home.gif (977 bytes)contact.gif (995 bytes)search.gif (987 bytes)whatsnew.gif (1021 bytes)sitemap.gif (1004 bytes)

Warmoes & Associates - Knowledge Solutions

Nederlands On Knowledge Education Consultancy Client Stories Steven Warmoes Networks

What are Communities of Practice (CoP) ?

Communities of Practice are groups bound together by shared expertise and by passion for the subject. People share their experiences and knowledge and foster new approaches to problems. They help to

bulletsolve problems quickly by being a consultant to each other
bulletexchange experiences ex. by informal storytelling
bullettransfer good and best practices
bulletrecommend practices
bulletcreate or buy tools to improve their expertise. 
This includes the maintenance of their own website on the Intranet.
bulletmonitor the external world and the day to day internal practices to see the trends, 
and to suggest improvements, which are typically implemented in a project or process. 
Note: monitoring should not be confused with an audit that is ordered by management.
bulletorganise (internal) seminars
bulletcreate new knowledge including long term vision, standards, advice...
bullettrain, sponsor & coach newcomers with high potential in their domain
bullethelp to recruit and retain talent
bulletbe more competent than competitors and 
to attract interest from potential business partners
bulletstart new lines of business

CoP's are typically organized like a club with a committee with a coordinator and secretary, 
elected for a certain period. Some communities meet regularly - for lunch on every first Thursday, say. Electronic networks may also connect them. So, membership is part time: practice in processes and projects is vital to remain connected to "real life". Members are chosen for their expertise and potential, and can be on any place in the hierarchical system. Around the CoP are a larger number of interested people ex. that attend seminars or read documents of general interest on the website of the CoP.

Communities are especially effective when their members operationally work in different projects, processes, teams or units, technologies (ex. system engineers in UNIX & NT), ...

At the simplest level, CoP's exist informally. They can use a basic common infrastructure such as e-mail, discussion groups, and Intranet to store interesting documents. But when the domain of the CoP is Mission Critical to the organisation, the CoP is sponsored by a member of top management. This sponsorship (not to be confused with the coordination of the CoP) ensures that the CoP is very aware of the current challenges, so that they can focus their knowledge activities towards the current goals. On the other hand, important findings and proposals of the CoP find their way to Top Management for (financial) support.

Copyright © Warmoes & Associates BVBA
Webmaster  -  webmaster@warmoes.com
Last modified: februari 12, 2008