
People engage with communities when they get value from participation. Value might come from:
- Learning from peers facing similar challenges
- Access to expertise and guidance
- Opportunities to influence strategy or policy
- Recognition and career development
- Practical resources and tools
Communities that focus only on broadcasting information or delivering compliance training struggle to maintain engagement.
Appropriate Structure
Different communities need different structures:
- Coordinating communities need regular rhythm, clear governance, and defined ways of working
- Learning communities need spaces for peer exchange, case studies, and skill development
- Practice communities need practical resources, troubleshooting forums, and expert input
The structure should match the community’s purpose and the time members can realistically invest.
Common Challenges
Most communities face similar challenges:
Engagement
Maintaining engagement is hard. People are busy, priorities shift, and community participation often feels optional.
Successful communities address this by:
- Making participation easy (short sessions, flexible formats)
- Demonstrating clear value
- Creating opportunities for contribution beyond attendance
- Celebrating contributions and achievements
Sustainability
Many communities are established with enthusiasm but fade over time. Sustainability requires:
- Dedicated leadership and resource
- Senior sponsorship and support
- Distributed ownership (not dependent on one person)
- Regular refresh of purpose and activities
Impact
Communities need to demonstrate impact to maintain support and resource. Impact might be:
- Measurable outcomes (coordinated delivery, reduced duplication)
- Member satisfaction and engagement
- Capability development
- Influence on strategy or policy
Tracking and communicating impact helps communities maintain momentum and support.
Designing Communities
When establishing a new community, consider:
- Define the purpose: Why does this community need to exist? What value will it create?
- Identify the audience: Who needs to be part of this? What’s the membership model?
- Establish leadership: Who will lead and facilitate? What resource is available?
- Design activities: What will the community do? What’s the rhythm and cadence?
- Plan for sustainability: How will this continue beyond initial enthusiasm?
The Role of Advisory Support
External support can help establish communities effectively, but the goal should be building internal capability and ownership.
Useful support includes:
- Helping define purpose and structure
- Establishing initial activities and rhythm
- Building internal facilitation capability
- Creating resources and platforms
- Connecting to similar communities for learning
The aim is to establish a community that sustains itself after external support ends.
Making Communities Work
Communities are powerful tools for transformation—when they’re designed and supported effectively.
They require clear purpose, active leadership, demonstrable value, and appropriate structure. With these foundations, communities can enable delivery at scale across complex organisational boundaries.