Guidelines and Tips on How to Start and Sustain a Community of Practice (CoP) PDF

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September 2012 Guidelines and tips on how to start and sustain a community of practice (COP) By Dr. Serafin Talisayon, Knowledge Management Specialist Email: [email protected] Knowledge is know-how compared to information which is know-what.1 Knowledge is about what works while information...

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September 2012

Guidelines and tips on how to start and sustain a community of practice (COP) By Dr. Serafin Talisayon, Knowledge Management Specialist Email: [email protected]

Knowledge is know-how compared to information which is know-what.1 Knowledge is about what works while information is about what is. Knowledge of what works resides in people’s heads, as well as in actionable documents such as manuals, work templates, practice guidelines, etc. When people who are engaged in the same practice or profession come together to talk, the opportunity to learn from one another about what works, what works better or what does not work in their area of practice, is created. This is the reason why professionals in a field of specialization tend to come together to talk in conferences, to set up professional associations, to exchange knowledge regularly through journals, or simply to come together informally to exchange technical tips, “war stories”, “trade secrets” or latest gossips in their field. In knowledge management (or KM), such formal or informal groupings are called “communities of

COPs are set up, encouraged, facilitated, or supported because CoPs are useful mechanisms for knowledge sharing, knowledge sourcing or knowledge transfer. practice” (or CoP). The label “community of practice” connotes two elements: (a) a group of people who are regularly meeting or communicating with one another, and (b) a common area of practice. Some describe or prescribe CoPs as consisting of people who have similar interests. From a KM perspective, the

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According to leading knowledge management gurus, knowledge increases capacity for effective action. Here are their definitions of “knowledge”: “Justified belief that increases an entity’s capacity for effective action” (Nonaka, Ikujiro. A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization Science, 5 (1), 14-37. 1994). “I define knowledge as a capacity to act” (Sveiby, Karl Erik. The New Organizational Wealth: Managing & Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 1997). “Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody — either by becoming grounds for action, or by making an individual (or an institution) capable of different or more effective action” (Drucker, Peter F. The New Realities. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. 1989). “Knowledge is information in action” (O’Dell, Carla and Grayson, C. Jackson Jr. If Only We Knew What We Know. New York: Free Press. 1998).

essential purpose of CoPs is to share knowledge, that is, to share what works in practice. Sharing information that is only interesting but not actionable to members is not a KM objective, and hence similarity of interest is not enough to make a group be properly called a community of practice.

ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATORS Acquire new knowledge from sources outside the organization

1. Starting a Community of Practice A common observation about CoPs is that many flounder or die after it is started. For example, when funding from a donor ends or when a champion2 leaves, CoP activities decrease or eventually stop. The presence of an IT support system such as a CoP website or an egroup does not guarantee ORGANIZATIONAL sustainability of a CoP where MEMORY members feel a weak “sense of Use knowledge 3 community.” champions to create and update directories From past experiences and from for appropriate observations of this author, the knowledge centers presence of one or more of the following “organizational energy”4 factors increases the likelihood that a new CoP will “take off” successfully and continue to be active over a long period:

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A group motive. Is there a good reason(s) for the group to want to communicate or work together? Is it to solve an actual common problem? Or is it to identify topics for fruitful research and publication? To look for a topic relevant to a specific donor and craft a responsive proposal? A prior or existing sense of community. Practitioners who have been meeting

KNOWLEDGE CHAMPIONS

OPINION LEADERS Use knowledge champions to facilitate knowledge sharing and organizational memory by working with opinion leaders to codify and institutionalize new knowledge

USERS Use knowledge champions to facilitate knowledge sharing and organizational memory by identifying and satisfying the knowledge needs, wants, and expectations

Figure 1. Nory B. Jones, Richard T. Herschel, Douglas D. Moesel, (2003) "Using “knowledge champions” to facilitate knowledge management", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 7 Iss: 1, pp.49 - 63.

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A “champion” is someone with natural enthusiasm, interest or energy on the CoP area of practice. He encourages others, initiates or supports action, advocates, recruits members, etc. more out of personal interest than financial or material compensation. 3

More than a decade ago, this author had the experience of implementing a project to design and set up a website for an NGO network. The funding agency planned to provide support for two phases: the website phase and the training/community building phase for the group to use the website. The money for phase two did not materialize. As a result, the website was set up but the network of NGOs hardly used the website. The lessons I learned from this mistake are: (a) community building of prospective users of a website must precede the setting up of the website, and (b) the users ‒ not the funding agency ‒ must make the final decision on whether to have a website at all, and if so, what should be its priority content, functionalities and features. 4

After reviewing successful KM cases in Asia and the Philippines, “organizational energy” was the term proposed to embrace the motivational factors that contributed to success. See: Talisayon, S. (2009). Organizational energy and other meta-learning: case studies of knowledge management implementation in nine Asian countries. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 21-28.

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together informally, or who have met face-to-face at least once such as during a conference about a topic close to their area of practice, are easier to organize into a CoP than those who have met only online, have never met, or are strangers to one another. Belonging to the same field of practice can pave the way to having a sense of community. For this reason, CoPs are often organized along thematic lines or areas of specialization. •

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A champion (see figure 1). If an expert(s) can be invited, who is in the area of practice, who demonstrates enthusiasm, energy and commitment to the practice and who is willing to join and lead or help the group, the new CoP will have a better chance of taking off. Political support and/or funding support. An actual or potential source(s) of clear political support, such as assistance from a government agency with policy or program to support the CoP objectives, or an influential politician willing to provide support to the CoP, would be an advantage. If this is accompanied by government budgetary or funding support, whether one-time or better if regular, then the CoP will likely succeed. Political support may change or disappear if political leadership changes. Funding support from donors does end after some time. A bankable idea. If the CoP will work on an idea that CoP members can see could be converted into a project proposal that the private sector or the development banking sector can fund and in which the CoP can participate in if funded, that idea itself can create the energy or motivation for CoP members to want to work together.5

2. Sustaining a Community of Practice The United Nations agency with longest and worldwide experience in sustaining thematic communities of practice is UNDP. After about a decade of such experiences, the lessons learned by UNDP6 were largely along behavioral dimensions and not along ICT support systems: • Network membership must visibly impact the

work of a member, e.g. if the network emphasizes a problem-orientation [demand-driven or needsdriven CoP]; • Face-to-face interaction among members for

establishing mutual trust; • Publicly acknowledging contributors in

consolidated responses to a member’s query or problem [intangible reward]; • Recruitment of dedicated members, e.g. as

“knowledge network facilitators” and “network champions” [engage highly motivated people]; • A network needs to be topically or thematically

focused [members are engaged in similar practice]; • Option to post or read

posts anonymously [“lurking”] because people communicate, learn and share differently [adjust to different comfort levels in participation and disclosure].

TRUST is essential in COPs

5 The

KM project has experienced difficulties setting up COPs due to the absence of a group motive or impetus to sustain the knowledge sharing process. For example, despite investing in a face-to-face meeting for KM practitioners (i.e. KM Learning Exchange held March 2012), the knowledge sharing was not sustained. COPS for Decision Support Tools was also conceived through an orientation meeting to setup training core of trainors. There was not enough time, financial resources and buy-in opportunity for people to engage in a course of action for these potential CoPractitioners. They will help setting up decision library of lessons learned on the use of the decision support tools and thus also promote the practice and the M&E component of the tools. A latest attempt to set up a COP for PES practitioners is being planned for but a face-to-face meeting is suggested as a first step. Similar initiatives in the CTI realm, albeit coined differently, do not progress or secure sufficient participation, due to the absence of necessary conditions for COPs to flourish. 6

Noble, Nileema, UNDP Resident Representative, Manila, Philippines. Roundtable on Knowledge Management in Development Institutions, 15 March 2006.

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A study by UK Department for International Development (DFID) to evaluate international networks concluded that five factors are important for success of international networks, which are again largely behavioral than technical:7 • Building participation: “Ensuring access to

decision-making and opportunities to reflect on achievements”; • Building relationships and trust: “Secretariat

has relationship-building as vital part of work”; • Facilitative leadership: “Emphasis on quality of

input rather than control”; • Fostering diversity and dynamism: “Give

members space to be dynamic”; • Decentralized and democratic governance:

“Push decision making outwards”; and • Capacity building: “Seek out additional expertise

that is missing” 3. Role and Modalities of ICT Support Systems ICT support systems are not essential for sustaining CoPs; in fact traditional CoPs such as professional associations have long thrived in the past before the advent of computers and the Internet. Traditional CoP practices in the pre-Internet era include face-to-face meetings, conventions and conferences, trainings and workshops, and distribution of hard copies of brochures, articles, newsletters and books.

“push” information and sometimes allow users to “pull” information via search engines, help desks and “Contact Us” functionalities, e-groups and discussion lists or online forums. Websites, includes those that support CoPs, have evolved, from the most common “information push” types, to the interactive or combination of “information push and pull” and most recently to those that facilitate collaborative work. The general trend in the evolution of communication technologies, including ICT support systems, has been from top-down one-to-many modalities towards participatory or democratic many-to-many modalities (Figure 2). 4. Examples of KM/IT Support System for CoPs A very successful (i.e. fast growth of memberships and active participations) virtual CoP model that UNDP developed in India is Solution Exchange.8 Its success is not attributable to its ICT support system which is basically only an e-group. Its main success factor is the fact that it is problem-driven and thematically-focused (12 thematic communities including disaster management but

We saw above that success of CoPs is dependent more on behavioral than technical factors. However, for CoPs with members from dispersed geographical locations, ICT support systems and tools do offer a big advantage. The most common ICT support systems and tools are: email, CoP websites that commonly Figure 2. Evolution of communication technologies 7

See: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/Outputs/Mis_SPC/R7648-finalreport.pdf

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In example of one of the thematic virtual CoPs is the Solution Exchange of the Food and Nutrition Community. This was reported by Ghosh, Gopi N. “Knowledge Management in the Food and Nutrition Community in India: the UN’s New KM Initiative” in: Talisayon, S. (editor). From Productivity to Innovation: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Technology and Innovation for Knowledge Management. Pp. 97-99. Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization, 2009.

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lists, calendar of events and online library. What can be considered as the unique or exemplar KM/IT practices or tools of APMN are: •Experts database •Survey and e-election tool

Figure 3. The website of the Asian Productivity Organization

none in disaster preparedness, disaster mitigation or disaster risk reduction). Unlike other e-groups, members cannot post just any knowledge he wants to share (knowledge supply driven), which results in overload of unneeded information or even spamming that discourages other members. Solution Exchange is knowledge demand driven. Any member experiencing a development problem can post a query in their e-group (Day 1), other members who had encountered and solved similar problems can post solutions and advice (Days 2-7) and the e-group moderator then consolidates the replies (Day 8) for his benefit and archives the Consolidated Reply in the CoP’s searchable database. Thus, any member who needs assistance on his/her problem can tap the vast combined pool of experience and knowledge of its members (1,775 members of the food and nutrition community as of February 2009).

b)CGXchange. According to its technical coordinator, Ms. Tania Jordan, they “undertook a case study in mid-2008 with Google Applications, and this platform proved to be a costeffective solution for some of the collaboration needs for staff, thus the Google Applications were implemented in 2009 and rebranded as: CGXchange 2.0. CGXchange 2.0 is not only about the Google Applications, but of a suite of collaboration tools to help network/CoP members: • Run projects across countries and time

zones, • Chat with their colleagues and partners, • Write, share and collaborate on documents, • Organize meetings, events and training

programs, • Make their work available and accessible to a

broader public.”9 c) Asian Productivity Organization, an intergovernmental organization of 19 member countries. Three of its collaboration tools are: • Collaborative writing, editing and authoring of

APO publications using Google Sites among authors who are geographically separate.

In the February 2012 KM workshop to assist the 20 centers of the SEAMEO network plan the KM/IT support system to support its inter-center knowledge sharing and knowledge partnership, ten exemplar KM/IT systems (including Solution Exchange) were identified that can support a CoP or a network.

• A dedicated webpage created for each

a) Asia-Pacific Mountain Network. Its KM/IT tools include dedicated web page, e-dialogue platform, thematic and geographic discussion

• Online e-learning courses, including video-

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forthcoming Study Meeting where downloadable background documents for the meeting are placed and where participants can upload their country papers or contributions and resource persons can upload their presentations and other handouts. conference among course participants through video conferencing facilities set up in various

See https://sites.google.com/site/exemplarkmpractices4networks/read-about-the-km-exemplars/cgxchange

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Figure 4. The website of the Knowledge Sharing Toolkit.

participating National Productivity Organizations in member countries.

facilitate cost savings and operational simplification. It can be used by members to: • Find and connect with people,

d) EVIPNet is a set of regional CoPs/network set up by WHO, consisting of government health policy-makers, health researchers and civil society in order to facilitate both policy development and policy implementation through the use of the best scientific evidence available. EVIPNet comprises CoPs/networks that bring together country-level teams especially in developing countries. The exemplar KM practices at EVIPNet are:

• Find information about loan and grant

projects, and IFAD country programmes, • Read content others have posted, • Comment on and rate what others have

posted, • Find out what is going on, where and when, • Search for content on a particular theme or

keyword,

• Linking of government health policy makers

and government health researchers

• Voice your opinion or discuss your

experiences,

• Sharing amongst them of policy briefs and

accompanying guidelines and policy templates, research synthesis, and learning tools such as knowledge translation toolkits and online tutorials e) IFADAsia. According Ms. Chase Palmeri, KM facilitator of IFADAsia portal, it was set up to answer the needs of the community of agriculture practitioners, provide means of connecting existing CoPs/networks to each other, to information and knowledge and also to

• Post your own content, or share interesting

materials you find online, and • Promote content to different sites.10

f)

Knowledge Sharing Toolkit is an online wiki11 resource on knowledge sharing tools and methods, continuously being co-authored and co-edited by many writers and sponsored by CGIAR, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP and KM4Dev. The Toolkit currently has 317 registered member-

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https://sites.google.com/site/exemplarkmpractices4networks/read-about-the-km-exemplars/ifad-asia-portal

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A "wiki" is a website where anyone can write, add or edit content; it is a virtual space for collaborative authoring.

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writers. So far, it has accumulated over 50 contributions in major headings under "Knowledge Sharing Tools" and over 90 contributions in major headings under "Knowledge Sharing Methods." Its exemplar KM practices are: • Use of wiki to collaboratively

build group knowledge about a field of practice • Growing a dictionary-

encyclopedia on knowledge sharing tools and methods g) IW:Learn. According to Ms. Khristine Custodio, project manager the IW:Learn project in the Southeast Asian region, GEF IW:Learn is a program that "promotes experience sharing and learning among GEF International Waters projects and the country officials, agencies, and partners working on them" and the objective of which is to "strengthen transboundary waters management (TWM) by facilitating portfolio learning and information management amongst GEF IW projects and partners" across the globe." Some of its exemplar KM/IT practices are the following: • Content management

system supporting knowledge sharing in the GEF IW portfolio; • Training and technical

support ser...