Three Types of Circles
There are three types of circles in the Connectle community, each aligned to the goal/purpose of the members. You can choose to connect with either a personal, a shared or an open circle.
Many communities/companies start engaging their members with shared and open networks. The thinking being that people know how to collaborate and will naturally start to share “What are you working on?” or “What’s on your mind?”.
Most people however, take time before they start sharing and in fact may never contribute, preferring instead to remain what is termed a “lurker”. Observing, but not actively participating.
What’s In It For Me? WIIFM
The Internet rule of 90-9-1, where 90% of members are lurkers, is probably outdated, but even The Community Roundtable, State of Community report found communities had large chunks of lurkers present. Even the Best-in-Class communities had 43% Lurkers.
To engage and involve a larger segment of your network, a good place to start is: “What’s In It For Me?” and more specifically “How can contributing to this network, help me towards my own goals?”.
Working Out Loud Circles
Working Out Loud circles are peer support groups of 4–5 people in which you ask yourself 3 questions:
- What am I trying to do?
- Who is related to my goal?
- How can I contribute to them to deepen our relationships?
Over 12 weeks and with a growth mindset, people develop skills towards a purposeful goal, invest in relationships, learn to lead with generosity and importantly through visible work, gain access to people, knowledge and possibilities. This guided approach, eases the transition from joining a network, to belonging and importantly, actively being a part of it.
Start with Personal Circles
When members first join Connectle, the first connections they make is to their personal circle. These are the 4–5 peers that help them to Work Out Loud and feel comfortable in the network. Once they have developed these skills, actively participating and contributing to the shared and open circles is easier and much more rewarding.
Sign up
If you would like to sign up for a personal Working Out Loud circle, sign up to be connected here: connectle.com/sign/
If you would like to sign up your company for Working Out Loud circles, sign up for a callback here: connectle.com/companies/
