Case study

How Blanchard uses its community to empower and connect leaders worldwide

Discover how Blanchard leverages Hivebrite’s platform to create a vibrant, interconnected community of leaders across more than 70 countries.

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“Hivebrite offers our leaders, advocates, and partners a virtual home where they can learn, connect, and grow together. Their commitment to continuous improvement and addressing our needs, along with their dedication to our community’s success, makes Hivebrite a partner dedicated to growth.”

Sarah Hempel
Senior Manager, Community Experience, Blanchard

4,700

Number of active members in the first year

76%

Account activation rate

2X

Members’ perception of the support provided

Blanchard customer story

About Blanchard

Blanchard is a global leader in leadership development, consulting, and coaching. For more than 40 years, Blanchard has partnered with organizations to maximize individual achievement and organizational performance, bringing measurable progress and true transformation. Blanchard’s SLII® is the global leadership model of choice, powering inspired leaders for more than 10,000 organizations worldwide. Blanchard also offers a suite of award-winning solutions through flexible delivery modalities to meet the specific needs of clients and learners.

Mission

Blanchard’s mission is to provide a safe, accessible online space equipped with the tools, resources, and knowledge in which a global community comprised of people with diverse perspectives and experiences can grow, challenge, and connect with each other.

Visit the community

Blanchard is using Hivebrite to create a supportive network of individuals who are committed to advancing their leadership influence, skills, and goals

Blanchard has been using Hivebrite since 2022. The platform helps leaders spark thought-provoking conversations, foster authentic connections, and create a sense of belonging.

The community challenge

CEO Scott Blanchard recognized a critical gap in the company’s engagement strategy: although many individuals had become passionate advocates of the Blanchard approach, there was no formal mechanism to maintain and nurture those relationships over time. These individuals—leaders who had benefited from Blanchard’s training, philosophy, and tools—often moved on to new roles and organizations, yet remained deeply aligned with the values and teachings they had encountered. Without a centralized space to reconnect, share experiences, and continue learning, these advocates risked becoming disconnected from the broader Blanchard ecosystem.

This insight sparked the vision for a dedicated community platform—one that would serve as a hub for ongoing leadership development, peer-to-peer connection, and long-term engagement. The goal was to create a space where leaders could not only continue their growth journey but also remain actively involved with the Blanchard mission, regardless of where they were in their careers. By offering a structured environment for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and mentorship, the platform would reinforce the sense of belonging among advocates while extending the value of Blanchard’s programs well beyond the initial training experience.

Hivebrite’s full-stack community platform enabled Blanchard to:

Facilitate organic connections

Foster independent groups to enable connections while maintaining institutional governance

Create a repository of knowledge

Build a centralized knowledge hub that leverages member expertise

Encourage collaboration and innovation

Facilitate partnerships and networks to drive industry advancement and promote innovation

Gather data and insights

Monitor user behavior, engagement metrics, and content performance to measure the impact of initiatives

The Hivebrite solution

Blanchard selected Hivebrite as their community platform for several key reasons. As a French global company, Hivebrite aligned well with Blanchard’s global reach. The platform offered a user-friendly interface, multilingual capabilities, and essential features like Google Translate integration.

The primary modules utilized by Blanchard include the live feed, events, and discussion forums. The live feed facilitates personal interactions with new members, ensuring a warm welcome and encouraging early engagement. Events play a crucial role in Blanchard’s strategy, offering interactive sessions that promote both personal and professional growth. Discussion forums extend the lifespan of event conversations and provide a space for members to explore various leadership topics.

Additionally, the people directory and visual map features have been particularly impactful. These tools provide a vibrant visual representation of Blanchard’s global community, connecting members across more than 70 countries. Members appreciate the ability to see where other community members are located, which fosters connections and collaborations, even enabling real-life meetups during travels. This feature has been widely praised by members and highlights the diversity and reach of the Blanchard community.

Key features designed for business

Groups and sub-communities

Strengthen engagement with dedicated spaces that match members’ interests and goals.

Jobs and opportunities

Provide exclusive job, learning, and networking opportunities for personal and professional advancement.

News, content, and resources

Share timely updates and news to keep members engaged and informed about your community. 

Events and ticketing

Host virtual and IRL events with RSVP, paid ticketing, and QR codes. Use community to enrich the experience throughout.

The outcome

Since its launch in May 2023, the Blanchard community has grown to over 4,700 members with a 76% activation rate. The community has significantly enhanced Blanchard’s engagement with client trainers and partners, streamlining responses to common queries and providing a centralized hub for resources and events. This has allowed Blanchard to meet the needs of more people efficiently, aligning with their vision of empowering leaders for positive impact.

To gauge customer satisfaction, Blanchard conducts biannual surveys. These have shown promising results, such as doubling of members’ perception of the support provided by Blanchard so that they can reach their goals. Blanchard is also exploring methods to measure the community’s impact on business outcomes.

“I loved the networking session. Amazed at those people who show up. I think you are doing amazing work, you are a force of nature, and I am thrilled at everything you are manifesting.”

Blanchard community member