How do I set boundaries & avoid burnout as a community manager? With Taylor Harrington, Head of Community at Groove

Welcome to The Dear Bri Podcast, an advice column for community conundrums, fiascos, and drama. In this episode, we’re hearing from Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother. Our letter today comes from someone who clearly has a big heart for their online community, but is also really struggling to draw boundaries and recover from a very common mistake in community management (listen to find out which one).

To better help Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother, I invited Taylor Harrington —Head of Community at Dreamers & Doers— as my guest expert. I knew this letter would be perfect for Taylor because this is a topic we’ve discussed often behind the scenes as community builders.

So, tune in for a remarkable episode as we talk about making tough calls and standing by them, some awesome practical ideas for how to create boundaries to protect your time and energy as a community manager and creator, releasing the identity of the community leader who has to be everything for everyone, and much more.

In this episode:

(03:56) Taylor’s dicey sunset scenario

(11:41) Bri’s worst leadership failure

(15:31) The communitea: Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother’s letter

(18:25) Boundaries for ourselves, coworkers, and community members

(23:32) The cost of saying yes to something

(29:37) Shifting away from the identity of being the person who's there for everyone

(32:46) The importance of establishing boundaries upfront

(35:00) The “Yes, and/No, but” concept

(39:50) The secret ingredient for asserting boundaries

(42:19) Giving yourself grace and being willing to pivot

Expect: Community management best practices and lots of support for community builders and community managers.

Resources Mentioned:

🙌 Ready to start Grooving and building meaningful relationships from home? Use the code BRILEEVER for 30 days free on Groove.

❤️ Sign up for Heartbeat. Bri’s favorite all-in-one community platform.

💛 Join Ember. The place for go-getter community creators building community-powered businesses.

Noteworthy quotes:

“When you are someone who loves to run an experiment and try new things, and not commit to it being something that's going to happen forever, that means that you're going to fail. Things are going to flop. Things are going to be learning moments that you weren't expecting.“ - Taylor Harrington

“ In community work, going above and beyond… there are certain seasons for it, I will say, but as a practice, it's unsustainable.“ - Bri Leever

Taylor Harrington:

🖥️ Website

📱 Linkedin

Bri Leever:

🖥️ Website

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