It's important that managers who run CoPs understand that the usual scientific management approach based on the main concept of efficiency won't cut it. CoPs are more like good parenting or leadership where you create conditions for good and emergent outcomes.
6. CoPs vs Teams The online tools don’t define how the group operates (many teams are using CoPs) Encourage participation Trust Required participation High interdependency Participation Facilitator Manager Manage Informal roles Defined roles Members Learning/Sharing Ad-hoc Emergence Tasks Processes Outcomes Purpose Community of Practice Team/Task
7. The low down on participation Design (Intuitive / Stickiness) Frequency of content Email interaction / Bookmarklet Peer influence Champions / Role models Viral approach Post, and send link Attract comments Re-purposing email Hand-holding Barn-raising In-the-flow / Above-the-flow Feedback (Reputation / Recognition) Group building Confidence / Comfort / Safe Trust Relationships (Give and Take) Personal relevancy / Change
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30. Activities you can try are… Offline to Online Member Intros Lounge forum Blog carnival Polls Guest posts Coffee Corner / Fill in the gap Member of the month Weekly roundup Personal stories People travelling Blog columns Engaging media (video) Email signature Newsletter Linking across CoPs Events Portal
31. Seed, feed, and weed Garden Design Communicate Welcome Assist Support Prompt Correct Guides Promote Re-purpose Suggestions Feedback Congratulate Barnraise Monitor Listen Personal needs Subscribe Specialise It's of utmost importance that a Community Manager is subscribed to every blog and forum in every community. SOURCE http://bit.ly/193dxQ
Activities Offline Choose something you do offline eg. a question time pre or post a conference/meeting…and complement this with using a forum for pre and post questions Member intros One of our CoPs makes it mandatory that new members fill in a forum topic where they can tell the group a little about themselves, experience, why they joined, aspirations Lounge forum Some of our younger generation (graduate) CoPs have non-work forums as a way to build commonality, fun and relationships The more rapport we build the more we build opportunities to collaborate and help each other out Blog carnivals (thematic topic weeks) Polls Coffee corner/Fill in the gap Fun quiz, riddle, story… Member of the month This showcases a member One of our graduate CoPs also asks questions to the community about history of a member Gets people talking to each other, and finding things out about each other Showcase hot discussions (weekly roundup posts) Share personal stories Keep track of people travelling Guest posts from other CoPs Use engaging media (videos) Link to your CoP in your email signature Create your own newsletter to reach others Promote the CoP in other newsletters Write about stuff happening in other communities Build a relationship with sister CoPs (drive traffic to each other) Guest bloggers from other CoPs Rehash old content in other ways Events / guest speakers Blog columns (frequent posts)
General facilitator duties Monitor/Listen in and always offer pointers or feedback or congratulate Understand member motivation Subscribe to everything Encourage members to specialise Gardening/Weeding (move topics, distil great posts on wiki pages) Design Communicate what’s happening Help and welcome new members Assist people in using CoP Re-purpose email Welcome Suggestions and Feedback (via a forum) Congratulate good use Barnraising Support issues Answer questions promptly Make sure content is correct (re-edit old posts, leave a comment to correct/update) Help guides Promote
Community Lifecycle Grow vs immaculate creation Plateau vs infinite growth Nothing is forever