I learn a lot from interactions and from others, see my post about 7 Learning enablers for a product manager.
I identified a need in my unit to increase the cross collaboration between product managers of different teams.
We decided on establishing a PMs community.
But what next?
I looked on the community itself as it was a product for me. And with that understanding, it's easier to develop it - we know how to manage products, aren't we? ;-)
1. Know your customer
Understand the need, understand what they want to learn, how they want to learn it, how much time, what's the frequency, what's the medium.
Key element is to adjust - overtime, people have different preferences, people leaving, new ones are joining - know your customer is not one time, it's a continuous journey
2. Active participation
Studies says that people are more engaged into something, when they "bring themselves" into it and when they put some effort to the process. Involve your community members in the content build up, let them shine on their strong areas and share it with others, challenge them to learn something they always wanted and share with the community in a session later.
As the community mentors, it's important to support them in their own personal journey with the community, with the content build up.
3. Diversity
Break the silos - in many ways.
Content wise - not only pure hard core product knowledge with same people. Bring external lecturers, bring inspirational sessions, workshop sessions and not only lectures, share failures and what didn't work well, etc.
People wise - involve PMs from outside your group to hear different voices and methods, add R&D architects to the the session to hear their perspectives.
Happy collaboration, happy to assist!
Dror