Building a Strong Workplace Community: A How-To Guide

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Let’s face it, rowing across a lake solo? Not exactly motivating, right? 🛶 But picture this: your whole team jumping into the boat with you, each one picking up an oar. Suddenly, it feels less like work and more like teamwork! 💪

This is why building a strong sense of community in the workplace is so crucial. When employees feel like they’re part of something bigger, they’re more engaged, motivated, and ready to row toward success—together. Let’s explore how you can create this sense of connection and build a killer community at work.

So, What Exactly Is Community in the Workplace? 🤔

Community goes beyond just being a group of people working under the same roof (or sharing the same Zoom link). It’s about creating an environment where employees feel valued, connected, and supported in their work and shared goals. It’s the bond that fosters trust, collaboration, and a sense of belonging. That’s what turns colleagues into a team.

Why Does Community at Work Matter? 🚀

It’s not just about being warm and fuzzy. There are real benefits to fostering a sense of community in the workplace:

• 76% of employees view their workplace as a community.
• 72% believe it’s crucial to feel part of that community to be engaged.
• A strong sense of belonging leads to 14% more productivity and reduces employee turnover by 43%.

Lastly, let's not forget that we're all human, naturally seeking a greater purpose or at least questioning it. As Simon Sinek famously says, it's essential to "start with why." Gallup studies also show that people, especially millennials, feel more motivated by a mission—like crossing the lake together—than by money alone.

How to Build a Thriving Workplace Community 👥

Here are some tips and strategies for building that sense of community in your workplace:

Encourage Open Communication 🗣

A community is built on communication. Make sure your employees feel safe to share ideas and feedback. Create a solid internal communication plan and have regular team check-ins. Don’t underestimate the power of a weekly sync or virtual coffee break!

Celebrate Wins 🎉

Got a new client? Wrapped up a tough project? Celebrate it! Whether it’s a team lunch or a quick shoutout in your next meeting, taking time to recognize accomplishments strengthens the community and gives everyone that “we’re-in-this-together” feeling.

Establish Rituals 🥳

From virtual team lunches to movie nights, create workplace rituals that employees can look forward to. At Seibert Media, we’re big on cake. Whether it's celebrating a project win or a pet's birthday, cake is always a winner. 🍰

Provide Recognition 💌

Recognize the hard work and achievements of your employees—often. Even a simple “thank you” can go a long way. This builds goodwill and strengthens the bonds within your community. Try using a platform like Mantra Intranet to share public shoutouts and praises!

How About Remote Teams? 🏡

We get it—keeping remote employees engaged can be tricky. That's why it's crucial for remote or hybrid teams, to have an agile intranet. Confluence is a globally popular knowledge-sharing platform, but to take workplace living to the next level, you need an add-on to Confluence: Mantra Intranet.

Why?

Because Mantra lets you create all these groups online, ensuring no one feels isolated.

Instead, everyone feels seen, valued, and motivated.

Here’s how you can do it!

What is Mantra Intranet? 🎯

Mantra Intranet is a next-level solution designed to supercharge your Confluence workspace, turning it into a dynamic social hub. More than just a basic intranet, Mantra is your go-to for community building, seamless communication, and effortless collaboration. With full integration into Confluence Cloud, it eliminates the need for external apps, streamlining your work environment like never before.

Key Features of Mantra Intranet: 🚀

• Personalized Dashboards: You can customize dashboards with tailored news feeds, posts, events, and updates—so every user sees what's most relevant to them.

• People Directory & Skill Finder: Looking for an expert within your team? Mantra makes cross-team collaboration easy by letting you search for colleagues by their skills and roles, breaking down departmental silos.

• Events Management: Keep everyone in the loop by organizing, promoting, and managing company events—whether it’s a casual coffee break or a critical company-wide meeting.

• Custom Navigation & Branding: Make Mantra truly yours by customizing the look, feel, and navigation of the platform to reflect your company’s brand and identity. This makes your Confluence space feel less generic and more like your company's home base.

• Post Section for Interaction: The Post section is where you can ask questions, give feedback, run polls, or praise your coworkers. It creates a more interactive and engaging workspace.

Building Community with Mantra’s Community Feature 🏆

One of the standout features of Mantra Intranet is its ability to build and nurture communities within your organization.

Mantra Communities are based on Confluence spaces and serve as interactive forums. From project teams to interest groups (like rowing a boat), Mantra Communities are the hub where collaboration and company culture thrive. You can customize each community with a fully editable home page, creating spaces that fit your team's unique needs.

You can even convert existing Confluence spaces into communities, enhancing their usability and making it easier for team members to join or leave as they wish. This flexibility ensures that everyone can engage with the content and conversations that matter most to them, creating a sense of belonging and improving internal communication.

Setting Up and Editing a Workplace Community 🔧

Creating and managing communities in Mantra is simple and intuitive. Here’s a quick look at how to get started:

Creating Your Community:

• Navigate to the ‘Communities’ section from the sidebar to find an overview of your existing spaces.

• Click 'Create Community' to set up a new space or convert an existing Confluence space into a community.

Add a name, description, category, and location to give your community a clear identity. You can also upload a logo and a header image to personalize the space.

Use the Community Editor to fine-tune your community's dashboard, rearranging modules like Links, News, Events, and Posts to fit your team's workflow.

Managing Members:

• Control access by assigning roles—Admins, Members, or Followers. This keeps participation structured and focused, with admins making changes, members creating content, and followers interacting.

Enhancing Engagement with Mantra’s Community Tools 💡

Mantra’s Community Feature includes plenty of ways to keep everyone connected. Share posts, updates, or create events to maintain the flow of information. You can also use features like Tabs and Links to organize key resources so they’re always easily accessible.

🌐 Start Building Your Workplace Community Now!

Building a community in the workplace isn’t just a bonus—it's essential for long-term success. Mantra Intranet makes fostering that community effortless, even in a hybrid or remote setup. It helps create an environment of open communication, celebrates achievements, and supports meaningful interactions across teams.

When you build a thriving community, you’re improving collaboration and boosting the entire work experience. So, get started with Mantra and create a connected, collaborative future today! 🎉

[Paul Pasler]

Wow! As users of Mantra ourselves, I can confirm that this intranet has elevated our community to a whole new level.

[Patricia Modispacher _appanvil_]

Thank you so much for your comment, @Paul Pasler! Glad to hear you like Mantra.