louis de merode: louis de merode: prepare stories prepare stories

8/14/2019 Louis de Merode: Louis de Merode: Prepare Stories Prepare Stories

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Communities of Practice

Louis de [email protected]

© 2000 Silver Creek Associates

Louis de Merode:

Prepare stories

Add elements of infrastructure, link withstrategies

Careful about time

Louis de Merode:

Prepare stories

Add elements of infrastructure, link withstrategies

Careful about time



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Communities of Practice: What Kind of a Community?

CONNECTION

TASK

ACTION- ORIENTED

SPECULATIV E

CPCO

MM

UN

IT

IE

S



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More on What they are, are not

•Group with a common action-related interest•Committed to help each other learn

•Membership fixed or fluid

•Participation voluntary

•Co-located or virtual•No joint output accountability

Not a network

Not a team



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How did they come about?

Complexity, globalization

Downsizing, reengineering

Technology

New Theories about Knowledge

New Theories about Learning



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What Can they do for You?

Solve problems

Spread good ideas

Save avoidable mistakes

Produce innovation

Increase individual competence

Help attract and keep good people

Develop strategic competencies

Break down organizational silos

Improve quality

Improve the quality of work life

IN A WORD, THEY SHARE AND CREATE KNOWLEDGE

Initiate newcomers

Provide a home base for learning needs



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What is Knowledge that it can be shared?

Two Kinds:Explicit Tacit

Can becommunicated

symbolically Too subtle, beyond (self)awareness, toodeeply embedded



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Where Does Knowledge Reside?

WHICH IS BETTER OFF?

•A company changing all its people?•A company whose headquarters have just burned?

People’s heads Communities Objects in communities



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How do Communities Share and Create Knowledge?

NONE OF THIS IS NEW, BUT OFTEN IT HAPPENS INFORMALLY

(inefficiently) AND IT DOESN’T HAPPEN ENOUGH

They ask for helpwhen they are stuck They explore

topics together

They draw lessons

together from their experiences They share theideas that haveworked for them

They warn each other of the blind alleys they havegone down and the failuresthey have experienced

They recordwhat they learntogether



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Different Legitimate Roles

occasional contributors

lurkers

leaderscore members



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CoP Success: the Keys

Trust

Commonalities of interestDeveloped personal relationshipsRecord of mutual support

Safe, non-judgmental space

Efficient processes

Common languageKnown resourcesGroup normsProblem-solving routines

Multiple communicationchannels

Strategy

Shared purpose,“passion”

Shared needClear value potentialAgreed strategies

Fit



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Strategy

W hat is it that we are doing and for whom? (mission)

W hy are we doing it? (purpose)

W ho are we? (identity)

W hat do we stand for? (values)

H ow important is our purpose for us? (motivation)

W hat/where do we want to be? (vision)

H ow do we get there? (strategies)

H ow do we know if we are making progress (measures)?



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Trust

Identity: having traits in common,

C ommitment: caring about the success of thecommunity, about its individuals

A safe environment in which to admit toignorance



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Designing efficient processes

Support

How much time and moneyis the organization preparedto make available?

What specialized support

can be mobilized?

Technology

What is the infrastructure? What is the choice of media? What are the suitable

alternatives? How to choose? How to support?

Strategies

What are group strategies?

How to implement them?

What opportunities are offered by technology?

How to interface with work?

Group constraints, preferences?How comfortable with new technology - how much structure? How intrusive?How integrated with work? How much time is available?



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Fit: How Congenial is the Organization?

H ow supportive is management?

H ow is contribution recognized and rewarded?

H ow does knowledge sharing fit with the culture?



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The Leadership Dance

Lead towards thenext level of learning

Develop externalrelations

PracticeCommunity

Seek participation

Coach participants oneffective behaviors

Model sharing, learning,participating

Harvest learningsTake lead in organizingcommunity events,building trust

Manage entryand re-entry

Weave the threads of the

conversation together



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Community Development Tasks

Developing repertoire :gradually becoming more sophisticated about what worksand what doesn’t for the community.

Progressing through the learning levels:

Haphazard,incremental (exchanges of tipsand ad-hocproblem-solving)

Pro-active,strategic or transformational ,(through the developmentof learning agendas)

Parochial

Boundaryless



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STRETCHING THE CP VISION:Constellations and Fractals

G lobal CPs can beunwieldy. At ShellOil, they connectfractal-like with localCPs who have their

own core groups,etc.

CPs can link with eachother, and cover complex, articulateddomains, such asstrategic competencies.

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