Community Leaders must show up for their community

[A Zayed]

Leaders must show upVisible, active leadership sets the culture, drives trust, and sparks engagement. Communities reflect their leaders. If leaders are present, transparent, and approachable, the community thrives. If leaders are absent, culture drifts toward noise, conflict, or apathy. Members look for cues from the top. People follow your lead. Show how you want others to behave. Culture is contagious. Silence leaves space for chaos. Engagement sticks. People stay when leaders make them feel valued. Communities succeed when leaders act as participants. Be an active leaderLeadership isn’t about dropping in with polished statements and disappearing. It’s about being part of the daily rhythm. Members need to see you asking questions, joining conversations, and sharing in the wins. That visibility signals that participation matters. You don’t need to be online every hour. What matters is consistency and authenticity. Share weekly updates or thought-starters. Reply to posts, not all, but enough to be noticed. Rotate leadership visibility across your team to avoid burnout. A few minutes of genuine presence beats hours of distant oversight. The psychology of participationWhy do members hold back? Fear of being ignored, embarrassed, or excluded. Why do they engage? Because they see leaders modeling the behavior, they trust it’s safe, and they feel appreciated when they contribute. When people know participation is encouraged, safe, and celebrated, they’ll step forward. As a leader, you can create those conditions: Social proof: Model the behavior you want. Members will mirror it. Safety: Welcome all questions and feedback. Set the tone that mistakes and disagreements are okay. Recognition: Say thank you. Highlight wins. Shine a light on contributions. Make it clear: “You belong here.” Build trust, Keep itTrust doesn’t come from titles. It comes from consistency, transparency, and how you handle tough moments. Community members notice if you respond, if you explain, and if you live by the same rules as they do. Show up reliably. Build a rhythm members can count on. Be transparent. Share decisions, admit mistakes, and explain why. Tackle conflict. Don’t go silent. Address issues calmly and fairly. Empower members. Share ownership. Let others lead projects or groups. Model fairness. Apply the same rules to yourself as everyone else. Trust is earned daily. Managing vs ParticipatingManaging Participating Community Leadership Enforcing rules Building relationships Show up consistently One-way announcements Two-way conversations Foster peer connections Distance unless crisis Everyday presence Recognize contributions publicly Members as “users” Members as partners Communicate openly and transparently Traditional management looks like top-down control. Community leadership is different. It’s collaborative and participatory which is closer to hosting than managing. Leaders who join the journey create stronger, more resilient communities. Real-World Examples Salesforce Trailblazers: Executives engage directly with members, answer questions, and empower MVP volunteers. The result? A 3M+ member community that drives product success. Stack Overflow: Founders participated daily, modeled quality interactions, and gave ownership back to the community. Trust was earned through transparency and responsiveness. Wikipedia: Leadership facilitated consensus instead of dictating decisions. Community-driven policies created long-term resilience. Share community ownershipCommunities flourish when leaders actively nurture and partake in the world they’re building. Your leadership team’s job isn’t just to set rules or watch from the sidelines. It’s to model the behavior you want, build trust through transparency, and share ownership so the community becomes stronger than any one person. Communities succeed when leaders lead by doing.

View the full post