Hot take: the less you’re planning your community, the more successful it will be.

In other words, planning is detrimental to your community's success, at least in the early days.

Let me explain… 🧵

When we plan, we set objectives and determine a course of action to meet them. But the heart of community-building isn't planning.

Before I tell you more, does this sound familiar? 👇

You have read all the blog posts and watched all the videos about community-building. You start a document that outlines your strategy. You create a launch plan with timelines. You set up tools to automate member onboarding. "This is going to be great!", you think.

After months of careful planning, you finally "launch". Your members seem to enjoy all the great content you've created for them. A few of them even start conversations following the prompts you've prepared.

And then it's crickets.

Quick! You try to 'engage' them. You post more. You ask them what they want. But it all feels so unnatural. The plan has fallen flat.

(Before I go further, a word of reassurance: this is a very common mistake and I've been there myself.)

Planning feels good. It reduces the anxiety of doing something new. It brings you clarity. But it shouldn't be the thing you spend 90% of your time doing.

The more you plan, the more you polish the 'shell' of a community.

Don't start with a plan.

The heart of building community is to create the conditions for members to care about one another.

People crave connection more than content. They need you to be a present host, not a planner.

They need you to facilitate, not create.

Facilitation looks different from one community to another, but it often involves:

- Creating a space for sharing experiences
- Bringing people together regularly
- Connecting those who should meet
- Opening up about your own challenges
- Making people feel heard and seen

It involves building relationships. Creating moments for connection. Responding to what you're seeing on a daily basis. This doesn't happen in a spreadsheet.

You can only 'build' community by bringing people together with consistency and candour. There's no amount of planning that can give you the learnings you'll get from doing these things.

Strategy comes next. Once you have a core group of people who care about one another. But in the early days, don't worry too much about it.

So, my last tip: stop reading community-building content (including this thread)! Start gathering your people. Flex your facilitation muscles. Do it often.

Consistency forms trust
Trust builds belonging
Belonging IS community

You got this! 💪