1

Building a community of leaders using

Communities of Practice (CoP)- a tool of the Learning Organization - Knowledge Management through relationships

2/14/2004

2

Community of Practice (CoP)

Communities of Practice are

informal groups

formed around a common issue, problem, skill, or resource.

3

Types of communities

• Helping community - forum to help each other solve work problems

• Best practice community - develop and share best practices

• Knowledge community - organize and manage a body of knowledge

• Innovation community - cross organizational collaboration for creative ideas

4

Communities of Practice (CoP)

• Self-organizing relationships• operate informally with management support• self-select their involvement and invite others • set own agenda focusing on company issues• establish own leadership structure

• Knowledge & relationships are inseparable• technology alone is not sufficient• incentives to share are not sufficient• directives to share are not sufficient

5

Snapshot Comparison

In perspective with other organizational groupings.

Who belongs Purpose Cohesiveness Duration

Formal organization

Hierarchical reporting

To deliver a product or service

Organizational goals

Until next reorganization

Project Team

Management assigned

To accomplish a specific task

Project goals Until project is complete

Community of Practice

Voluntary, invited or self-selected

Build & exchange knowledge

Passion, identity, commitment

As long as interest remains

Informal network

Friends and acquaintances

Collect & pass on information

Mutual needs, friendship

As long as reason to connect exists

6

Benefits from CoP

• Tear down silos by focusing on commonality• boundary permeability (people & ideas)

• Increases organizational learning through establishment of employee relationships• solving problems without redundancy • tap into employee tacit knowledge• makes knowledge sharing natural, not forced

• Provide a mechanism for employees • to enable their ideas for innovation and change• to “make a difference” (employee satisfaction)

7

Business Purposes

Forum to share knowledge for solving work related problems

Best practice and knowledge sharing

Establish a repository of knowledge not otherwise captured by technology

Establish a foundation for learning• Adaptive learning – responding to business

challenges• Generative learning – being innovative

8

Success stories

• Shell E&P realizes annual benefits of $200+ million through its CoP knowledge sharing

• American Management Systems (AMS) estimates that their communities save the company between $2-5 million per year and increase revenue by over $13 million

• An international company formed communities to supplement their management development program

9

• Nynex cut service set-up time by 80% through the increased communication that communities bring

• Andersen Consulting Education division• over half of eligible employees participating• sample groups: motivation, culture and

learning, demographics, virtual classroom, Web technology, problem-based learning

More success stories

10

Value measurement

• Ties to the learning & capability component of the balanced scorecard• current activity builds future value• value appears in the work of teams and

business units, not in the communities themselves

• discontinue a group when value generation ceases (death is natural as interests change)

• Measure by anecdotal evidence (stories)• how ideas are being used• changes resulting from community input

11

• Explicit management support• provide legitimacy for Communities of Practice

• commit to concept & provide small operating budget

• remove barriers as needed• encourage collaboration• reward participation• provide support resources, if requested

• Directory of Communities knowledge base• build awareness & facilitate use

Support structure needed

12

Support structure needed

• Community Facilitator (knowledge manager)

• assistance in community formation• identify initial group membership & help organize

• define initial community boundaries & expected benefits

• community promotion and champion• establishment of community space on Intranet

• assist community to get established• organize initial meetings (agenda & location)• identify and resolve community problems

• required communication to remove barriers

13

Community governance• Community charter (rules and guidelines)

• community’s mission & goals• can change over time

• voluntary participation (can phase in & out)• limit involvement to 1 to 2 hours per week max. in all CoPs• virtual lurking is encouraged

• community boundaries (area of focus)• 8 to 15 ideal group size• ability to subdivide or merge if desired

• self-organizing group culture• degree of formality determined by the community• procedural rules jointly agreed upon

14

Community governance

• Community “mayor” or team leader• keep things on track & serve as group contact• initial mayor appointed for 3 month term

or rotated for learning opportunities

• Community history documented on Intranet• document group activities & presentations• discussion forum between group meetings

• Start small & leverage success• individual actions to implement themselves• expand to larger initiatives with more people

15

Sustaining interest

• Recognition of accomplishments & benefits• measure and communicate • employee recognition (leading to satisfaction)

• Annual Showcase & Innovation Fair• awareness & diffusion of ideas• recruit additional employees into interest groups• broaden the base of topics covered

16

Possible communities

• sales (virtual meetings?)• e-business • accounting issues• workflow processes• diversity (racial, gender,

age, mental models)• retirement• community building• technology utilization• PC tech support• business strategy

• marketing strategy• data mining & analysis• core competencies

Based on needsdetermination

17

“Leaders are those people who ‘walk ahead,’ people who are genuinely committed to deep change in themselves and in their organizations. They lead through developing new skills, capabilities, and understandings. And they come from many places within an organization.”

Senge (1996, p. 45)

CoP to provide a structure for emergent leaders

18

Communities of Practice (CoP)- a tool of the Learning Organization - Knowledge Management through relationships

Information cannot be assumed to circulate freely just because technology to support circulation is available. Too often information is treated as a commodity to be hoarded and exchanged. A mechanism is needed, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking and acting. It is this free flow of information that makes knowledge creation possible.