I'm an introvert by nature. I have no problem speaking to groups of people or interacting with my clients and team members at work. But on my own time, I have to be careful not to isolate myself. This was a particular concern during the pandemic.

Mike BarzacchiniAt the same time, while I'm prone to introversion, I value and celebrate communities. And communities, along with all the other benefits they bring, can be an antidote to isolation.

Recently, I began thinking with focus and intention about the communities to which I belong. There are dozens of project groups I'm a part of at my full-time job. These are communities and thinking about them as such helps me value them more.

Please Join Us!What: #MTtalk

Where: Twitter

When: April 14 @ 1 p.m. ET (6 p.m. BST / 10.30 p.m. IST)

Topic: Communities Lost and Found

Host: @Mind_Tools

I also belong to a variety of communities related to my profession as a volunteer and participant. And I volunteer in my town, and those groups are communities. Finally, I participate in social communities for fun and friendship, including one that started during the first year of the pandemic and still meets online each week.

After this quick community self-audit, I realized I'm not as isolated as I thought, but am I getting the most out of these communities and are they getting the most out of me?

Being aware of the communities I belong to helped me to realize that my participation is enriched when I consider two things:

• What's my goal for being a part of each community?
• How do I uniquely contribute to each community?

The Power of ConnectionThis informal self-audit also helped me to consider the time and resources I'm spending with each community, along with identifying where gaps may exist. This may lead me to seek other groups that align with my current goals. For example, after a recent screenwriting workshop, a colleague and I discussed starting a lunchtime writers' group.

Would you benefit from a community self-audit? If so, you can start by exploring these five questions:

1. To what types of communities do you belong?
2. How active are you in these groups and what uniquely do you bring to each?
3. How useful are these communities to you and your goals?
4. What communities may you need to exit because they no longer meet your goals, or perhaps are no longer as vibrant as when you joined?
5. Finally, what types of communities would you like to seek, based on your current interests and goals?

I continue to remind my introverted self about the value and power of connection – and one of the best ways to create connections is through community building.

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."

John Lennon

About This Week's "Communities Lost and Found" Chat In our upcoming #MTtalk Twitter chat, we're going to chat about communities, why we join them and how they benefit us. In our Twitter poll this week, we asked why people join real-life or online communities. An overwhelming majority voted that they join groups to learn something. See all the options and results.

We'd love you to participate in the chat, and the following questions may spark some thoughts in preparation for it:

• How do you define community?
• What types of communities do you currently participate in?
• What value do you receive from the communities you belong to?
• How have you benefited from digital communities such as #MTtalk?
• What are the benefits of community building in the workplace?
• What are the barriers to community building in the workplace?

Communities Lost and Found ResourcesTo help you prepare for the chat, we've compiled a list of resources for you to browse. (Note that you will need to be a Mind Tools Club or Corporate member to see all of the resources in full.)

Making the Most of Employee Resource Groups

Mutual Respect

Professional Networking

Carroll's Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility

The Connected Company

How to Take Part in #MTtalkFollow us on Twitter to make sure you don't miss out on any of the action this Friday! We'll be tweeting out 10 questions during our hour-long chat. To participate in the chat, type #MTtalk in the Twitter search function. Then, click on "Latest" and you'll be able to follow the live chat feed. You can join the chat by using the hashtag #MTtalk in your responses.

The post Communities Lost and Found – Join Our #MTtalk appeared first on Mind Tools.