Perhaps the term "community of practice" is less well known in Romania, but I am sure that after explaining what it is about you will realize that you are also a member of at least a few communities.
Why do they say that? Because there are communities everywhere and they are part of our lives. Some communities are clearly defined, others less. In some communities you get involved more, you are one of its important members, in other communities you get less involved and you are content to participate without too much involvement.
Above all, communities do not mean communism. People collaborate and help each other naturally. We are not lonely enough, and we could not achieve so much if we did not share our efforts, resources, intelligence, and accumulated knowledge. On the contrary, communism, although in theory it was the most advanced form of social organization, proved to be a failure, and that is because it tried to isolate people (to be easier to control).
The simple truth is the following - Together Everyone Achieve More - together everyone gets more. I think you've met this slogan many times. Modern companies have abandoned strict hierarchical rigid structures and have adopted a more flexible and dynamic form of organization based on matrix structures, the core element of these matrix structures being the team (TEAM).
Together Everyone Achieve More - is equally valid for communities as well as teams. I would say, without fear that I would be wrong, that the long-term results of a community of practice are better both for the whole and for each member than for the teams.
And then why everyone talks about teams, and practice communities are ignored? Because there are differences between teams and practice communities, teams are easier to define and team results are easier to measure.
Let's see what the main differences are:
- A team is on the road with clear goals (at least that should), it will have to reach some well-established targets and achieve some specific results in a given time. Practice communities are organically created structures, they evolve along with their members. At the beginning of a community, there will be as many goals as members will have the community. Objectives will change over the course - in particular, the objectives common to many members will emerge.
- Team members are established from the start and generally remain the same throughout the team. Instead, a community does not have a fixed number (fixed from the beginning) by members, some members can leave the community along, and other members can join. Furthermore, in a community the role of members can change over time while within a team each member has his / her specific role.
- A team is a structure with a much shorter life than a community. A team is disbanded when all the goals originally proposed have been met (the purpose for which it was created was achieved). A community will exist as long as its members will think there is something else that they can contribute or something they can benefit from.
So what is a community of practice and why would communities need to be within a company?
"Practice communities are groups of people who share a common concern for what they are doing and learn how to do better as they interact regularly" (Etienne Wenger)
A community of practice offers many advantages.
For members:
- Networking
- Increasing professional reputation
- Increasing professional efficiency (by learning and applying best practices)
- Increasing self-confidence
- Easier access to information and knowledge
- Easier learning in a more relaxed environment
For companies:
- Strengthening organizational culture
- Increase the efficiency of training
- Easier knowledge gathering
- Reducing the search for information
- Linking the personal development of community members with the company's development strategy
- Reduce risks by improving service quality
- Increasing innovation capacity
- Retention of valuable employees - if such an employee is an active member of a community he / she will want to continue working in that community
- Reducing the cost of change - a community is an excellent vehicle for change management
Should teams with practice communities be replaced?
Under no circumstances. Teams and communities are complementary structures. They should coexist. A team is about doing, and in a community it's about learning how to do better (better than yesterday, better than competition, etc.)
More about communities (how to build, how to lead, how to choose members, what attributions, rules, barriers to success) will write in a future article.
The idea is to make an effective community that is otherwise easy - gather some people, let them know and finally they start talking to each other and exchanging information.
A community of practice can not be forced to grow. Participating in a community is voluntary, and volunteering may not be compulsory, is it? In addition, no one can force me to tell others what I know. I'm only saying if I want to.
Then what is the solution? Even tells Etienne Wenger:
"... you can not force a plant to grow by pulling its leaves ... what you can do is create the infrastructure in which it can prosper" - you can not force a plant to grow by pulling it from the leaves; what you can do is create the right environment for it to grow
Let's keep the analogy with the plants.
Inside a company, however, community of practice appears. They call themselves ad hoc communities. They offer some benefits to members, but none for the company. In fact, such communities could be regarded as weeds - they cause damage because they can inculcate and spread misconceptions, wrong behaviors, can mislead information, etc.
So it is better for the company to recognize the existence and importance of these communities than to ignore them and it is better to control their development than to let them grow randomly.
Did I say to control them? But by definition a community can not be controlled, control meaning its destruction.
Well, it's not strict control.
Let's get back to the plants.
First we should establish the purpose of the community - as if we choose a pot and determine how big it is and what form to have - What areas of expertise do we want to develop? How are these areas linked to the company strategy? Where would I need a better and faster transfer of knowledge? What new ideas would we like to collect?
Then we should establish the environment - as if we choose the soil in which we plant the seeds - What is the place where the members of the community will meet? How often will they meet? How will they usually communicate with each other? Ideally, community members meet face-to-face at least once a month. Face-to-face meetings are important because such members are better known and closer ties are established at the human level. However, more importantly there is a virtual meeting space. Because virtual space is accessible anywhere and anytime regardless of the members' schedule. Virtual private space can be created right inside the company's intranet along with some communication tools - document sharing, forum discussion, good practice guides, useful information, multimedia content, etc.
The next step would be to select members - what kind of seeds do we want - Who should participate? What roles should I play? How can you generate confidence? We can not forbid anyone to join a community and we can not force anyone to participate if they do not want to. But we can invite and encourage employees who have similar or similar jobs to participate because they will quickly find common topics of discussion and, exchanging information between them, they will realize that it is their benefit to participate. It is also a good idea that after a training event a community is formed with those who participated. They will then be able to discuss what they have learned and, very importantly, how to put into practice what they have learned.
Finally, we must provide the necessary resources for the community to flourish - like water and light for a plant - What kind of knowledge do we share, develop, document? From experience I can say that without a little stimulus from outside the communities are quenching. Like a plant that withers because it's not wet once in a while. Incentives means new themes of discussion, challenges for new ideas, research topics, etc. The themes are not mandatory, but they will help members focus on certain goals (and this will also be beneficial for the company) and help them keep their interest in the community alive.
What should members of a community do?
Explain what they do - what their work is like, what tasks they do, etc
To discuss their needs, aspirations and expectations
Sharing information, little tricks, tips, and how they look from inside to what they do and what the company does
To help one another, to consult one another
Exploring and solving common problems
Create tools, standards, templates, etc
Develop trust in each other, understanding, common perspective, common approaches, common practices
Assume different roles
If I have mentioned roles, there are some essential roles
Sponsor - Identifies the benefits to be gained if it invests in the community and provides the necessary resources for the community
Coordinator - organizes meetings, stimulates communication and collaboration, recruits new members
Webmaster - Provides virtual space maintenance (intranet)
Leaders - act as ambassadors for the community
Associates - those who are connected to the community without activating as full members. Their role is important because they link the community to other groups or communities
There are also barriers to community development
Time - always time is the biggest problem - Employees do not have time to participate in the community. However, if working time were to be used more efficiently, then time would also be found for the community. According to statistics, intellectuals spend 15-30% of time searching for information or people, and search is successful in less than 50% of cases. Members of a community can significantly reduce this time by sharing information and helping each other
Status - Many employees are afraid that if they tell others what they know will lose their status and become less valuable to the company. This barrier can be broken by a modern corporate culture in which the sharing of knowledge is acknowledged and valued. Benefits should not be provided at individual or group level.
Trust - People do not trust their colleagues. And this barrier can also be broken by organizational culture. There should be an ethical code, trust should be among the fundamental values the company promotes
The end...
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. "(Henry Ford)
Gathering together is a beginning, sitting together is a breakthrough, working together is a success.