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Strategic Communities of Practice

"A community of practice is: a group of people, who share similar challenges interact regularly learn from and with each other to improve their ability to address their challenges"


(Etienne Wenger)

 

 

Communities of practice have attracted growing interest in the private and public sectors, as an approach that is more effective, in many cases than top-down knowledge management. They create value for their members and stakeholders through developing and spreading new knowledge, capabilities, and fostering innovation. That's why community-based approaches are gaining momentum in organisations of all size.

 


"Communities of practice are the next step in the evolution of the modern, knowledge-based organization. It is not surprising that communities are central to successful knowledge management initiatives... [they are] a channel for knowledge to cross boundaries created by workflow, functions, geography, and
time."

(Building and Sustaining Communities of Practice, a study by APQC).

 

CommunityIntelligence consultants facilitate generative dialogue to discover and release the potential for creativity and innovation present in your organisation, which may be zipped up in functional silos.

We complement our strategic advisory role with workshops, executive briefings and online seminars on sponsoring and facilitating communities of practice, tailored to the specific situation of each client system.

 

 

Selected CoP-related projects

 

 

  • Coaching CoP facilitators in the Secretariat General of the European Commission, and in the Flemish public administration (2007)

  • Training course on "Facilitating Knowledge Networks and Communities of Practice" as part of the educational offers of the European Commission to its staff (2007)

  • Advising leaders in the European Commission on CoP development strategies (2006-08)

  • Training CoP leaders in Ford Motor Company on how to cultivate CoPs (2005)

  • Designing and organising an international executive seminar at LSE on "Communities of Practice and Community-Enabled Strategic Results from Self-Organisation" (2004)

  • Designing and organising an international executive seminar at INSEAD on Value Creation with Communities of Practice (2002)

  • Co-designing and co-teaching of the first online course on Communities of Practice, with Etienne Wenger (1998)

  • "Building Communities through Non-Management" a month-long online workshop for facilitators of communities of practice in a Fortune 500 communications hardware company (1997)