Communities of Practice

All communities of practice have the three elements above, but they come in a variety of shapes and sizes – large, small, local, and international. Some of them meet face-to-face while others communicate online. Some are formal, some are informal and others are even completely invisible. Communities of practice are everywhere and have been around for as long as humans have worked and learned together. Two categories of communities of practice exist – self-organizing and sponsored.

1. Self-organizing communities of practice deal with the shared interests of members. They act as a forum for sharing lessons, examining problems and solutions and generally learning from each other. They adapt as members come and go and interests evolve.
2. Sponsored communities of practice are developed and supported by the management of the organization. They are intended to achieve measurable results and have more formal roles and responsibilities.

Focal points around which either type of community of practice are commonly organized are: professions, work-related functions (production, distribution, purchasing), recurring problems, topics (knowledge management, technology) and industries.

Communities of Practice in Organizations

The concept of communities of practice has been adopted by business people because of the realization that knowledge is a valuable asset to an organization. Communities of practice focus on people and their social structures, enabling them to share and gain knowledge from each other. Most organizations today have some form of communities of practice. They can be found:

• within organizations – as people address recurring problems together
• across business units within organizations – by people working in cross-functional teams
• across organizational boundaries

Communities of practice are different from organizational structures in the way that they define their activity, exist over time and set their boundaries. People are members of communities of practice at the same time as belonging to other structures within the organization, e.g. business units, teams and networks. In business units they will help to shape the organization. In teams they will oversee projects. In their networks they will develop relationships. In their communities of practice they will develop the knowledge that helps them to carry out these other tasks.

The Objectives of Communities of Practice

Communities of practice meet a number of purposes with regard to the creation, gathering and dissemination of knowledge in an organization:

• They are points for the exchange and interpretation of information. They enable colleagues to share ideas, problems and solutions, research and other aspects of mutual interest.
• They can retain knowledge in active ways and preserve the tacit knowledge that formal systems cannot secure.
• They can protect experience and expertise to help keep organizations at the forefront of their field.
• They can provide individuals with a sense of identity that they do not get from their business units or teams.
• They produce measurable and tangible business benefits to the organization.

The learning potential of an organization is structured by communities of practice through the knowledge developed at their core, and through the communications at their boundaries. When the two are properly synchronized, communities of practice become invaluable organizational property.

Developing Communities of Practice

Communities of practice tend to arise naturally but organizations can also work to develop them. Their development depends on internal leadership, which must have validation from the community. Therefore managers must work within communities of practice, rather than trying to influence them from the outside. The main steps towards creating communities of practice are as follows:

• defining the scope – establishing the theme of knowledge
• finding members – finding out who are the subject experts, knowledge managers, possible contributors and facilitators
• identifying common interests and needs – what members are interested in and the principal issues within the theme of the community
• clarifying the purpose and mission statement of the community

Actively sustaining interest in communities of practice is very important once the initial set-up stage has passed.

Sustaining Interest

• Ensure continued interest and involvement from members.
• Grow the community – replace lost members, integrate new members and rotate roles and responsibilities within the community.
• Constantly develop and create a relevant body of knowledge.
• Continually add value and develop the theme of the community in parallel with the changing organizational goals.

Communities of practice are natural – arising spontaneously and evolving organically. The successful growth of communities of practice requires an organization to provide enough support and guidance to ensure their value to the business. It is very important not to force too much structure on them as this may be detrimental to the informal relationships that are at the core of the community.

Developing the practice at the same time as developing the community is vital to the success of the community. Developing the practice entails examination of the resources that the community uses and grows. The resources are not only tangible resources such as databases, documents or websites but also the practices and processes within that community. Developing the community entails focusing on its social structure. The key roles that should always be part of the community are leader, facilitator and knowledge manager.

• The leader is the spokesperson for the community, who is responsible for the organization and coordination of the community’s activities.
• The facilitator assists the communications and exchanges within the community, e.g. in meetings.
• The knowledge manager takes care of all the tangible or explicit resources that the community uses and produces.

Sometimes communities of practice disappear naturally, due to their organic nature. Occasionally a natural conclusion is reached, or communities break up and are replaced by smaller sub-communities based on specialist subjects arising within a particular theme of knowledge. When a community of practice reaches the end of its lifecycle it is essential to ensure that the achievements and relevant body of knowledge created are not lost to the organization.