Think about your community.
Is it the city or neighborhood you live in? Maybe it’s your alma mater or perhaps where you worship or volunteer. Or is it the bleachers of like-minded fans cheering on your favorite little league or college sports team? What makes it a community — the people, the interaction, the common goal?
As the entrepreneurship ecosystem expands throughout Arkansas, it is worth considering what constitutes and necessitates a community.
True Participation
Every community needs people, but participating is more than showing up. Showing up is a good first rule for anyone looking to become involved. There are very few events, organizations or causes that allow people to sit at home and participate in a meaningful way. I always tell students that not showing up is the one guaranteed way not to become involved. The first step is attending; after that, it’s really up to them and others to make the most of the situation. However, people cannot show up and participate if they are not aware of the opportunity or provided the opportunities to participate fully; therefore, it is the responsibility of the existing members of a group to make sure that they are evangelizing so that new participants in the community are recruited and become active.
Sometimes people get excited about a significant turnout at events, but what were the attendees charged to do? What will be their next steps besides simply continuing to attend future events? How do they transition from attending to becoming involved? While instrumental leaders are always necessary, I believe that keeping a select few in a community as the key players for year after year is not the healthiest option. These people should stay involved, but not to the point of over-extending themselves and risking burnout. Institutional memory and experience should always be valued, but there also needs to be a continuous infusion of new people, new ideas, new energy and new leadership to keep the community from stagnating and dying.
Meaningful Relationships
People participate and stay active when they have a true connection to others in the community. In a world where social media dominates communication and relationships, it is easy for one to think that a connection on LinkedIn equates to a relationship (versus an acquaintance) and that being on a listserv makes someone part of a group. But just as showing up is not the same as participating, having a business card and contact information or sending generic e-mail invites is worthless without purposeful follow-up with individuals. Fostered interaction is key. When meaningful relationships are sincerely sought, built and maintained, true participation and community are certain.
Shared Purpose
Every individual and group in the community should have and understand a unique, significant part in a collective purpose. Not only does having a shared purpose help build a true community of believers, but it also allows for the creation of a system with shared resources and minimized duplication of effort. With a shared purpose, there are common goals that everyone works to achieve so that the ultimate mission and vision are realized or continuously modified for the ultimate success of the community. However, this needs to be accomplished in an organized fashion so that everyone is actually working together in a way where there is no perceived competition or overlap in efforts between groups and that the resources available to some in the community are not coveted by others within the same community. A cooperative approach allows for every member to be integral to the community.
The entrepreneurship community in Arkansas is growing rapidly. There are numerous existing organizations, clubs, groups, university programs and companies in the entrepreneurship community, and the numbers continue to increase throughout the state. As existing members, we need to be ever mindful of the who, how and why of the community. Our responsibilities are to consider how we attract and nurture participants and to find integrative, sustainable approaches to connect members, develop and share a purpose, and build a synergistic network of like-minded individuals and groups. Our responsibility is to build a true ecosystem.