Five top tips for growing a project management community quickly

The role of Project and Programme Management Lead at London North Eastern Railway (LNER) was created to help build and drive the project and change management community and the development of its practitioners.

It delivers a wide-ranging and diverse portfolio of projects and programmes. These include:

estate and infrastructure builds, including environmental and net-zero initiatives and innovations
the procurement of new train fleets
business transformation and process modernisation, including automation and artificial intelligence
the design and build of digital tools and services for customers and employees to enhance experience.

Our role has involved building and shaping LNER’s approach to the community. Below is our advice on how to successfully grow a project management community quickly.

1. Put people first

Start by making sure the community is genuinely useful to people in their day-to-day roles. If it helps them work smarter, solve problems faster or feel more connected, it’ll grow naturally. Think of it as an enabler, not an extra task.

2. Be clear on the ‘why’

People are more likely to get involved if they understand the purpose. Share the vision, explain what the community is trying to achieve and invite others to help shape it. A clear ‘why’ helps build momentum and a sense of shared ownership.

3. Make it open to everyone

Don’t limit it to job titles. Everyone contributes to delivery in some way, and the more diverse the voices, the richer the conversations. Opening the door to all roles helps build empathy, understanding and stronger cross-functional collaboration.

4. Create space for growth

Create opportunities for people to learn, grow and challenge themselves, whether through mentoring, sharing experiences or stepping outside their comfort zone. When people see the community as a place to grow, they’re more likely to invest in it.

5. Encourage ownership of change

Everyone has something valuable to share. By encouraging people to bring their own experiences and ideas, you create a culture where change isn’t just top-down, it’s driven by the community itself. That’s where real transformation starts.

Meeting challenges

No community grows without a few challenges. Here’s how we countered them at LNER:

For delivery, one size doesn’t fit all: The sheer size and diversity of projects and programmes being undertaken mean that a single organisational approach to delivery is neither appropriate nor achievable. However, we do need consistency in things like reporting across the organisation, and our delivery approaches need to be open and flexible to meet the needs of the project. We therefore embrace the need for multiple, different and even emerging approaches, which have the added benefit of also providing an opportunity to learn new skills, utilise different approaches and share best practice and lessons learned.

Balancing consistency with flexibility: Some members requested regular, structured sessions; others preferred ad hoc, informal interactions. We adopted a ‘core and flexible’ model, offering a consistent, quarterly full-day conference, while leaving space for pop-up events and team-led initiatives.

Avoiding initiative fatigue: We positioned the community as an enabler, not as an extra. By aligning with existing priorities and explaining how this community could help members deliver successfully, we made it feel relevant and valuable.

Sustaining momentum over time: We are still at the beginning of our journey. With the community less than nine months old, we’re very much in the early stages – but we’re continuing to introduce fresh ways to connect. These include themed months, guest speakers and peer-led sessions to keep the momentum going and the experience engaging.

The community also created a feedback loop to continuously adapt to members’ needs and interests. Some of these worked well and others not so well. It therefore needed to adapt and learn quickly, as well as communicating this to the community while remembering everyone is learning together.

This community is seeing benefits in project delivery across the organisation. Its next step is to work with DfT Operator Ltd to create a Train Operating Company Community as others become part of this family, and to work with APM to create a Rail Network Community and Interest Network.

At LNER, growing a project and change management community wasn’t just about improving delivery; it was about building a culture of curiosity, collaboration and shared purpose.

Find out more in the autumn 2025 issue of Project journal