Internal Community: Why It Matters and How to Build One
Did you know that around 80% of employees are somewhat disengaged at work? This work-for-the-money approach results in low employee retention, making it challenging for organizations to keep employees satisfied and engaged.
While small teams connect easily, larger organizations struggle to build relationships across different departments. This is where an internal community comes in.
An internal community is more than just a place for cross-functional collaboration. With thoughtful community management, your company's online community holds the potential to bring teams closer and contribute to employee wellbeing.
What Is an Internal Community?
An internal community is an online or offline space that gathers members from the same company or team. Its purpose is to build strong personal relationships, foster employee engagement, and enable internal communication and knowledge sharing.
Internal communities support professional development by keeping training courses, technical documentation, and industry-relevant intelligence in one place.
Beyond work resources, internal communities are environments where meaningful relationships can flourish. They're useful for hosting team-building activities, holiday events, scavenger hunts, and other activities that support healthy company culture and promote employer branding.
Why Build an Internal Community?
Communication
Internal communities make it easier for collaborators to communicate and form significant connections. They contribute to better cross-functional collaboration by giving employees the power to be heard—resulting in talent development and more diversity of ideas within the organization.
Internal communities provide opportunity for peer-to-peer connections, resulting in a more human and kinder approach to work.
Information Tracking
Since internal communities are usually smaller than external ones, they make tracking project activity and processes more streamlined. They centralize relevant information and can standardize business processes so everyone stays on the same page—reducing onboarding time for new employees.
Structural Change
Internal communities contribute to structural and cultural organizational change, making sharing best practices more accessible. They can act as governance communities for larger organizations and solve common business problems and processes.
How to Build an Internal Community
Step 1: Get Clear on the Goal
First, clearly define your community's intention or purpose. Consider what problems or processes need to be streamlined or fixed within your organization.
Perhaps you need to improve your onboarding process, or maybe you'd like to create spaces for specific initiatives. Decide what types of problems or projects your internal community intends to tackle.
Internal communities are often easier to grow than external ones since you already have a group of people to invite.
Step 2: Decide Which Employees to Include
Consider which employees would make the most sense to include. Think about the skills of your best employees and which employees have potential to grow over time.
You could conduct a survey or ask employees to sign up voluntarily. Consider including members who could benefit from the leadership opportunities available within a smaller community setting.
Step 3: Choose a Community Platform
Select a platform that best suits your internal community and connects your members. Research which ones streamline communication best so your members have everything they need to accomplish the community's purpose.
Look for features like:- Discussion spaces with reactions and comments- Knowledge base or documentation areas- Event scheduling for online and offline gatherings- Member directory for easy networking- Moderation tools for maintaining quality
Features That Support Internal Communities
Customized Community Spaces
Modern community platforms offer templates as starting points. These templates are ready to use for various use cases—you just customize details to match your branding.
Customization options include adding logo versions, changing fonts and styles, and adjusting the look for all device types.
Communication and Collaboration Features
Set up multiple communication channels:- Discussions with reactions and comment options- Categorized content for simplified sharing- Moderated spaces for different user groups- HR spaces to gather feedback on employee satisfaction- Member sections for direct communication- Forums for members who share common interests
Use event spaces to schedule online and offline gatherings for trainings, problem solving, or team building.
Multilingual Support
Larger companies with teams across the world face challenges connecting all members due to language barriers. Multilingual support fosters inclusivity and engagement across diverse teams while having a positive effect on interpersonal relationships and internal mobility.
Moderation Tools
Community managers occasionally struggle with inappropriate behavior or compromised accounts. Moderation tools—including custom rules, content flagging, and review processes—ensure a safe and productive environment.
AI-powered spam filters help uncover problems quickly.
Member Profiles and Recognition
What makes internal communities stand out is the opportunity for each member to shine. Enable profile sections, badges, and awards. If you want to include other team members in moderating, assign member roles to trusted moderators.
Enable search through the member database to help people connect by location, department, or interests.
Knowledge Base
Support community managers in providing opportunities for members to learn and improve skills. A knowledge base allows employees to find information quickly with filters, search, and smart suggestions.
Analytics
Understanding how your team feels about your brand and company is key to improving employee retention and engagement. Analytics provide insight into how engagement has increased, whether the community improves communication among employees, and what types of content employees engage with most.
Example: IBM's CSR Influencers Network
IBM's CSR Influencers Network is a group of IBM employees dedicated to making social impact. The community helps people organize activities and helps new people get involved in programs. It demonstrates how internal communities can rally employees around shared values beyond day-to-day work.
Conclusion
Creating an internal community offers numerous benefits for improving company culture, engaging employees, and ensuring retention.
With no-code community building tools, you can launch your own online space for employees to meet, interact, and get closer to each other and your brand.
Ready to build an internal community? Book a demo with Bettermode.
FAQs
What are internal communities?
Internal communities are groups within an organization where employees, team members, or stakeholders connect, collaborate, and share knowledge to improve productivity and establish deeper interpersonal relationships.
What is an external community?
An external community consists of customers, partners, or fans who interact with each other and the brand. Their purpose is to build brand loyalty and support business growth through engagement and referrals.
What are the 4 types of community?
The four types are: interest-based (focused on shared hobbies or passions), action-based (organized around a cause or goal), place-based (centered around a physical or virtual location), and practice-based (built around shared professional or skill-based interests).
What's the difference between internal community and enterprise social network?
They're similar concepts. Enterprise social networks (ESNs) typically focus on communication and collaboration features similar to social media. Internal communities may include ESN features but often have broader scope—including knowledge bases, events, and more structured spaces for specific purposes.
