What Questions DON'T Need to Be Asked?

How to find your community's "baseline of belonging"

You don’t need to ask anyone at Reading Rhythms if they like books. They do. You can bring up a book to anyone there, and feel confident they’ll be eager to engage in that conversation.  

The attendees at HomeDadCon know what it’s like to be a stay-at-home dad. No one you meet will make you justify your existence or challenge your masculinity.

Everyone you meet in Chief will understand the trials and triumphs of being a female executive. They’ll have a baseline understanding of your experience before you even say a word.

This is a community’s “baseline of belonging”.

It’s the questions that don’t need to be asked.

It’s the explanations that don’t need to be made.

It’s the worries that can be left at home.

Because in this space, everyone else is like you, to some degree.

You can dive straight into deeper conversation, with much of the small talk already out of the way.

You get a baseline of feeling seen and understood, automatically.

This is the magic of community.

Community design practice: Identify your baseline of belonging

Take 15 minutes and write down ten (or more) questions that members don’t have to ask when in your community. 

• What explanations don’t they have to give? What worries can they leave at home?

• When designing a new community, this will help you determine if you’re onto something.

• With an existing community, it will help you better see and communicate the value of your community to members. Try using it as your website copy!

Try it out, let me know what you learn.

Bonus points if you share in the comments so we can all learn together!