Communities of Practice

1. Communities of Practice ENRAP Knowledge Management Workshop 21 January 2002

2. Communities of Practice “groups informally bound together by shared expertise & passion for a joint enterprise” - Etienne Wenger “peers in the execution of real work. What holds them together is a common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other knows” - John Seely Brown

3. A Community of Practice Experts, Mentors Lurkers Members

4. How are Communities of Practice Different? (excerpt from “Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier, by Etienne Wenger)

5. For the organization Help drive strategy Solve problems quickly Diffuse best practices Cross-fertilize ideas, increase opportunities for innovation Build organizational memory For the community Develop professional skills Develop a common language Benefits of Communities of Practice • For the individual • Help people do their jobs & save time • Building a sense of community bonds within organization • Helps people to keep up to date • Provides challenges and opportunities to contribute

6. Establishing Communities of Practice • The seeds of Communities of Practice already exist within and across organisations and groups of people with common goals • Getting it right is difficult • Need to tap into people’s passions • Get the balance right – big may be too general, small may not provide enough interaction • Technology must be supportive • Management must commit itself to allowing staff time for participation in CoPs • Participants need to develop skills to participate effectively

7. Key Indicators • Trust • How safe do you feel here? • Commonality of Purpose • To what extent are you in a similar discipline or face a similar obstacle? • Identification • How personal is the CoP topic for you? • Usefulness • To what extent does the group actually do work, give you things you need?

8. Communities of Practice and Technology • Support weaknesses, exploit strengths • Recognise what the technology support well and what it doesn’t. • Use more than one medium • There are many means of communication. Don’t limit yourself to just one. • Lowest Practical Denominator • For developing countries, email is still the optimal communication technology.

9. Appropriate Use of Technology MAILING LISTS Mastering Virtual Teams, Deborah L. Duarte, Nancy Snyder, 1999

10. Telephone Email Face-to-Face Print Video World Wide Web Use a Spectrum of Technologies

11. Find a Champion • Role of the Champion • Ensure support at highest possible level • Communicate the purpose • Promote the community • Ensure impact

12. Employ a Facilitator Set and Communicate Ground Rules Clearly establish the purpose Communicate the expected outputs Explain the decision-making process Ask for buy-in Promote Understanding Personalize Communication Ask People to Introduce themselves Build Trust Summarize For people who join late or don’t read consistently Paraphrase To ensure common understanding Follow through on commitments Summarize Translate Investigate Communicate Proactively Anticipate Misunderstandings Investigate Silence Consistency Communicate regularly Remain Neutral

13. Policies to Support Communities of Practice • Identify potential communities • listen for opportunities, workshops, brainstorming • Institutionalize support • Recognise the workload • Recognise the skills required • Build capacity • Facilitation • Technical • Build a context • Situate collaboration within the context of other resources

14. Multiple Communities Lurker in one, mentor in another Overlapping Communities A community waiting to happen Isolated Community