203: Managing and assigning roles in multi-admin Communities

The best way to recruit your admin team is to look at your most active members or those you know share your passion for the community and its values. You can also make an announcement to look for volunteers or ask for nominees. Evaluate volunteers and nominees considering how they further your mission, their activity in Groups, and their history of interacting with other members.

Another idea is to think about what your admins can do that you can’t. A team with complementary skills and specialities will enable you to strengthen your teamwork and performance. At the same time, consider recruiting admins that reflect the diverse make-up of your community. Their ability to represent the different perspectives of members can be helpful in setting strategy and managing challenges with content or members.

It’s a good idea to communicate with your admin team and agree on the criteria for adding new ones. Try to ensure they align with you and existing admins. More admins will help distribute the workload but can also increase complexity. Make sure any new admins are people you all feel comfortable working with.

Community admins can remove other admins. You are also able to remove yourself, unless you are the community builder. If an admin wants to leave, inform your team and look for a suitable replacement.

You may encounter situations where a community member declines to be promoted to admin, or an admin resigns from the admin role. If that happens, it’s important to respect their choice, but do reach out to understand their concerns and reasons.

As you add new members to your community and admin teams, it’s important to support them with training, tools and resources. Don't forget to direct them here - to the Communities Learning Center!

Consider starting an admin-only group to enable the team to connect with each other, seek guidance and provide feedback. Assign an existing admin as a mentor or buddy to the new recruit so that they have a person to turn to for help and answers to any questions they may have. It’s a good idea to organize social activities regularly for admins to relax and strengthen bonds.

Make sure your team knows how much you value them by congratulating and thanking them for their service.

Don't forget to look out for signs of burnout. Encourage your team to reach out to other admins for support. Take a break if needed.

As your community grows, it’s important to share and balance your admins’ workload. It’s definitely good practice to schedule regular admin group calls to share information, discuss issues, and align on tasks.

Understanding the different strengths and skills you have in your team will help you to assign roles and agree on the parameters of each admin’s responsibility. For example, one admin might be great at managing conflict so you might consider getting them to handle sensitive situations.

Don’t forget to agree on working hours for each admin while keeping in mind that your community members may need constant support. It’s a good idea to discuss how quickly you expect admins to respond to members' questions.

When working together as a team, it’s always possible that conflict may arise. If you feel frustrated or irritable, allow yourself a break. If you notice a team member getting stressed or agitated, communicate with compassion, and suggest they take time out.

Listen carefully and ask plenty of questions to better understand what is causing the frustration before you decide how to resolve it. You might want to consider other roles that could be more suitable for them.

Before removing an admin, have a conversation with them to let them know how their actions are affecting the other admins and/ or the community. This is an opportunity to provide feedback and for them to work on their behavior.

If they still can’t work together, remove them from the admin teambut allow them to remain in your community. Consider making an announcement about the change, wish them well and move on.