Being intentional about introducing community members to one another is essential. This is an ice breaker that deepens relationships and also allows everyone to immediately see how they may be able to help or be helped by someone in the group.

A simple way to do this is to ask each person to state his or her name and what he or she does. This can be done at community events or even online. Make sure everyone has the opportunity to introduce themselves and learn as much as possible about each community member.

When people know what others are working on they are also more likely to give them advice or feedback.

To improve introductions, ask people to share one thing they are looking for support in and the main thing people come to them for.

For example, if you have a group of founders someone may be looking for support in raising money for their startup, time management tips, how to balance personal and work life, or maybe they’re looking for an engineer or marketing person to hire.

And an example of what people come to a person for would be maybe that person is an all-star designer, maybe they are amazing at giving speeches, or maybe they’re super well connected or a great cook. Each person would share the superpower people typically come to them for.

To take it a step further, ask your members what they wish they had known when starting out in their field or what resources they wish they had had access to. This will give you some insight into what kind of person they are and how they can bring value to the group.

By creating an environment where everyone knows a little bit about everyone else you create a more supportive environment and also make it easier for people to find others with similar interests and goals.

Introductions like this create an environment of support and people are more likely to help each other out and make introductions. Even if they don’t have the answer to the challenge right away, they are more likely to think of someone who does and make the intro.