For the latest Tech & Culture entry, Jessica Fleet, Datto’s Community Manager is sharing her experience in her unique role here at Datto.
When people find out that I’m a Community Manager, a typical response is either, “oh, so you do social media?” or “what the heck is that?” It’s understandable, there are lots of communities out there and each one is different, each serving different audiences.
At Datto, we recently launched the Datto Partner Community Forum to provide a common ground for our partners to talk with us and to each other, something that they didn’t get a lot of opportunity to do previously. Because this is brand new, I am able to provide and promote the values that we think would build the best community for Datto and our partners: openness, transparency and empowerment.
Openness
An open organization, as defined by Jim Whitehurst is, “an organization that engages participative communities both inside and out.” Prior to the forum, partners may have chatted with each other at a conference or roadshow. When we sat down with partners at our annual conference, this was a big pain point for them. “We want to talk with each other!” was a resounding message. We took this feedback to heart and ultimately created a whole job to make this happen: viola here I am.
Transparency
Transparency takes the engagement created by openness to the next level by trusting all stakeholders enough to include them in the business decisions. Many times, this can be challenging as it can certainly can feel a bit chaotic. However, at Datto, we give trust with abandon. We know that we can’t make progress without involving and trusting our partners. My goal is to ensure that we are demonstrating that trust in our partners by giving them a platform to be involved in Datto’s decisions.
Empowerment
Communities, regardless of their purpose empower their users by giving them a voice. When stakeholders have a voice, everyone has the ability to make valuable contributions. At Datto, employees and partners are mutually dependant upon one another, therefore I fully expect our partners to speak up when they see an opportunity to improve. Without this, we can not improve and help our partners maintain success.
Openness, transparency and empowerment are values that we live every day at Datto. As a company, they have enabled us to be flexible and agile when facing the challenges of a rapidly changing marketplace. As a Community Manager, it’s my charge to foster the values because they are essential to building a vibrant, successful community. I am excited to be part of this new initiative and I look forward to building something great!