Difference between revisions of "Communities of Practice"

Revision as of 16:06, 1 October 2008

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (CoPs)

A process of social learning where a group of people who share an interest, a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, collaborate to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations without necessarily being in a formal work meeting. CoP members are bounded one another through exposure to a common class of problems, common pursuit of solutions, and embodying a store of knowledge, by shared practices and common beliefs. Communities of practice generally cut across organizational boundaries and help create and share knowledge. It is the best way to : ^[1]

Learn while doing.
Ensure effective creating and sharing of knowledge and experience.
Co-learn about related practices across projects.

Implementing a CoP

Main Components

Community : active members interested to share their knowledge and who commit time to devote to the community.
Domain : it must be a compelling topic; one of interest to many people and of relevance to their work. The potential members must be passionate about the subject for collaboration.
Practice : the ability to compare one own work practices to those of others is one of the foundations of the CoP.
Motivation/engagement : the existence of the community is based only on the motivation of its members.
Structure : it is important to find a balance between formal and informal structure. Most communities have a concentric structure at triple level (core group, closer circle, outside circle). ^[2]

Step by Step

Creating:
- Decide what topic you wish to address in a community in order to identify the domain.
- To encourage people to participate, start a discussion on a domain or a smal problem and present ideas and/or solutions for resolving this problem.
- Find a committed leader or coordinator for the community:volunteer to be the community leader yourself or identify someone else. The community leader should know the subject, have energy for stimulating collaboration, regularly spend time increasing membership, lining up speakers, hosting calls and meetings, asking and answering questions, and posting information which is useful to the members.
- Identify thought leaders to legimate the community and potential members to leverage knowledge. The community will need a critical mass of members. You usually need at least 50 members, with 100 being a better target. Try to take advantage of existing networks.
- Decide on a initial technology platform and create one or more tools for the community to use (threaded discussion forum, collaborative team space, web site or portal, Wiki, Blog or newsletter).
Starting-up:
- Once your community is established, publicize its existence to help recruit new members (special event, articles, incentive to join).
- Watch the production of intermediate results, summaries and conclusions of the discussions.
- Gather a core group (leader, experts, stakeholders) and maintain one closer circle (involved members) and one outside circle (interested members, contributors, readers).
- Keep the community active : regular conference, periodic events, weekly meetings and collect examples of value.
Developing and sustaining
- Maintain interest and commitment by organizing workshops and meetings on major topics.
- Introduce new and challenging perspectives.
- Maintain the energy by recruiting new members.
- Rotate roles and responsibilities between members over time.
- Manage knowledge by creating knowledge map, processing knowledge sharing , organising resources, and identifying knowledge gaps.
Closing:
- Ending the CoP when the domain is less relevant or the purpose ended.
- Celebrate its life and achievements by organizing a special event.
- Create a new CoP on a different topic. ^[3]

Job Aid

References

↑ Wikipedia (16 April 2008), www.km4dev.org (16 April 2008), www.kstoolkit.org (24 September 2008)
↑ www.deza.ch (29 Septemberl 2008)
↑ www.kstoolkit.org (24 September 2008), www.kunnskapsnettverk.no (25September 2008), www.communities.hp.com (29 September 2008), Ramalingam, B., Tools for Knowledge and Learning, odi, 2006

[1] Wikipedia (16 April 2008), www.km4dev.org (16 April 2008), www.kstoolkit.org (24 September 2008)

[2] www.deza.ch (29 Septemberl 2008)

[3] www.kstoolkit.org (24 September 2008), www.kunnskapsnettverk.no (25September 2008), www.communities.hp.com (29 September 2008), Ramalingam, B., Tools for Knowledge and Learning, odi, 2006

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 #'''Creating:'''
 #*Decide what topic you wish to address in a community in order to identify the domain.
-#*To encourage people to participate, start a discussion on a domain or a smal problem and raise ideas for  resolving this problem.
+#*To encourage people to participate, start a discussion on a domain or a smal problem and present  ideas and/or solutions for resolving this problem.
-#*Find a  committed leader or coordinator  for the community.  Volunteer to be the community leader, or identify someone else with the right attributes and well-respected.  The community leader should know the subject, have energy for stimulating collaboration, and then regularly spend time increasing membership, lining up speakers, hosting calls and meetings, asking and answering questions, and posting information which is useful to the members.
+#*Find a  committed leader or coordinator  for the community:volunteer to be the community leader yourself or identify someone else.  The community leader should know the subject, have energy for stimulating collaboration, regularly spend time increasing membership, lining up speakers, hosting calls and meetings, asking and answering questions, and posting information which is useful to the members.
 #*Identify thought leaders to legimate the community and potential members to leverage knowledge. The community will need a critical mass of members.  You usually need at least 50 members, with 100 being a better target.  Try to take advantage of existing networks.
 #*Decide on a initial technology platform and create one or more tools for the community to use (threaded discussion forum, collaborative team space, web site or portal, Wiki, Blog or newsletter).
 #'''Starting-up:'''
-#*Once your community is established, publicize its existence to help recruit new members (sepcial event, articles, incentive to join).
+#*Once your community is established, publicize its existence to help recruit new members (special event, articles, incentive to join).
 #* Watch the production of intermediate results, summaries and conclusions of the discussions.
-#*Gather a core group (leader, exoerts, stakeholders) and maintain 1 closer circle (involved members) and 1 outside circle (interested members, contributors, readers).
+#*Gather a core group (leader, experts, stakeholders) and maintain one closer circle (involved members) and one outside circle (interested members, contributors, readers).
 #*Keep the community active : regular conference, periodic events, weekly meetings and collect examples of value.
 #'''Developing and sustaining'''
-#* Maintain interest and commitment by organizing work-shops and face-to-face meetings on major topics
+#* Maintain interest and commitment by organizing workshops and meetings on major topics.
 #* Introduce new and challenging perspectives.
 #* Maintain the energy by recruiting new members.
 #* Rotate roles and responsibilities between members over time.
-#* Manage knowledge by creating [[ Knowledge Map| knowledge map]], processing [[ Knowledge Sharing| knowledge sharing ]],  organising resources, identifying knowledge gaps.
+#* Manage knowledge by creating [[ Knowledge Map| knowledge map]], processing [[ Knowledge Sharing| knowledge sharing ]],  organising resources, and identifying knowledge gaps.
 #'''Closing:'''
 #*Ending the CoP when the domain is less relevant or the purpose ended.

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