The Infrastructure of Healthy Community

Building Social Capital to Solve Tough Problems

Summary

Great community has a multiplying effect.

The concept of community varies by context. In our neighborhoods and towns, community can conjure everything from backyard barbecues, shared garden space, or municipal services. Online, community can be people with common interests who come together for support, learning, or camaraderie.

Community in organizations is different. Sometimes, it feels like forced corporate messaging intended to unite people in purpose; other times it’s a vehicle for powerful connection (despite being hard-to-design and tricky to implement and sustain).

While we can derive comfort from like-minded community (bonding capital), truly healthy community challenges us to solve problems with people different from ourselves (bridging capital). Taken together, we gain new knowledge through empathy and find common ground in places we otherwise wouldn’t.

I lead the product community, a product development learning community designed specifically for associations. Let’s compare ideas and build something great.

Why Community is Important

“What really matters from the point of view of social capital is not merely nominal membership, but active and involved membership.”

Robert D. Putnam

A strong community is vital for associations as it creates a self-reinforcing ecosystem of value, growth, and shared purpose. Here’s why community matters across several key dimensions:

• Knowledge Exchange and Professional Growth. When members, staff, and leaders actively engage with each other, they create rich opportunities for learning and development. Experienced professionals can mentor newcomers, peers can share best practices, and everyone benefits from the collective wisdom of the group. This organic knowledge transfer is often more valuable than formal training.

  

• Resource Amplification. A vibrant community can expand the resources available to anyone involved. Members contribute their expertise, sponsors provide financial support and industry connections, volunteers offer their time and leadership, and staff coordinate these resources effectively. This creates a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts.

• Innovation and Problem-Solving. When diverse stakeholders come together, they bring different perspectives and complementary skills. This diversity sparks creative solutions and helps the association stay relevant and forward-thinking. Community members can collaborate to address emerging issues and opportunities in ways that wouldn't be possible in isolation.

• Emotional Investment and Loyalty. People who feel genuinely connected to a community are more likely to remain engaged long-term. They develop emotional bonds that transcend transactional relationships, leading to:

  • Higher member retention

  • More consistent donor support

  • Greater volunteer participation

  • Stronger sponsor relationships

• Professional Support Network. A strong community provides both career opportunities and emotional support during professional challenges. Members can turn to each other for advice, job leads, and encouragement during career transitions or difficult times. This safety net makes the association more valuable to its members.

Successful communities integrate all stakeholders to create a positive feedback loop. Engaged members become volunteers, volunteers become leaders, and leaders inspire new members to join. This organic growth is more sustainable than recruitment-driven expansion. To bring this alive, let’s dig into two types of social capital: bonding capital and bridging capital.

Bonding Capital and Bridging Capital

“Trust lubricates social life. Networks of civic engagement also facilitate coordination and communication and amplify information about the trustworthiness of other individuals.”

Robert D. Putnam

Bonding capital and bridging capital are two distinct but complementary forms of social capital that strengthen communities in different ways.

Bonding Capital

This refers to the strong connections that develop between people who share similar backgrounds, interests, or identities. It's characterized by deep trust, shared values, and mutual support within homogeneous groups. Bonding capital creates a sense of belonging and reinforces shared identity.

For instance, in a medical association, pediatric cardiologists forming a specialty interest group develop strong bonds through regular collaboration, shared experiences, and deep understanding of their specific challenges. They support each other professionally, share specialized knowledge, and may even cover for each other during emergencies. These tight-knit relationships help them excel in their specific field.

Bridging Capital

This describes connections that span different groups, linking people across diverse social, professional, or cultural boundaries. It creates networks between dissimilar groups and helps spread new ideas and opportunities more widely. Bridging capital promotes innovation and broader understanding.

For example, when a manufacturing association creates joint programs between large corporate members and small family-owned businesses, they build bridging capital. The large companies gain fresh perspectives and local market insights, while smaller firms access broader markets and advanced technologies. These cross-connections strengthen the entire industry despite the different scales and cultures of the participants.

Linking Bonding and Bridging Capital

Bonding and bridging capital are important individually, but more powerful when linked. While bonding capital provides emotional support and specialized knowledge, bridging capital offers new opportunities and diverse perspectives. Together, they can create a resilient network that's deep, wide, alive, and regenerative.

• Innovation Balance

  • Bonding capital preserves valuable specialized knowledge and best practices

  • Bridging capital introduces fresh ideas and prevents stagnation

  • The combination drives sustainable innovation

• Community Resilience

  • Bonding capital ensures strong support within groups during challenges

  • Bridging capital provides access to diverse resources and solutions

  • Together they create multiple layers of community strength

• Professional Development

  • Bonding capital deepens expertise in specific areas

  • Bridging capital broadens professional horizons

  • Combined, they create well-rounded professionals

Community social capital is the goodwill and resources that people in a community have access to through their relationships. It's a key part of a strong thriving organization. Social capital is mutually respectful relationships, connectedness and trustworthiness among people. Social capital is built through hundreds of actions, large and small, that we take every day. Consider ways you might work at being part of the glue that holds your community together.

Challenging Ourselves

“Silicon Valley [is] developing a monopoly on Americans’ attention, learning how to ratchet up the algorithms to create division, distrust and envy, siloing people and spreading angst — all under the innocent guise of connecting us and making our lives better.”

Maureen Dowd

There are opportunities for us to be less polarized. We can connect across boundaries, honor our differences, and find common ground.

Associations are unique in bringing niche communities together in meaningful ways. This can be through events, online forums, co-mentoring, partnerships, or work groups that come together to help navigate hard-to-solve problems.

What cements communities, however, is a catalyst to help us understand across our differences that change is both needed and possible.

It’s easy and comforting to get our beliefs reinforced. The problem? Serially nodding at easy solutions to hard problems only reinforces bonding capital. This can keep us complacent and unwilling to see bridges, no less conjuring the courage to cross them.

I lead the product community; we are a learning community because we believe great relationships help us create the value our members want. Remember, product-led growth fuels connection. Join the product community and flip your destiny.

About the Author

James Young is founder and chief learning officer of the product community®. Jim is an engaging trainer and leading thinker in the worlds of associations, learning communities, and product development. Prior to starting the product community®, Jim served as Chief Learning Officer at both the American College of Chest Physicians and the Society of College and University Planning. Please contact me for a conversation: james@productcommunity.us