Communities of Practice

I've been asked by a few people if I have any information on starting and maintaining a Community of Practice.

It's taken me longer than I would have liked, but I finally have compiled some information, with thanks to Ellen Grove and Tyler Motherwell (and Wikipedia , too), for lending their support. I hope you find some of this helpful, and will share what, if anything, you've found helpful or have tried yourself to help others. With their assistance, I've actually found material better than what I had to share anyway. So hopefully you find this useful, if you're interested in setting up and maintaining a Community of Practice.

That, by the way, is at the heart of a Community of Practice (or CoP). Helping others, and finding ways to improve ourselves.

Communities of Practice extend beyond what team you're in. CoP's are best when they're an amalgamation of people from different teams, with different experiences, but aligned with a common purpose. As we think about building cross-functional team in order to provide teams with the skills and expertise to get work done quickly and effortlessly, we're likely going to find that teams will be comprised of various job families, each with their own skill-set.

Let's just say I happen to be a Data Scientist (for example) - if I'm not working on a team with other Data Scientists, I may not learn and grow in my area of expertise on a daily basis. Since my team might be comprised of BAs, Designers, and Product Managers, I'll gain an appreciation for those roles... But I want to continue to improve my skills as a Data Scientist. This is a perfect place to introduce a Community of Practice.

Quite simply, a Community of Practice is a group of people who share a common craft/profession, have a passion for what it is that they do, and want to learn how to do it better through regular interactions. So how do we make this happen?

A couple years ago, Mitchell H. "Mitch" Ruebush wrote a nice intro to ways to start a CoP. He's got some key steps outlined in the appropriately named Starting a Community of Practice post. Some key thoughts to consider when setting up a Community of Practice (kindly provided by Tyler):

• Objectives:

  • Provide a safe forum which - above all - serves to disseminate knowledge about the subject the members gather to discuss

  • Anyone can attend

  • All members have an equal right to participate

• Subjects & Topics:

  • The overarching subject of the CoP can be any shared interest, and as broad or as specific as the members want it to be

  • Meeting-specific subjects can be selected one meeting in advance through participants’ voting

  • The Facilitator can be responsible for proposing a list of subjects for the upcoming meeting, and any participant can add to the list

• Members & Roles:

  • CoP participation should be voluntary. Meetings can be open to anyone across segments, functions, and levels, or restrictions can limit participation to certain groups

  • Participation is not driven by enforcement, but by staying relevant to core participants

  • Two voluntary roles are recommended: a Segment CoP Champion and a Facilitator

  • The CoP Champion raises CoP awareness within the segment, organizes the first meeting, and provides/receives input and feedback

  • A Facilitator organizes subsequent meetings and facilitates the sessions. Role rotation can be every month or two

• Agenda:

  • If CoP selects subjects in advance, subject selected in previous session

  • Moderated discussions of recent experiences, impediments, and learnings

  • Status updates are not part of a CoP meeting

• Frequency & Duration:

  • Cadence and duration are at the discretion of the CoP’s core participants

  • Normally, CoP meeting duration is between 30 and 60 minutes, with cadence varying anywhere from weekly to every two months

  • As a suggested starting point, try to set the CoP meeting cadence to be weekly. And then adjust as applicable to the group

• Communications:

  • Communications developed by the Facilitator. Channels can extend beyond email

  • SharePoint or a wiki can be used if members will be sharing documents frequently

  • Communications are internal to the members. External communication happens on an ad hoc basis

  • Internal communications include meeting highlights, sharing of material used during presentations, and any other internal CoP announcements

Some fantastic ideas to consider in that list, for sure.

And, if you've made it this far in this post, I'm hoping you're looking for more. Have a look at these:

https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

https://www.wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/13-11-25-Leadership-groups-V2.pdf

I was going to extract bits from these documents, but I think they're worth reading and having in their entirety. I hope you'll also find them useful.

The first one, titled a Brief Introduction to Communities of Practice provides an intro to CoP's. And while it claims to be an "intro", it has a wealth of information and includes suggestions for further reading.

And the second one, titled Leadership Groups - Distributed Leadership in a Social Setting , is really designed for CoP "facilitators, conveners, or coordinators who want to develop the social learning capability of a community of practice or other type of learnin partnership." This is an exceptional read, with great ideas to consider.

Hopefully some of this is helpful. It certainly was helpful to me when starting and sustaining CoPs in various places I’ve had the opportunity to work. Good luck!