What is a Community of Practice?
A Community of Practice is a group (community) of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic (domain), and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.1
The aim is to improve practice through meeting together and discussing topics of interest. Other formats include meetups, webinars, Slack communication, Teams communication and email.
The ADF CoP supports turning conversations into collaboration. It will:
- keep you connected with likeminded colleagues and peers
- allow you to share your experience and learn from others
- allow you to collaborate and achieve common outcomes
- accelerate your learning
- validate and build on existing knowledge and good practice
- provide an opportunity to innovate and create new ideas.
CoP guiding principles:3
1. Voluntary and community led
2. Self-driven
3. Evolves and is responsive to needs
4. Focus on information needs of communities/LDATs
5. Delivers value for members
6. Flexible: offers differing levels of participation
7. Have rhythms: regular, both formal and informal
8. Have internal and external voices.
Figure right: What is a CoP7
CoP lifecycle and participation
CoPs have a natural lifecycle, beginning with a new idea and ending when the group feels it has reached its objectives or no longer providing value.2 In terms of the ADF CoP it will be guided by topics and relevant sessions developed to support the learning and continued discussion.
Each topic raised (for example: How to work with LDATS during COVID-19) is likely to go through going through a similar development path as illustrated below:7
Figure right: CoP Stages of Development7
Topics and participation
When a topic is completed, we should celebrate its success, recognise key contributors and encourage participation in other topic sessions.
CoP members exhibit multiple levels of participation and can move freely across the levels as needs and interests evolve.4
Figure right: Levels of Participation4
The value of a CoP for staff, LDATs and the ADF
“The strength of communities of practice is self-perpetuating. As they generate knowledge, they reinforce and renew themselves. That’s why communities of practice give you not only the golden eggs but also the goose that lays them.”5
Figure right: Building community, a primer update 20186
- Wenger-‐Trayner B. Communities of practice a brief introduction [Internet]. Wenger-trayner.com. [cited 2021 Nov 26]. Available from: https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf
- Coakes E, Clarke S. An introduction to communities of practice. In: Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management, Second Edition. IGI Global; 2010. p. 482–8.
- Synder W. Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice [Internet]. Researchgate.net. 2014 [cited 2021 Nov 26]. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265678077_Seven_Principles_for_Cultivating_Communities_of_Practice
- Team BE. Slide: Levels of participation [Internet]. Wenger-trayner.com. [cited 2021 Nov 26]. Available from: https://wenger-trayner.com/resources/slide-forms-of-participation/
- Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard business review [Internet]. 2000 Jan 1 [cited 2021 Nov 26]; Available from: https://hbr.org/2000/01/communities-of-practice-the-organizational-frontier
- Eisenberg R. Building Community: A Primer - 2018 update. World Bank, Washington, DC; 2018.
- Knaster R. Communities of practice - scaled agile framework [Internet]. Scaledagileframework.com. 2015 [cited 2021 Nov 26]. Available from: https://www.scaledagileframework.com/communities-of-practice/