Nicole Saunders (Director of Community at Zendesk) on Fostering Cross-Functional Collaboration

In this episode, we delve into Nicole's journey in community management and explore the strategies she employed to transform Zendesk's community from a Q&A section to a cross-functional powerhouse. We discuss the importance of breaking down workplace silos and identifying collaborative opportunities to bring the customer's voice into various projects without "shipping the org chart." Measuring community success, qualities of effective collaboration, and the impact of community on customers are all part of this insightful conversation. Nicole shares an inspiring story of a community member whose career was transformed through Zendesk's community, underlining the immense value it brings. In this episode, you’ll hear about:(0:58) Nicole's journey to community(5:02) The process for taking a community from 0 to 1(6:06) The benefits of Digital vs. Physical communities(8:07) Breaking down silos in the workplace(10:32) Identifying projects where there is mutual benefit(11:43) How community helps integrate the customer voice into other projects(13:19) Building a center of excellence model (14:50) Identifying opportunities for collaboration and building the center of excellence model(17:22) The early days of community at Zendesk and incrementally expanding the program(24:07) Why a Director of Community is like a product manager for community(24:57) Measuring success of the community(27:56) Qualities important to effective collaboration(29:53) The impact of community on customers(31:34) The story of Brandon, a power user finding career opportunity through the Zendesk community Stay tuned through the end of the show (33:22) to learn: Which Coca Cola product Nicole prefersWhether Nicole is team Netflix or YoutubeWho Nicole thinks we should speak with next