posted 5th September 2024
Introduction
Communities of Practice can be so amazing. At the same time, they can be a total drain and end up being a crock of the proverbial.
Some of my greatest learning has come by the way of being part of a Community of Practice (let's abbreviate to CoP to save my fingers and keyboard a little). I've been hugely lucky to be part of some really awesome groups and met some of my most influential mentors and collaborators at CoP's over the years and I am a huge advocate of these. However, without the right ingredients in play, they can be soul-destroying. With this in mind, let's jump in and explore this one a bit further.
So what is a Community of Practice (CoP)?
According to the bible that is Wikipedia a CoP is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger 1991). Wenger then significantly expanded on the concept in his 1998 book Communities of Practice (Wenger 1998).
So a group of folk who come together to share experiences and ideas as well as explore topics together around shared concern or passion. now we know what they are and what they are supposed to provide let's take a look at these in a bit more depth.
How have they helped me personally?
From my point of view, they have helped shape and grow my knowledge, approach, and ultimately career so much. Working in the world of business agility I have been able to:
• Learn and explore new concepts
• Learn about other's experiences and grow from their sharing
• Be introduced to many of my mentors and grow great relationships from there
• Accelerate the extension of my network and meet some really cool folk along the way
All of the above have helped my career no end. However, it has not been all take and no give. I have also been able to:
• Share my experience, concepts, and approaches I have leveraged in the past
• Explore new concepts I am looking at introducing with the community that the community may not be familiar with
• Offer my help as a mentor and provide guidance to those who have wanted it in the past
• Help others grow their networks and introduce folk to each other
• Bring in outside insights to the group to help grow our collective and individual knowledge enhancing our capabilities
With all of the above in play, you can see how powerful the CoP's I have been involved in have been for me and the group.
Facilitating a CoP
CoP's often need a facilitator, especially early on. In my experience, it has often been a team effort. For a few years, I was part of the facilitation team for the Heart of Agile Scotland CoP. It was a great experience and I made some friends for life in being part of that community. However, that is not the only CoP that I have facilitated or been part of the facilitation team. I have been part of many, both internal company CoP's and external CoP's and I have seen some key patterns and learned from these that I cover further a bit later on. However, one of these patterns I will elaborate on now.
Without energy and deliberate thought, you will be pushing yoghurt uphill. Often you will need someone in that group (Ideally multiples) with a drive and energy to bring life to the community. The community is based around a shared interest or concern and often this will be a group of folk coming together to learn with each other and from each other but without some direction and focus they can regularly wither and die. Great if yours has been different but in my experience without galvanisation this can happen relatively early on. As I say, this is just in my experience and it is amazing if that has not been your experience. However, if you find the community is withering whilst the group still sees demand then maybe it's you who could step up and be the cheerleader they need.
Remote vs In Person
Not that the COVID pandemic started the move to a lot of CoP's becoming remote but it definitely impacted a few I was part of and maybe accelerated the amount that are now remote first. So now the world has changed CoP's are not always in person. However, they are really awesome if you can do them in person. As the pandemic eased the desire for folk to meet in person again has seen a shift in balance again.
When a CoP is remote I have noticed a few patterns:
• Not everyone will interact by speaking so offer multiple ways for folk to interact but don't hound them to. Invite but don't force
• If you want the session to be interactive, (which tends to be my preference) when you open breakouts you will lose a fair few folks
• Have a facilitator monitor the chat function as there are often great insights there that not everyone will catch
• A whiteboarding tool (Miro, Mural, etc. other brands are available too) with a well-thought-out flow will help galvanise the group
• Keep them shorter as the fatigue can kick in sooner rather than later with the in-person counter part
When in person I have found that the energy of the CoP is great when you have:
• A great venue that works for the group
• An easy-to-find venue as people will get lost
• Provide food and refreshments (beer & pizza have worked well for me and the groups I have been part of in the past but work out with your group what works for them. Also be sure to provide for everyone when thinking about non alcoholic beverages and consider dietary requirements). Plus err on the side of more than less when it comes to the food side of things
• Interactive topics with everyone involved
• Have access to all of the tools you want people to leverage for the session (sharpies, post its, whiteboards, Lego, etc.)
• Provide enough time for networking, people like to just have a chat for a bit and catch up
• A bit of background music doesn't hurt either
I've also experienced that for a group of folks coming together from different companies if this is not an internal company CoP, is that having a sponsor can really help the sponsoring company as well as the CoP. By this I mean by proving the venue that can host the CoP or by funding the food and beverage. This can signal that the company is passionate about learning as well as highlighting its business and giving people a view of its location. In doing this the company can often help their own people as well as others outside the company. It can also possibly highlight to an untapped community if they are in the market in the future then this company maybe a good choice for them to work with in the future. Plus who doesn't like a free bit of pizza (you guessed it, other food types are available) and a drink to wash it down with? Obviously, there is a slight cost to provide this but the positives far outweigh the spend.
Interactive vs Talks
With the Heart of Agile Scotland, one of our guiding principles was that the session had to be interactive and not a one-way lecture. That worked for us. However, for many others that is not the case. I remember speaking to a guy who was part of a London-based group of agilists and when they tried that approach people did not like it and voted with their feet so to speak. I think the key thing here is to find out what your people want and experiment early on and get feedback quickly. If you find yourself as one of the facilitators for the group then don't just go with what is in your head. If you work in the business agility space then I am pretty sure I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here right.
I suppose what I am highlighting is that some folk might jump to the conclusion that if not everyone is being heard then is the CoP a success? Some community members will just like to listen and get so much from that. For others, the energy and learning comes from involvement and interaction. You can't please everyone so your group needs to learn and share what they need for the community to be of value to them. If there is a facilitation person or team in play, then they need to understand that and act upon it fast for the community to thrive.
Tips and Insights
Some tips I have found that have worked over the years:
• CoP's can't be mandatory, otherwise it's just another meeting and it's unlikely you'll get the results you want
• Create sessions that are fun, inclusive, and practical for people to take away and use
• If you are facilitating the CoP communicate well with the group and keep up the flow of communication
• If you are part of the CoP be involved as much as you can as the more you put in, the more you will get back
• As a facilitator CoP's are graft but very rewarding. You may find you need a cheerleader in the group with energy or they die. Well that has been my experience at least
• They can be soul-destroying as sometimes a lot of effort can be in play but without the right ingredients they can wither and die very quickly
• Having a group of facilitators can help but don't make it a closed committee. Invite everyone in the community to be a part of it if they want to get involved and contribute. Not everyone will take you up on this but those who want to will put their hands up
• Have multiple feedback loops in play and utilise them early and often
With the right group of facilitators, you can create a community that will flourish, nurture, and grow its people. This group of facilitators will evolve over time as mostly folk will be providing this support in their spare time so that demand needs to flex often. However, the rewards from that effort can be awesome and so fulfilling. So if you have the capacity you can regularly commit to, get involved if the community needs it. I doubt you'll regret it.
What have your experiences been with Communities of Practice in the past and what are they like currently? Let me know, I'd love to get your take on these. As ever, if you'd like to discuss any of the above or anything else then just drop me a line.