national strategies presentation

www.stuart-hall.comCopyright © 2010 Stuart G. Hall

A community of practice for the National Strategies

Presented by:Stuart Hall

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/


The first four weeks

What’s the starting point for the first four weeks?


The first four weeks So what’s the starting point for the first four weeks of

activity? Suggest first undertake a review of the current

community in the first two weeks This would be presented to the team and then the dept

after the consultation internally What would want to propose is some clear ways

forward in first 3 months to meet objective of more members, better engagement in terms of quality of discussions



Agreeing the plan for developing the community


The first four weeks So first step after review is to present an agreed plan

of action to implement improvements Coupled with this of course would be to assess the

current objectives and update these in line with improvement plan

Key not too make the plan or the objectives too complicated, otherwise risk it gets bogged down in the detail

Ends follow the means – simple clear plan = simple clear path to implementation



Creating a roadmap to show the way forward


The first four weeks Strategy needs to consider how & discuss with all internal

players from tech dev to national strategies leads how this can and will be implemented

Part of that is considering overall objectives for national strategies site and demonstrating where community objectives & metrics meet those too

So needs to be a roadmap for the community development, showing where are, where aiming to go to, and how going to get there!

Based on understanding motivations of community, how do they segment? Who are top influencers?



Understanding how the community manager will deliver to the plan


The first four weeks A key part of the plan would be to agree also what the

expectations of the community manager role is As the strategy is both looking (1) means to improve

the community and (2) how to sustain those through the community manager role

Key to success of this is the community manager as the means to tie those two together – using the metrics to monitor progress

Should be a quarterly review (‘health-check’) where progress and activity is assessed accordingly



Re-launching as a community of practice of value to all members


The first four weeks Key to community strategy is to understand how this

works better in the framework of a ‘community of practice’ in practice

Part and parcel of this is opening up discussions so that people can connect and share more ‘horizontally’ – currently is basically in a blog/traditional forum (non-linear threading) format

Part of enhancing quality of conversations for example would be to consider making linear threads only – so kept conversations focused & enhanced chance for community mgr to capture value



Problem solving as a shared experience!


The first four weeks This strategy to move to more clearly a community of

practice means suggestions for interaction such as making profiles available publicly as means to networking

Believe make it easier to problem solve by making easier to share problems, and focus on those via profiles who may have expertise

This can be backed up by community mgr introducing a calendar function which shows key events - tactics



An engagement strategy for readers as well as contributors



With a focus on shared problem solving is a chance to informally support the e-learning aspects of the community to much greater extent

Key is understanding that with communities most people are readers not contributors – there are communities of practice offline though where can use the problem solving

But still encourage peers to respond to new content that is posted, particularly if it is posted by a newer member of the community - email, direct messaging



A strategy for sustaining engagement


The first four weeks Value role of community manager, with tactics like

introduction and announcements forum - encouraging participation in community events, discussions and activities

Working to keep online discussions engaging to working to network community members with Topical Experts – ask the expert section

(Maybe that main discussion area organised according to topics so can find what looking for easier)

To enhance quality of engagement use champions drawn from likes of group leaders – offer training to them & staff so moderation supports this aim


End of my presentation: any questions?