Building successful communities of practice: CoPs are networks of activities

Information Outlook, May, 2003 by James Lee, Sr., Kathy Valderrama

IT'S MONDAY MORNING, AND A NEW HIRE WALKS INTO HIS NEW EMPLOYER.

Feeling the nervousness of starting a new job, he wanders how quickly he will learn the policies, procedures, and standards of his department. Much to his surprise, a co-worker shows him a Web portal that his department uses daily, containing documents, company news, contact names, a discussion forum, and links to websites--everything he needs to Learn to get started in his new job. How is this possible? Communities of Practice.

Building the Community

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are not new to the knowledge management world; in fact, they have existed for quite some time. But companies have only recently begun to realize their value as a means to bring employees together, regardless of location, to produce positive results. CoPs are created to connect individuals with a common interest, so they can exchange knowledge objects, best practices, and lessons learned. The benefits to companies include faster response time to clients, lower costs, improved quality in work and deliverables, faster implementation time for projects, and content ready for re-use. Individual community members also benefit. New employees can become community members quickly, accessing the knowledge they need to become oriented. Current employees have a means to share tips and relevant documents created on their projects, thereby saving time on future engagements. Department heads can post announcements and the latest news to a wide audience, keeping all employees abreast of current events. CoPs are especially effective for community members who are dispersed over multiple locations: they provide a way for the members to keep in touch and access information they need to complete their work. CoPs assist an organization with gathering tacit knowledge; knowledge that is hard to transfer, difficult to quantify, and highly personal. This type of knowledge is essential to capture, as it is typically not documented for others to utilize.

CoPs exist in virtually every organization; however, most companies do not recognize their presence. And even the existence of the CoP is not enough to yield the benefits. The CoP needs a respected leader who supports the creation of the community, is an active participant, and encourages others to participate. Amy Eugene, director of knowledge management at Cuyahoga Community College, says, "Without sponsorship, a CoP may appear unsanctioned, and participants may feel that their work is for naught and therefore be reluctant to participate."

Sustaining the Community

The sponsor also helps create a knowledge management plan, the most important part of the CoP creation process. The plan has three significant aspects. First, CoP goals are set that are directly related to the goals, both strategic and tactical, of the overall organization. Second, key players of the community are selected to help market the CoP and encourage others to participate. Third, the long-term vision of the group is documented, along with the value proposition, w hich provides reasons why others should become active community members and answer the question "what's in it for me?" Creating the community may seem a daunting task, but sustaining it is more challenging for the organization.

Although many activities facilitate the evolution and growth of successful CoPs, those that center around the completion of a feedback loop are the most valuable. At every level of the CoP, timely and critical feedback is necessary if the community is to survive and thrive. From the executive level (sponsor, champions, influence leaders) to the community itself (knowledge managers, subject matter experts, other members), an open environment, in which all are willing to accept critical feedback, is essential.

The KM Plan

The knowledge management (KM) plan must be developed with the overall strategic vision of the organization in mind. However, although the knowledge needs and objectives of the organization for the planning horizon (usually one year) are important, the real value of the KM plan is realized when it is revisited several times throughout its life.

Quarterly reviews of the KM plan enable the community to adjust to changing needs or market conditions while providing some stability for the activities supporting knowledge submission, review, sharing, and collaboration. Less frequent reviews might cause the community to miss opportunities to adapt to specific knowledge needs of the organization. More frequent reviews could lead to an ineffective community, for the following reasons. The most valuable knowledge is not so temporal or faddish that it will change dramatically over a short period. Rather, the kind of knowledge that should be solicited and shared is typically that which concerns the basic activities and aspirations of the organization. Furthermore, most successful knowledge gathering and sharing efforts are time-consuming, often lasting several weeks or even months. Frequent changes in direction result in unnecessary "churn" of knowledge content and a waste of knowledge workers' time.