Communities of Practice: Principles and Tips

Master of Science in Information and Knowledge Strategy
filename goes here 1Master of Science in Information and Knowledge Strategy1
• Communities of
Practice:
Principles & Tips
• Stan Garfield
• 04/11/14

What is a community of practice?
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Communities are groups of people who, for a specific topic, share one or more:
• Specialty/Role
• Passion/Interest
• Concern/Set of problems
What
Community members deepen their understanding of the topic by:
• Interacting on an ongoing basis
• Asking and answering questions
• Sharing their knowledge
• Reusing good ideas
• Solving problems for one another
• Developing new and better ways of doing things
How
Why
People join communities in order to:
• Share ideas, lessons learned, proven practices, insights, and practical suggestions
• Innovate through brainstorming, building on each other's ideas, and keeping
informed on emerging developments
• Reuse solutions through asking and answering questions, applying shared
insights, and retrieving posted material
• Collaborate through threaded discussions, conversations, and interactions
• Learn from other members of the community; from invited guest speakers about
successes, failures, case studies, and new trends; and through mentoring
Communities of Practice

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10 principles for successful communities
1. Communities should be independent of organization structure; they are based on what
members want to interact on.
2. Communities are different from teams; they are based on topics, not on assignments.
3. Communities are not sites, team spaces, blogs or wikis; they are people who choose to
interact.
4. Community leadership and membership should be voluntary; you can suggest that
people join, but should not force them to.
5. Communities should span boundaries; they should cross functions, organizations, and
geographic locations.
6. Minimize redundancy in communities; before creating a new one, check if an existing
community already addresses the topic.
7. Communities need a critical mass of members; take steps to build membership.
8. Communities should start with as broad a scope as is reasonable; separate
communities can be spun off if warranted.
9. Communities need to be actively nurtured; community leaders need to create, build, and
sustain communities.
10.Communities can be created, led, and supported using TARGETs: Types, Activities,
Requirements, Goals, Expectations, Tools.

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1. Communities should be independent
• Communities should be based on topics which use easily-recognized
terminology, not on organization structure.
• Communities should be organized around industry-standard, universal
topics with which members can identify in their specialties and roles.
• Organizations are best served by providing informational sites based
on organization structure or internal terminology.
• Communities are best served by providing collaborative capabilities,
such as threaded discussion boards and meetings.
• Provide links from organization sites to all relevant communities.

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2. Communities are different from teamsCommunities Organizational Sites Teams
Purpose
• Sharing
• Innovating
• Reusing
• Collaborating
• Learning
• Communicating
• Providing information
• Accomplishing a mission
Audience • People interested in the subject
• Members of the organization
• Others seeking information
• Members of the team
Motivation • Voluntary
• Assigned (member of organization)
• Voluntary (others)
• Assigned
Duration • Ongoing • Until the next reorganization • Finite
Use
• Asking and answering questions
• Sharing knowledge
• Reusing good ideas
• Solving problems for one another
• Brainstorming new ideas
• Finding useful content
• Staying current on the organization
• Hearing from leadership
• Participating in calls and meetings
• Finding contacts and experts
• Sharing documents and files
• Using a shared calendar
• Attending regular calls and meetings
• Maintaining a list of team members
• Editing shared documents
Alignment • Specialty, role, interest, or passion • Organization • Responsibility
Navigation • Community directory with filters • Intranet navigation by organization • By invitation only
Requirements
• Subject: A specialty
• Members: Interested people
• Interaction: Calls and discussions
• Leaders: Passionate people
• Enthusiasm: Willing to spend time
• Domain
• Content
• Business owner
• Site publisher
• Consumers
• Work or operating unit
• Task force
• Committee
• Initiative
• Project
Tools
• Community site
• Join button and membership list
• Events
• Newsletter or blog
• Threaded discussion board
• Organizational site
• Content
• Events
• Announcements, newsletter, or blog
• Team site
• Calendar
• Document library
• Meeting agendas
• Wiki

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3. Communities are people, not tools
• Community sites may use collaboration spaces, blogs, and wikis, but
these tools are merely supporting the members, not defining them.
• Communities are not the same as social networks, readers of the same
blog, or editors of the same wiki page.
• Communities are made up of people and are supported by processes
and technology. You can have a community with no technology at all,
but most communities are well-served by using a few key tools.

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4. Community participation should be voluntary
• People want to exercise their own discretion on which communities to
join, whether or not to join, and when to join.
• They will resent being subscribed by someone else and will resist
attempts to make them do something they did not choose to do.
• The passion of the leaders and members for the topic of the community
is what sustains it.
• To entice members to join communities, the leaders should make
membership appealing.
• Create communities for which potential members want to be included in
discussions, meetings, and other interactions - make it so they don't
want to miss out on what is going on.

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5. Communities should span boundaries
• By transcending organizational structures and boundaries,
communities take advantage of diverse experiences, perspectives, and
talents.
• Those who wish to start a community frequently assert that it is just for
one business unit, location, language, or role. For example, a product-
focused community that is just for technical people, not sales people.
• Another example is a community which is set up in one country and
wants to limit membership to that country. In general, keeping out
people who could benefit from membership and offer help to those
already in the community hurts both groups.
• Example: KM Communities
–SIKM Leaders Community – threaded discussions and monthly calls
–Midwest KM Community – monthly lunch meetings

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6. Minimize redundancy in communities
• Reviewing requests for new communities has these benefits:
–Redundant communities can be prevented.
–A central directory of communities can be maintained, helping
potential members find the right ones to join.
–By keeping the number of communities to a reasonable minimum, a
long and confusing list for users to choose from is avoided.
–Silos which isolate people who could benefit from being connected
are avoided.
–Critical mass is achieved, helping to ensure that each community
succeeds and takes advantage of scale.
• Example: HP K-Link
• Most requests for new communities which address a topic already
covered by an existing one should be responded to by suggesting that
the requester become a co-leader of the existing one.

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7. Communities need critical mass
• A community usually needs at least 100 members, with 200 being a better
target.
• In a typical community, 10% or fewer of the members will tend to post, ask
questions, present, etc.
• As the community grows in size, it becomes more likely that experts belong,
that questions will be answered, and that a variety of topics will be discussed.
• Increasing the size of a community yields more potential speakers at
community events and conference calls.
• A community benefits from a broad range of perspectives.
• It results in greater leverage, since for the same effort, more people realize the
benefits.

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8. Avoid having too narrow a scope
• Local organizations tend to think of creating local communities and sharing within them,
but are reluctant to expand to a global community.
• Encourage communities to be broader and to include other countries, other parts of the
organization, customers, partners, and former employees.
• Rules of Thumb
– Initially, the broadest possible approach to a new community should be supported, and
narrowing either by geography or function should be discouraged.
– Local chapters can be created as subsets of larger communities.
– Start with the broadest feasible topics, and narrow down as needed.
– Spin off narrower sub-topics only when a high volume of discussion or communication
makes it necessary.
– Suggest that overlapping communities with similar topics be combined, either directly
or with one as a subset of the other.
• Challenge those with a niche topic to prove that it warrants its own community:
– Start as part of a broader community, play an active role in leading discussions and
events, and prove a high level of interest.
– If the volume of activity becomes high, spin off a separate community.
– If the volume of activity does not become high, remain in the community until it does.

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9. Communities need to be actively nurtured
• Implement and manage the SCENT tools - Site, Calendar, Events,
News, Threads
• Perform the SHAPE tasks - Schedule, Host, Answer, Post, Expand
• Regularly suggest to those with questions or interest in the topic that
they join the community and use its tools.

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10. Use TARGETs to manage communities
• Types can be used for describing communities, creating a community directory,
and helping users readily navigate to the communities which interest them.
• Activities should be used to explain to community members what it means to be
a member of a community and how they should participate.
• Requirements should be used to decide if a community should be created and if
it is likely to succeed.
• Goals should be set for communities, and progress against those goals should
be measured and reported.
• Expectations should be set for community leaders to define their role and to
ensure that communities are nurtured.
• Tools should support member interaction.

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Types
Describe communities, create community directory, and help users
readily navigate to communities which interest them
TRAIL
•Topic (e.g., Enterprise Applications, Cloud Computing)
•Role (e.g., Project Management, Software Development)
•Audience (e.g., Recruits, Women)
•Industry (e.g., Manufacturing, Telecommunications) or Client (e.g.,
European Union, US Federal Government)
•Location (e.g., US, UK)

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Activities
Explain to community members what it means to be a member of a
community and how they should participate
SPACE
•Subscribe: Get email or RSS and regularly read a threaded discussion
board
•Post: Start a new thread or reply in a threaded discussion board
•Attend: Participate in community events
•Contribute: Submit content to the community newsletter, blog, wiki, or site
•Engage: Ask a question, make a comment, or give a presentation

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Requirements
Use to decide if a community should be created and if it is likely to
succeed
SMILE
•Subject: A specialty to learn and/or collaborate about
•Members: People interested in the subject
•Interaction: Meetings, calls, and discussions
•Leaders: People passionate about the subject who are dedicated to
creating, building, and sustaining a community
•Enthusiasm: Motivation to engage and spend time collaborating and/or
learning about the subject

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Goals
Set for communities; measure & report progress against those goals;
unhealthy communities should nurtured back to health or retired
PATCH
•Participation: % of target population which is a member of at least one community
•Anecdotes: % of communities displaying the following on their sites:
o Testimonials by community members on the value of participation
o Stories about the usefulness of the community
o Posts thanking other members for their help
•Tools: % of communities having all five key tools
•Coverage: % of desired topics covered by at least one community
•Health: % of communities meeting these criteria:
o At least one post to a threaded discussion board per week
o At least one newsletter or blog post per month
o At least one conference call, webinar, or face-to-face meeting per quarter
o At least 50 members
o At least 10 members participating in each event

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Expectations
Set for community leaders to define their role and to ensure that
communities are nurtured
SHAPE
•Schedule: Line up speakers and set up events
•Host: Initiate and run conference calls, webinars, and face-to-face
meetings
•Answer: Ensure that questions in the threaded discussion board receive
replies, that discussions are relevant, and that behavior is appropriate
•Post: Share information which is useful to the members by posting to the
community site, threaded discussion board, blog, and/or newsletter
•Expand: Attract new members, content contributions, and threaded
discussion board posts

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Tools
Support member interaction
SCENT
•Site: home page - for reaching new members and sharing information with
current ones
•Calendar: of community events - for promoting interaction
•Events: meetings, conference calls, webinars - for interacting personally
•News: newsletter or blog - for ongoing communications and publicity
•Threads: threaded discussion board - for interacting virtually

Articulating the value of communities
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How to use communities: SAFARIS
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Share a link. “Here is a link to the latest Forrester report.”
Ask a question. “Has anyone encountered this problem before,
and if so, how was it solved?”
Find a resource. “Looking for a specialist in welfare benefits to
help in a project.”
Answer a post. “Here are links to three relevant documents in the
knowledge database.”
Recognize a colleague. “Thanks to John Smith for helping solve a
difficult problem.”
Inform about your activities. “Working on a new wellness initiative.”
Suggest an idea. “I think we should invite Nobel laureates to
attend our recognition event.”

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What does a community evangelist do?
1. Evangelize
1. Promote communities program
2. Recruit new communities to fill gaps in existing topics
2. Interact
1. Ask and answer questions
2. Talk to requestors and connect groups
3. Provision
1. Define, document, implement, and manage request process
2. Process all requests
4. Communicate
1. Publish and maintain documentation and FAQs
2. Maintain Communities Directory
5. Support
1. Work with IT to implement, maintain, and improve platform
2. Lead Community Managers Community
6. Report
1. Produce and publish monthly health report
2. Produce and distribute weekly new communities report
7. Govern
1. Establish definitions, principles, and criteria
2. Moderate, intervene, and retire

1. Carefully choose the community topic
• Make ‘em SMILE
1. Subject: A specialty to learn and/or collaborate about
2. Members: People interested in the subject
3. Interaction: Meetings, calls, and discussions
4. Leaders: People passionate about the subject who are dedicated to
creating, building, and sustaining a community
5. Enthusiasm: Motivation to engage and spend time collaborating and/or
learning about the subject
• Avoid redundancy
o Narrowing either by geography or function should be discouraged
o Local chapters can be created as subsets of larger communities
o Suggest that overlapping communities with similar topics be combined,
either directly or with one as a subset of the other
• Avoid having too narrow a scope
o Start with the broadest feasible topics, and narrow down as needed
o Spin off narrower sub-topics only when a high volume of discussion or
communication makes it necessary
o Challenge those with a niche topic to prove that it warrants its own community

2. Publicize
1. Look for all existing distribution lists of people interested in your
community’s topic – use these lists to invite people to join your community
2. Look for related communities, calls, and sites you can use to promote your
community – ask permission to do so, and then post, present, or send a
brief invitation
3. Ask well-connected people to forward your announcement memo to their
distribution lists, social networks, and communities
4. Write and submit articles to existing newsletters that reach your target
audience
5. Use social networking tools such as microblogging to inform possible
members about your community
6. Ask the leaders of relevant organizations to send a one-time message to
all of their people
7. Ensure that your community is included in the master community directory
8. Request that links to your community site be added on all relevant web
sites
9. Offer an incentive to join, e.g., a member will be chosen at random or the
100th member will receive an iPad or equivalent gift
10. Search personal profiles for people with relevant interests and/or
expertise, and invite them to join

3. Increase membership
• Communities need a critical mass of members
o You usually need at least 50 members
o 100 is a better target
o Only about 10% of the members will be active
• Invite people to join who are part of existing networks
o Existing teams that practice in the community's specialty
o Existing distribution lists of people interested in the topic
o Use Social Network Analysis to identify people who may not be
part of a formal community
• Regularly suggest to those with questions or interest in your topic
that they
o Join your community
o Use its tools
• Attract members by word of mouth
o Create communities for which potential members want to be
included in discussions, meetings, and other interactions
o Make it so they don't want to miss out on what is going on

4. Post and reply
• Lay the foundation
o Enable posting and replying by email
o Seed the discussion board with example posts
o Recruit other key community members to also post and reply
• Set clear expectations for the community threaded discussion board
o Members should subscribe by RSS or email
o If a member posts a question, make sure that it gets a response within 48
hours
o If your community has a regular call, leverage the discussion board as a
means of continuing the conversation, or providing resources covered on
the call
• Set a calendar reminder to post every week
o Summary of a community event
o Useful link – save these in a list and share one each week
o Thought-provoking topic to stimulate discussion
• Redirect relevant discussions taking place in
o If questions are asked via email that the entire community can benefit from,
ask that the requestor post in the discussion board and reply there
o Email exchanges
o Distribution lists
o Other collaboration channels such as microblogs

5. Use blog, newsletter, wiki
• Blog – chronological archive
o Announcements
o Newsletters
o Recurring communications which lend themselves to lists
and archives
• Newsletter – one page, every month
o Stay in communication with members
o Remind about calls
o Link to key information – reuse content already produced
o Recent discussion board threads
o Blog posts of interest
o Recently-edited wiki pages
• Wiki – collaborative editing
o Meeting agenda
o Position paper
o Self-maintained list of resources

6. Schedule and host events
• Types
o Regular conference calls
o Occasional face-to-face meetings
o Training sessions
• Purpose
o stay connected
o share progress
o reuse good ideas
o collaborate on common needs
• Activities
o Share an idea, tip, trick, technique, proven practice, or insight
o Request feedback on a presentation, document, web site, idea, program, or problem
o Lead a discussion on any topic of interest
o Provide an update on a project, program, initiative, or organization
o Speaker (community member or invited guest)
• Ideas
o Themed-call, where multiple speakers discuss the same subject
o Post agenda ahead of time using events calendar, agenda pages, uploaded presentations
o Send reminder message
o Prime the pump prior to the call by asking others to ask questions or share their thoughts

7. Provide useful content
• Review and refresh content on a regular basis
• Communicate changes in the newsletter
• Solicit content contributions from your
membership
o You don’t have to produce all of the
content yourself
o Let members know specifically what is
needed
o Recognize contributors publicly in the
newsletter
o Ask for content submissions to newsletter,
blog, wiki, site, discussion board

8. Tell members how to participate
• Become a SPACE cowboy
1. Subscribe: Get email or RSS and regularly read a threaded
discussion board
2. Post: Start a new thread or reply in a threaded discussion board
3. Attend: Participate in community events
4. Contribute: Submit content to the community newsletter, blog, wiki,
or site
5. Engage: Ask a question, make a comment, or give a
presentation

9. Set goals and measure progress
• Go Green!
1. At least one discussion board post, reply, and new thread per week
2. At least one newsletter or blog post per month
3. At least one conference call, webinar, or face-to-face meeting per quarter
4. At least 100 members and increasing over time
5. At least 10 members participating in each event

10. Solicit, find, publicize success stories
• Solicit from community members
• Mine discussion threads
• Publicize in the blog and newsletter
1. Testimonials by community members on the value of participation
2. Stories about the usefulness of the community
3. Posts thanking other members for their help

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