Welcome

The act of welcoming someone into a community is seen as central to the long term value of that community, something that emerged clearly in my original Landscape of Communities research in the NHS. Specifically, the choreography of welcome and engagement. Not just ‘into’ the space, but ‘into’ the conversation and work.

This made sense as people described that their most valuable communities had reached out to them: invited them in for something that they knew, or could do, through networks of trust. Sponsored membership, rituals of welcome, and guided into a relevant conversation.

Interestingly almost nobody. Identified ‘technology’ as being vital to the success or failure of a community: if anything we saw that communities are highly agnostic of specific technologies, and sometimes prefer to actively switch, which may indicate that technology is also fluid context. Quite literally that we have different textures of conversation upon different technological platforms, which would make sense as in the Landscape of Trust research we saw that people ‘trusted’ formal technologies around 30% less than social ones that they controlled.

Or to put it another way: what the research shows us is that social humans are sociable, and success is related to the very human features of being made to feel that you are valued and belong.

Use your sixty seconds today to consider the various choreographies of welcome at play in your own Organisation: the formal induction programmes, the rituals and artefacts of membership, and your own role in all of this.