Thank you to everyone who responded to my newsletter on unlocking the power of community-powered learning to facilitate your people's progress. It's awesome to hear from you and what's top of your mind.

Kevin asked me this question:

Here are my seven tips from my days of working as a community manager and co-designer of the very first cohort of Joe Hudson's masterclass, The Art of Accomplishment, and my work today, where I've helped over 70 courses enable their people's transformation.

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Tip #1. Take a moment to think about, and share, what your community really needs to take action and feel a sense of belonging.

Map out the journey for a member of your community to reach their ultimate goal. You're welcome to grab a copy of this community-powered course map to get you started.

You can ask your community too :)

Bear in mind different types of community have different ratios of connection and action/learning, which makes them feel very different as a member.

Let the outcome of your thinking, conversations, and research guide your decisions and actions. Document and share the approach you’ll take.

Here’s an example from Kevon as part of the build up to his course launch (doors are open Aug 1 to 12, 2023, and access to the course & community opens on Aug 21!):

Review and iterate your approach at a frequency that makes sense to you. Document your learnings and share them with your community. Check out Write of Passage and Kevon’s course version notes. You can add the same text in a course launch email too, multi-purpose!

Or create a YouTube video with your update. A final example from Kevon: ​I am REDESIGNING My Build in Public Program (Why + How)​.

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Tip #2. If you offer an evergreen course, add a people element.

If you can find a way to shift, even if lightly, from a solely self-directed learning experience to a community-powered learning experience, your customers will thank you.

Here's a contrast of the two experiences:

Incorporating a community-powered element in your learning experience will help your people take action and make progress.

As much your people are capable of self-directing their learning successfully, and it's an integral part of learning anything new — the learning journey is tough and there are many times they'll slow down, get lost, or want to give up.

Having access to others on the same journey, and the opportunity to interact with them, goes a long way. The diagram below shows how community particularly supports people in both the low and high moments of the learning journey.

Incorporating community in your evergreen course means the opportunity for people to do one or more of the following:

• Introduce themselves and connect, network and collaborate with others on the same journey as them.
• Share their wins and takeaways.
• Ask the community questions.
• Have access to a hive mind and learn with and from others. One approach I've seen work well is inviting your learners’ to write their key takeaways or questions from each lesson in a direct comment to the lesson. It’s a great way for people to learn themselves and from one another.
• Give and receive feedback.
• Have accountability.

Whether you choose to incorporate one or more of the elements above, they can be achieved with lighter or greater involvement from you. Simply communicate how you’ll be showing up for the community, and how you invite your community to show up for one another.

Here’s an example from Jay Clouse's community 'The Lab':

For your members who don’t need the community element, you haven’t lost anything. But for those who do benefit from some or greater connection with others on the same journey as them, it could make or break their progress.

Alongside the async opportunities to connect above, hosting an event at a frequency that makes sense for your community can help nurture real-time learning and connection.

The intention of the event could be ‘inward’ facing to serve your community. Event examples include a workshop, a case study, a hot seat, a fireside chat with a guest expert, or a social opportunity to meet with others.

Or, the event could be inward and outward facing by being open to the public. It’s a great opportunity for others to get to know you and your community’s vibe, and possibly at some point join you too.

You may find a combination of ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ facing events work for your course/community.

You can charge more in your plans for greater accountability, more resources or advanced content, and greater access to you and the community.

Here’s some examples:

• Challenges
• Learning sprints
• Direct access to the course / community leader and their team
• Mastermind
• Accountability buddy program
• Matchmaking / introductions program
• 1:1 Coaching
• Hot seats
• Masterclasses, guest sessions
• Co-working sessions
• Rewards
• Community roles / leadership opportunities
• Knowledge Base

For the London Writers’ Salon community, the global home for writers to write, learn and build creative careers together, their key action is the regular practice of writing.

They offer free public writing sessions four times a day, every weekday as well as one morning weekly session on a Saturday. Each session includes rituals throughout the hour that touch on multiple learning and connection opportunities.

I’ve attended these sessions on numerous occasions as a participant and enjoyed each session, particularly the ritual of lifting my flask of hot water to ‘cheers’ the other participants in the Zoom room before we begin to write.

If someone wants to access the community or resources more deeply, London Writers’ Salon offer 3 membership plans: Writers’ Hour Member, Silver Writer Membership, and Gold Writer Membership. Check out how they've distributed a range of learning and connection opportunities in their plans below or visit their website.

The key thing I want you to take away is that you get to do things your way. Every course and community business is unique. You don't need to follow what others do, there are no rules, only guidelines, so have fun, be curious, and get creative!

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Tip #3. Embrace the uniqueness of your community and enjoy where you are.

Where you are right now is where you're meant to be right now.

If you are caught in the illusion that being somewhere else would be better then you can’t find the joy of being where you are now!

I often see small communities try to be large communities. Or large communities try to be intimate communities.

There’s a special quality about the moment you’re at right now and the uniqueness of the people within your community.

If you’re small, the opportunity to get to know every member. If you’re larger, the opportunity for a large range of different voices in the room, even if it means you don’t know all of them.

A community I've enjoyed being a member of is Terri Lonier’s Authority By Design. In a weekend earlier this year, 13 of us got together for a learning sprint on creating visual frameworks. Terri invited the cohort, and her previous cohort to meet on 3 further occasions monthly for ‘Framework Fridays’.

Each ‘Framework Friday’ Terri would share updates, do a quick deep dive on a visual framework, and then we’d take turns to share our latest work and ask questions or receive feedback. Knowing that these sessions happened once monthly, many of us turned up and relished the opportunity to geek out with other visual framework lovers.

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Tip #4. Experiment and create your community's rituals.

Your community’s rituals will emerge through experimentation. Some activities will just work and bring momentum. Others not so much. Keep an eye and ear out. When they arise, they bring an awesome sense of uniqueness, aliveness, and a sense of belonging to your community.

Check out this resource from Victoria Cumberbatch for ideas on rituals for your community.

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Tip #5. Send a regular newsletter to help your community keep going and up-to-date.

Writing a regular newsletter with the intention of creating learning opportunities for your people, and connections between your people, is all you need to invite your community to join you.

It'll encourage your people to keep going, keep them up-to-date, and invite them to participate.

Here are some ideas of what to include:

• Shout-outs to members who've recently joined or are particularly active in the community.
• Questions from the community.
• Case studies and testimonials from members in the community on their learning and progress.
• Summaries of hot seats, workshops and deep dives etc. including comments or feedback from those who attended.

For ideas on creating your community newsletter, check out the Community Newsletter Playbook by Ethan Brooks. He covers:

1. Developing A Template
2. The Importance Of Your Drop File
3. Writing The Bones Each Week
4. Editing + Style
5. The Final Step

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Tip #6. Share what the journey and progress looks like.

Often when we're learning something new it's hard to know where to start. It can be difficult to orientate ourselves and figure out where to prioritise what we learn and where to focus our effort.

Make it easy for your people to see the landscape of your program and its features.

This way they'll see the journey ahead, what to prioritise and be motivated to navigate what they need to do.

Save your learners the awkward position of navigating the landscape of your program without a map or an understanding of what progress looks like.

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Tip #7. Be you! Really. Fully. People want you :)

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And that's a wrap!

7 tips for running an async / evergreen course so it's active, engaged, and community-oriented:

Tip #1 Take a moment to think about, and share, what your community really needs to take action and feel a sense of belonging.

Tip #2 If you offer an evergreen course, add a people element.

Tip #3 Embrace the uniqueness of your community and enjoy where you are.

Tip #4 Experiment and create your community's rituals.

Tip #5 Send a regular newsletter to help your community keep going and up-to-date.

Tip #6 Share what the journey and progress looks like.

Tip #7 Be you! Really. Fully. People want you :)

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I’d love to hear your thoughts as well as your experience as a teacher/leader or student/member of a course/community.

Charlotte

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Curious about MySnapshot and how it can accelerate your learners’ growth and measure your program's ROI?

Want a sounding board for developing your program's framework?

I love working with course creators, coaches, and communities to create:

• A clear and powerful framework for their program which enables their learners' focus and progress.
• Visuals of their frameworks to bring them to life.
• A self-assessment that measures their learners' growth, and the impact of their program.

Just reply to this email and tell me a bit about you, your program or community, and what you'd like to work on together and I'll get you all the details.

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