STARTING A COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
A Community of Practice is a network of individuals with common problems or interests who get together to explore ways of working, identify common solutions, and share good practice and ideas. Typically they would share a specific area of knowledge.
The benefits of a CoP lie in providing an environment (virtual and/or face-to-face) that connects people – individuals, their organisations and the community itself – and encourages the development and sharing of new ideas and strategies. This environment supports faster problem solving, cuts down on duplication of effort, and provides potentially endless access to expertise.
Communities usually evolve from the recognition of a specific need or problem. There seems to be no community in the Rehabilitation Counseling arena. I now show I would go about creating one in this field. Before setting up a community, I would consider the following:
Scope – What do I want to achieve? Who is my audience? What are the boundaries?
Participants – Who can make a major contribution? Do they share common needs and interests?
Roles and responsibilities – Who are the experts, leaders, champions, facilitators?
Interest and involvement – How will I attract interest? How will I engage participants? How will I develop my community?
Creating and sharing knowledge – How will I interact, learn and share?
Moving forward – How will I add value? How will I evolve?
Communities can have a limited shelf-life and this is not always a bad thing. Sometimes a natural ending is reached – for instance when a group of people or a practice reach a conclusion. As long as the learning is captured and redistributed to the user, the success of the collaboration can inform others in the future.
Adapted from Knowledge Management Strategy, IDEA, UK.
A Community of Practice is a network of individuals with common problems or interests who get together to explore ways of working, identify common solutions, and share good practice and ideas. Typically they would share a specific area of knowledge.
The benefits of a CoP lie in providing an environment (virtual and/or face-to-face) that connects people – individuals, their organisations and the community itself – and encourages the development and sharing of new ideas and strategies. This environment supports faster problem solving, cuts down on duplication of effort, and provides potentially endless access to expertise.
Communities usually evolve from the recognition of a specific need or problem. There seems to be no community in the Rehabilitation Counseling arena. I now show I would go about creating one in this field. Before setting up a community, I would consider the following:
Scope – What do I want to achieve? Who is my audience? What are the boundaries?
Participants – Who can make a major contribution? Do they share common needs and interests?
Roles and responsibilities – Who are the experts, leaders, champions, facilitators?
Interest and involvement – How will I attract interest? How will I engage participants? How will I develop my community?
Creating and sharing knowledge – How will I interact, learn and share?
Moving forward – How will I add value? How will I evolve?
Communities can have a limited shelf-life and this is not always a bad thing. Sometimes a natural ending is reached – for instance when a group of people or a practice reach a conclusion. As long as the learning is captured and redistributed to the user, the success of the collaboration can inform others in the future.
Adapted from Knowledge Management Strategy, IDEA, UK.
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