4 ideas for internal communities to create in your business

Today, after successive lockdowns, the need for social interaction is strong, hence the importance of communities in private and professional life. Indeed, communities make it possible to find people who share our opinions, our passions, our passions, our interests, our profession, etc., and thus to create relationships, to help each other and to feel understood and supported.

In business, internal communities are important because they offer numerous advantages:

• they create links and bring employees together, regardless of their job and their level in the hierarchy;
• they contribute to strengthening the sense of belonging and the commitment of employees;
• they make it possible to unite employees and retain talent;
• they encourage employees to be more involved in the life and projects of the organization;
• they promote creativity, innovation, mutual aid and knowledge sharing;
• they contribute to the improvement of the employee experience and the quality of life at work;
• they help the company evolve, improve its products and processes, and generally improve its brand image.

Do you want to promote the creation of internal communities within your organization? Learn about the different types of communities that exist to give you ideas.

The different types of internal corporate communities

While their primary vocation is to bring people together, not all communities have the same challenges and are not created with the same objective. You will see that in business, it is possible to create several types of internal communities. Here are four examples.

The community of practice

This type of community makes it possible to bring together employees who share the same core business. So, you can find the community of marketers, IT developers, human resources or even financial professionals.

The objective of this community is to promote mutual aid, the sharing of knowledge between peers, the development of skills and expertise, but also to encourage learning.

Here, employees come together to discuss the difficulties of their job, learn about new trends and share the best practices to put in place to be more efficient.

The community of action

This category of internal community can be very beneficial for your company because they bring together employees who have the same desire for transformation. They will meet in order to carry out a joint project. This can be the design or improvement of a product, the development of a new process or idea, the resolution of a malfunction, etc.

Coming from different professions and services, members of this community use their different skills, experience and knowledge to achieve their common goal. For example, some communities of action may think about how to improve intercultural communication in the company or how to make meetings less time-consuming and more effective. Others seek to shorten the delivery process to the end customer, etc.

This type of community is particularly useful in transition periods in order to help, support and support employees during the implementation of significant cultural or organizational changes.

The community of interests

This is a community that is generally not related to work. Here, employees come together because they want to share their passions, hobbies or interests with other employees in the company, and develop new friendly and professional relationships.

Thus, you can find communities bringing together fans of pastries or burgers, people who practice running or tennis, cat lovers, etc.

Communities of interest are ideal for connecting employees to each other. They allow them to build relationships, develop team spirit and strengthen the sense of belonging. Employees get to know each other and enjoy working together. This helps to unite teams, to improve the work environment and the employee experience in general.

The community of places

If your company is located in different regions or in several countries, you may see communities of places appear that bring together employees working in the same office or bringing together all of your remote employees. The members of these communities are therefore united by a geographical link.

For example, remote employees can share tips on how to avoid procrastination, be more productive, or communicate better with team members. As another example, expatriate employees can share their feedback, tips for improving intercultural communication, mistakes to avoid or good addresses around their workplace.

An essential tool: the corporate social network

To facilitate the creation of intra-company communities, the establishment of a corporate social network is an indispensable condition.

Like the traditional social networks that we all use (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even LinkedIn), the corporate social network (or CSR) is a means of communication that connects all employees in an organization, regardless of where they are. The only difference is that it is closed and only reserved for company employees, and possibly its partners (customers, suppliers, consultants, etc.).

CSR has many functionalities allowing it to promote collaboration and communication between all employees, but also to encourage the creation of internal communities. In particular, you will find:

• instant messaging and a system of video conferencing ;
• the member directory;
• a personalized news feed for publishing and receiving targeted information;
• the creation of groups to exchange, help each other and easily share files with their team or community;
• one mobile application to connect from anywhere.

Today, internal communities are vital for businesses for a number of reasons. Within your organization, you may see different types of communities (whether online or offline) emerging, each with benefits. In order to encourage their creation, do not hesitate to equip yourself with tools such as the corporate social network.