How Community Turns Customer Pain Into Business Value | Community ROI with Nikki Thibodeau

“If your customers go quiet, something’s broken. Silence can be a sign of lost trust.”

In this episode, we discussed how trust, cross-functional partnerships, case deflection, product adoption, and storytelling can be the foundation of demonstrating community ROI, in particular:
👉 Why community is “relationships at scale”, not just engagement.
👉 Why trust is the foundation of impactful communities.
👉 How to build programs that solve customer problems and meet business KPIs.
👉 Examples of aligning with marketing, support, and product teams.
👉 How to bring visibility to community value across the company. 

Community Week Podcast S1 - London Community Week Episode 2: In Conversation with Nikki Thibodeau

In this episode, we explore the evolving world of community leadership at scale with Nikki Thibodeau, a seasoned leader shaping community operations and digital engagement at Calix—and founder of The Community Community.
Key discussion points:
✅ Nikki’s journey from community management to community operations at Shopify
✅ Scaling community strategy to support thousands of employees and millions of customers
✅ Building an inclusive culture through employee resource groups
✅ The evolving role of digital engagement and community in enterprise environments
✅ Practical advice for community leaders moving into strategic and operational roles

Pioneering the CCO Path with Nikki Thibodeau | Clocktower Advisors

In this episode of Talk About Your Community, Todd Nilson chats with Nikki Thibodeau, Regional Vice President, Digital Engagement & Community at Calix and also the founder of The Community Community, a community for Senior Community Professionals.

They discuss a joy for bringing people together via community and what it is like trailblazing the role of Chief Community Officer. Budgeting and reporting are also explored when it comes to working with upper leadership.


Digital Community Leaders Podcast

Welcome to the Digital Community Leaders Podcast, a conversation with community experts, diving into their insights and leaving you with actionable ideas.

Today we’re joined by…



Community Therapy: Taking Care of Yourself to Take Care of Your Community 

Episode highlights: 

  • On needing to set your own boundaries: “Forget everyone else, start with you. What is it that you need to make sure that you're healthy enough to continue in your role?” 
  • On bringing your whole self to work: “It's okay to have things that belong to you and don't belong to the job.” 
  • On sharing the spotlight: “I don't have to represent everyone. I do have to accurately represent myself and uplift other voices.“


Beginner Maps

How Nikki built a community of senior professionals with the help of volunteers


Community Life #41


Relationships at Work

 

In this episode of Relationships at Work, Russel chats with community creation expert Nikki Thibodeau on creating safe spaces at work so we feel comfortable being our true selves.

Nikki shares her thoughts and experience with...

  • Why organizations would need a safe space
  • How intention is necessary
  • The difference between in-person and virtual safe spaces
  • The benefit of creating a safe space to your organization
  • How culture or cultures can get in the way
  • The role of inclusivity and exclusivity in creating safe spaces

 

 

The Community Corner with Beth McIntyre

Addressing gender-diverse or racially-diverse groups is tough because it requires having some difficult and, sometimes, awkward workplace conversations. You want the right people to be there, but that also means you sometimes have to exclude the wrong people. It's really important for the success of our communities that we keep those who are not going to be helpful to those conversations out of those conversations. By having that space created at the very beginning - as Shopify does with “Empower Hour”, enables a real conversation to happen in a caring way. If you're not the right person to have the conversation with, step away and find the right person. Create your conversation safeguards and processes that you can refer to when stuck in difficult conversations.

The Go-To: For Entrepreneurs in the Know

EP 4: The Heart of the Sell with Nikki Thibodeau & Keighty Gallagher
Whether your business is already selling online and needs to ramp up to face a challenge or your taking your business online for the first time, we uncover the tools and tricks needed to ensure your products and services get noticed. First, we discuss the e-commerce customer experience with Shopify’s Local Community Manager, Nikki Thibodeau, and discover a few important considerations when selling online. Then, we hear how Keighty Gallagher, Founder of Tight Club Athletics shifted her in-person, workout studio onto an online platform in a way that stayed true to her core values. Selling from the heart is the name of the game this episode, so let’s begin.