The role of the Coliving Community Manager — in a crisis

Covid has reminded us, more or less brutally, how much our relationships define who we are and how we live. Take them away and things feel empty.

The same goes for coliving.

Our relationships need frameworks to remain healthy, ever more so today. Creating an environment that fosters positive human interaction, from the most prosaic to the transformational, is the kernel of the Community Manager’s role (“CM” used here interchangeably with Experience Manager or House Manager).

It’s usually the “soft” that gets cut first when crises hit. So in order to try and help mitigate the impact I foresee Covid could have on Coliving, I thought it would help to de-bundle the role of the CM; hoping to allow operators to garner some insight in how to rationalise costs, while still enjoying the benefits of a nurtured community.

You’ll find here:

• the key components of the Community manager’s role — branching out their responsibilities between those undertaken for the business on one hand, and for members on the other.
• what the role of the Community manager shouldn’t be — and what to do if you need to bend those rules, say, in a crisis.

The roles of the Community Manager:

The relationships we grow inside of a space define most of the feelings we associate with it. Influencing these feelings shouldn’t be left to luck. Too much of the sustainability of the Coliving model relies on it:

• greater Lifetime Value - members loathing to leave friends which means longer stays and more community spend on auxiliary or affiliated services offered by the space,
• lower Customer Acquisition Cost — high quality referrals and user-generated marketing - sharing the responsibility of growing the member-base with current members (shift from push to pull marketing)
• lower operational and maintenance expenses - engaged members will protect their living space, facilitate service recovery and crowdsource solutions and improvements.

Coliving’s edge, or “trick” to making its model sustainable, is to shift the onus of the experience from the operator alone, to both the operator and the members. Build with your members, not for your members.

The CMs are the main drivers of this “co-creation” aspect to Coliving, defined as:

“a business strategy focusing on customer experience and interactive relationships. Co-creation allows and encourages a more active involvement from the customer to create a value rich experience.”

Coliving also relies on both access without ownership and networks replacing hierarchy — central tenets of the sharing economy. CMs are the ones in charge of empowering members to build these networks. They will know best how to balance pampering the members while upholding their personal accountability. Members need to feel accountable towards crafting their own experiences.

In order for this to happen, Community managers need to dedicate their time to three broad clusters of activities:

• Integrate members in their communities
• creating opportunities for them to Connect
• Reward behaviours that benefit the group

1. Integrate

- Bring in membership of a social group and organisation.

Readying spaces and minds is a key role of the CM. Move-ins and new beginnings are highly emotional moments. They have an immediate, lingering and often oversized impact on the members’ perceptions of the product.

They call for great care.

For the business:

• Values and rules It all starts there. CMs are the best positioned to materialise and uphold a spaces’ intentions — what does this place’s version of a rich living experience look like? What do people need more of in their lives? How is this place different from all others? What activities which are best performed or experienced together, will we engage in? These values and rules form the beginning of the Attention-> Interest-> Desire-> Action process that leads to members deciding to join a space in the first place, and then stay in it. The CMs create and uphold the framework, rules of engagement and touchpoints that materialise a space’s vision. In all that it does. The CMs are the chief instigators of a space’s ethos. A diluted brand philosophy will prevent members from gelling together around a common sense of identity, which will in turn, reduce the stickiness of the space. It’s that sense of relatedness to a narrative and the people that make it up which makes for a unparalleled value proposition (compared to traditional residential real-estate). Coliving becomes a lifestyle that people treat themselves to. When it comes to rules, the best ones are crowd-sourced and the result of a consensus between members and the operational teams.
• Screening Sounding new member applications for compatibility. The gatekeeper function of a space should belong to the CMs, and be pro-actively enforced and supported. This process needs to be consistent with the space’s world-view and convey the “Why” of the space. The aligning of the expectations happens here. A key steps towards member delight. (see ‘Take on Sales’ below about what not to do)
• Logistics Guiding new members through the logistics and compliance of onboarding: scheduling the move-in, document collection, facilitating payments. CMs should be the "owners" of all members’ data, supported by effective data privacy systems and analytical capabilities.

For members:

• Welcome-ready Preparing the space for a new arrival: fridge, cupboard and shared space checks, welcome packages and notes to fellow members. Members that feel welcomed and cared for, will be ready to put their best foot forward and adapt to their new environment.
• Common Ground Introducing members to each other and building common ground between members is key to a successful member experience. It takes active measures to prime members to welcoming a new one, there is often nostalgia involved and anxiety to debunk. The CM should know as much as they can about their member’s interests, hobbies and personality traits. This way they will be able to help members focus on what makes them similar and not what makes them different.
• Settling-in help A new member that is bogged down in the “admin” of settling-in won’t open up to his group as much — helping members get their basics sorted (bank account, phone, insurance) will help them integrate faster.

2. Connect

- Create relationships marked by mutual positive regard, trust, and active engagement on both sides.

Helping members build high quality connections is one of the most deterministic things one can do to improve the value a Coliving space provides, and what it can charge for. This applies to both the relationship with the Coliving operators and between members. At scale, this can only happen by design.

For the business:

• Communication The CMs should own all communication with members, this means direct messages to a member and general announcements; and facilitating interaction (and recovery) between facilities-management teams and the members. Speaking “member” is a different language than internal lingo. Consistency of tone and contact person is important to maintaining a high quality experience. When issues surface, remember that the most expensive problems are the ones that aren’t solved fast — entrust the CM with substantial leeway to remedy quickly.
• Feedback and Surveys The CMs should be the central feedback node from the members and the ones outlining member’s expectations, they are the Voice of the Members. They act as a conduit, providing contextualised data to the trio real-estate (sourcing)/design/operations, about what to build and how to run it.

For members:

• Hosting A community forms around shared activities. It’s at events that members draw conclusions about what kind of community they live in. These moments are when CMs kick-start connections between members, and provide them with opportunities to keep coming back to the group. By fostering serendipity between its members, CMs fulfil one of the core value propositions of any coliving space: a support network. Unlike marketing events, member event’s should focus only on providing members opportunities to connect with each other. The resilience of the community depends on it. The richer the 1:1 connection between members the better, meaningful human connections are sticky — and this transpires to the space that harbours them. Human connection means higher lifetime value. Hosting entails the logistics, theming, rituals and overall project management of the event, as well as creating avenues for members to connect on their own after the event. Community events should also provide opportunities for other team members to meet members and get a feel of how their work changes member’s lives.
• Stories keeping the community informed about it’s members is a key part of creating cohesive and resilient groups. This is what this particular group I have decided to become a part of, looks like and does. Stories also help share the responsibility of recruiting new members, by providing members content they are proud to share. While some stories should be for members only (the inner sanctum), others help craft the public narrative of the space. CMs should own the sourcing and formatting of these stories. They help materialise the values of a space; and critically, shift marketing efforts from push to pull. Make it clear to the world what the space is, so people can choose to be part of it. You can’t expect coliving members to just be pushed down a marketing funnel and buy into amenities alone. Selling is building a relationship, few industries exemplify this as much as coliving, and community stories fuel that process.
• Representing CMs will typically oversee a cluster of buildings, grouped by location or member profile. These groups are usually interesting to neighbouring businesses that want to grow their loyalty base. The CM should seek out these win-win relationships, they help anchor a group in it’s neighbourhood and increase the draw of a space. Note that these partnerships are distinct from lead generation efforts, a function best left to business development or sales. CMs are also perfectly suited to represent members on neighbourhood committees, and facilitate the resolution of any issue arising with them.
• Conflict Facilitation The CMs are the final level of escalation, when all communication has broken down between members of the same space. CMs should be empowered with techniques to keep or re-open communication channels between members (90% of the facilitation process) and be able to take resolutive action should those fail to remedy. CM are not mediators, they should not get involved in the actual merits of the dispute (more on that below).

3. Reward

- actively promoting behaviours that benefit other members and the community.

CMs are the main drivers of retention in a coliving space. A key part of the that comes in the form of rewarding behaviours that turn groups into a cohesive community: where people feel they belong, care for and are loyal to one another and the space.

for the business:

• Spirit Maintaining the Ethos of a coliving space is key to keeping it successful over time. Whatever values feel the most harmonious for the space (the “Why”), pro-actively promoting them (as opposed to only upholding them) should be the prerogative of the CM. Rewarding members that exemplify these values will allow for a sense of larger-than-self to grow within the group. And in turn, a sense of belonging that will drive retention up. It is critical to have well-oiled recourse mechanisms for when somebody is not gelling inside the space. Sometimes despite a proper integration, a member might not feel at home, and actively or subconsciously sabotage the space. Preserving a place’s spirit also means dealing with members when things are not working out.
• Loyalty CM are uniquely positioned to drive the retention efforts of a space, they should be the ones to draft and execute on a strategy to increase the emotional connection members have with a space. The good CM will know which verticals to reward in order to create a constructive sense of entitlement in the member. Not one that is only based on how much they pay for example, but rather their overall contribution to the space and group.

for members:

• Pro-social behaviours. Rewarding behaviours that “benefit other people […] such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering”. As social creatures, most of the behaviours we engage in have been sanctioned by some sort of tacit rule. The same happens in a coliving space, it’s the CM’s responsibility to bring to light and publicly reward these behaviours. They will become stakes on which people can latch to grow in line with the space.
• Community Stars Finding and rewarding community stars (leaders) is a fundamental role of the CM. Community stars are members that go out of their way to activate a space or increase the well-being of the group. These extra-passionate members take it on for the sake of how good it makes them feel to create an engaging moment for others. Feeling supported and appreciated for their contribution is the fuel they run on, CMs should be empowered to guarantee them all the support they deserve. In the end, growing a community is about developing leaders that will take the group even further than you could have ever done on your own. Leading people to lead themselves.

What the Community managers should not do

Take on a Sales.

There are two equally important but radically different aspects to Coliving. The transactional side which deals with the contractual terms tying the operator and member, and the relational one that governs most of the experience members have inside of the space.

Coliving deals with peoples’ homes. Their inner most sanctuary. One that needs to be thoughtfully ring-fenced from the mercantile aspects of running a space. That safeguarding is best done building a “China Wall” between functions. The responsibilities of marketing-sales end, where those of the CM begin.

Potential members into a space need to be primed in order to maximise chances of a good integration. Once basic lead qualification is done the CMs should be brought in to present the space, it’s values and occupants. By doing so the CMs will shift the relationship from one-sided to two-sided: making it clear to the potential new member that as he/she is joining a community, things are expected of him/er. You must first meet, and then exceed, the expectations of your customers, if you are going to build a reputation for great experience. In the case of Coliving both the expectations or the member (customer) and the community's, need to be accounted for.

This crucial step changes the interaction with the member from service (-d accommodation) to the much more financially sustainable and “churn-proof”: living experience. A key tenet of the co-authorship principle on which Co-living relies.

In a crisis: A famous club owner once told me “you are only as strong as your rules”. The same goes for who you let in your space, and how you let them in.

As the crisis puts your financial resilience to a test, remember that a sales rep overselling your experience or a botched member integration, will sow the seeds of churn.

As much as you can, empower the CMs to remain gatekeepers of the space (profile reviews, thorough interviews) and provide with the tools and time to keep members’ integration a formal and thorough process.

If not, tensions between members will grow. Snags that were previously dealt with easily, will snowball into virulent issues. A vicious cycle will ensue: the members will mentally revisit the trade-off they made choosing a specific space, in turn demand more from the space provider in order to compensate for this perceived shortfall in value; eventually leading to frustration with the brand and getting the members to move-out. We have a biological imperative to build connection, and it compels us to do something about it when we feel that we aren’t — unmanaged, this drive leads to members leaving. Cutting back on community management increases short-term financial resilience but decreases long-term profitability. Instead, if you need to dedicate most resources towards securing revenue, start with extending longer term “lock-in” contracts to current members (to get visibility on cashflow), call upon members to help recruit others and look at alternative uses for the space (shorter stays. meeting rooms, game rooms etc).

Facilities management: maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

Managing a Coliving Community starts with ensuring that it’s members have the necessary comfort and head-space to care about each other in the first place. Broken facilities, insufficient storage or sitting space can easily derail efforts to build a cohesive group, but they should not be the responsibility of the CMs to fix.

You wouldn’t ask your plumber to fix you a date. Same goes with disinfecting a room. Different skill-set.

In a crisis: If resources have tightened and you need to call upon your CMs to help out with facilities management, make sure the members know this is temporary. You’ll avoid a blurring of boundaries that would cheapen your experience. And shift reactions from frustration with your organisation, to gratitude towards your team.

Mediation.

The role of the community manager is not to mediate conflicts. That responsibility should remain with the members. They are the authors of their living experience, that includes self-restraint and regulation. Shifting, to any degree, the accountability of solving tensions with a fellow member onto the CMs, will only lead to delusional expectations and disappointment. Teaching a fisherman how to fish type of thing.

The role of CMs extends to making sure that members have the tools to deal with their disagreements: house rules, conflict resolution guidelines. And should the conflict be impossible to be resolved, some way of recourse: relocation or favourable early termination terms.

In a crisis: people naturally bring home their frustrations, fears and anger. Just as conflict facilitation becomes even more critical to the well-fare of the the space, resources and time might dry up. This can be alleviated with some preparation and coordinating across teams to continue providing opportunities for members to connect and forget their differences/ bury hatchets. Also look into following up more often on members who’ve signalled an issue, help facilities management revisit cleaning schedule, crowd-source new Work-From-Home house rules, adapt the lay-out of common areas or even accommodate room changes into open inventory. Anything that supports self-governance and makes the practice of self-restraint easier.

Always on.

Community Managers are on the frontline, all-day, everyday. Helping people is one of the most rewarding but also one of the most taxing jobs out there. For a CM everything speaks, every detail, every attention, intention or omission will have an impact on somebody’s life. This take quite a toll. It’s important for CM to have their own mental and physical space when they are off.

The best CMs are givers: people who derive their energy and passion from helping other thrive. Even if they recharge their batteries seeing others being well, the carer needs to be cared for. It’s important that this down-time is enforced. More often than not, they’ll want to help as much as they possibly can, to their own detriment.

In a crisis: If their isn’t enough space, or resources, for the CM to cocoon themselves up in peace, make sure the members know that during certain hours the CM is off duty and not to be treated as a staff member but as any other members instead. CM burn-outs do happen and need to be actively prevented.

By no means could this list be exhaustive and this is naturally only my personal take on the role; there are a thousand and one ways to do things - but these have worked. I’d love to hear form if you think I should add something here, or want to discuss community practices.