1.
Internal Communities
of Practice
A comprehensive guide to community
strategy, design and execution.
Maria Ogneva, Head of Community, Yammer

2.
What is a community?
“Community is a group of people
with unique shared values,
behaviors and artifacts.”
- The Community Roundtable

3.
Internal Communities
Communities Work groups,
Business units project teams
of Practice
Dedicated to helping
Dedicated to
Dedicated to employees work
completing projects;
stewarding better together in a
knowledge is lost
knowledge. business structure
when disband.
Members connected designed to meet a
Members connected
by interdependent market opportunity.
by interdependent
knowledge
subtasks

4.
Business challenges
Knowledge is a competitive
advantage
Knowledge increases in complexity
Half-life of knowledge getting
shorter
Rapid globalization
Restructuring internally and
externally
War for talent
Accelerating velocity of change

5.
CoP structural elements
Creates common Creates social fabric of
identity, meaning, p learning, fosters mutual
urpose & value. Domain Community respect and
Inspires trust, willingness to
participation, mutual share, ask, listen, be
exploration vulnerable and
courageous
Practice
Creates domain-based knowledge the community develops,
shares & maintains – frameworks, tools, ideas, stories,
documentation, etc.
Source: “Cultivating Communities of Practice,” Wenger, McDermott, Snyder

6.
Examples of success
membership in
Tangible Value employee community
Intangible Value
customer community makes better burgers
increases
spending by
19%
Source: University of Michigan
collaboration with
Short-Term Value Long-Term Value
stores in shopping largely untapped
centers opportunity in social
$1.3 T rillion!
Source: McKinsey

7.
These benefits are achievable
…but without proper planning, your
community may not reach its
potential; even worse, it may
backfire.

8.
Potential risks without active CM
1. Lack of supporting resources: people, technology, finances
2. Low engagement: vocal minority drowns out the community
3. Negativity: may be cultural; may be ongoing or situational
4. Fails to meet business objectives: no one wants yet another
place to go
1. Confusion: People don’t know what to do there and why
For more pitfalls, check out the Community Roundtable

9.
What do we do now?

10.
We need to
become strategic
about internal
communities

11.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Knowledge ≠
information

12.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
“Communities that steward knowledge & business
processes where knowledge is applied must be tightly
interwoven”
– “Cultivating Communities of Practice,” Wenger, McDermott, Snyder

13.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Meet the community manager!
HEART BRAIN COURAGE
Empathetic Well-connected Tactful and diplomatic
Passionate Has credibility Confident and shrewd
Inspired by people Understands existing politician
Inspires others to act business process Creates structure without
Patient Industry and market stifling
Approachable expertise Can make difficult
Honest, transparent decisions

14.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
What does a healthy community look like?
Comfortable Intellectual
with “working honesty
out loud”
Collaborative Mutual trust &
& open accountability
Hierarchy
Aligns to higher
doesn’t define
purpose, the
flow of
“why”
information
Transparency Ability to
communicate
without fear
Authenticity of retribution

15.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
To create the conditions
that can support a self-
sustaining
community, you must be
deliberate about
design.

16.
1. Design for
value

17.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Source: David Armano

18.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Discover the sweet spot
Organization’ Member
s needs and needs and
wants wants
Your community needs to be healthy and
deliver business value
“Striking the sweet spot between the interests and needs of the community and
the interests and needs of the organization is critical to the long term success of
business communities.”
- Rachel Happe, The Community Roundtable

19.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Understand • Needs, jobs that need to get done
your • Expertise that exists & is needed
• Intrinsic motivators
members • What other informational sources
compete for their attention / time
How will you create value for each member?

20.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Tap into WIIFM
Design around sources of motivation:
Autonomy: Are employees empowered to get their
job done without obstacles?
Mastery: Get better at their craft? Formal training is
not enough; must learn from each other daily.
Purpose: Do employees feel like they are part of
something bigger?
From Daniel Pink’s book “Drive”

21.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Community personas
Contributors
Core members
Lurkers
Encourage varied contribution
Build a fire

22.
2. Design to
catalyze

23.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Aim, fire, adjust!
Befriend change & be comfortable with ambiguity. Listen, learn and iterate.

24.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Build community WITH community
Charter &
Evolve Make it
vision: co- Enlist core Design for
best about the
create with members evolution
practices members
community
Founding members and Ambassadors are stewards of community’s vision & culture.

25.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Evolution, not revolution
• Build on preexisting networks & interest groups
• Invite divergent points, dialogue
• Allow to evolve beyond original design
• Collaborative evolution makes community stronger

26.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Create light structure without stifling
By function
Work with your early
Ambassadors
Design private and public spaces
By
geography
Design structures: groups,
By expertise meetings, projects,
levels
Help members make it their own

27.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Build engagement through activities
• Design activities
• Establish a rhythm
• Interesting, provocative content
• Divergent thinking & activity
• Inspiration
• Measure success and iterate

28.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Promote storytelling
• Build trust
• Make sharing easy
• Create artifacts

29.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Build benches
Invite different levels of participation
Help members evolve their personas

30.
Strategic CM Design for value Design to catalyze Smart growth Self-sustain
Catalyze change through observable actions
“Working out loud = Narrating Your
Work + Observable Work” -Bryce
Williams
Narration is making one’s tacit
knowledge (what one feels)
more explicit (what one is doing
with that knowledge). Narrating
work is a powerful behaviour
changer”- Harold Jarche

31.
3. Design for
smart growth

32.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Be thoughtful about membership
• Member recruitment and vetting
• Think through exit process
• Flow between communities, explore adjacencies
• Think through community sunsetting at the beginning
“Beyond a certain level of activity, it becomes difficult for all
members to believe they can influence the community.
Members no longer feel a genuine sense of connection with
another member.” Richard Millington, FeverBee

33.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Onboard new members
• Outline a 30-60-90 day plan
• Public and private welcomes
• Socialize new members with
existing members

34.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Educate and guide
Onboarding, exp
ectation
setting, & open
Employees
• Educate employee communication
community are an ongoing
• Bring together process
stakeholders and
champions
• Educate and reiterate
Executives & purpose
managers • Bring in adgacent
• Address fears and groups
concerns
• Get the right resources
• Reiterate purpose
• Legitimize through
showing value

35.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Expand global reach
Global communications are complex:
• Languages
• Time zones
• Customs and cultures
• Subtle cultural peculiarities
Solutions:
• Work with Ambassadors to localize
• Create local groups
• Localize content

36.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Measure success
1. What does success look like?
What does it mean to the
community?
What does it mean to individuals?
What does it mean to the
organization?
2. How will you measure it?
Tell the whole story with:
Quantitative metrics
Qualitative benefits and impacts
3. Understand and quantify value to
your business
Check out this FeverBee article on
community health metrics

37.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Design for smart growth Self-sustain
Show value, get support

38.
4. Design to
self-sustain

39.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Design to self-sustain
Ultimate test of community health

40.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Design to self-sustain
Give up control to Ambassadors
For more on working with Ambassadors, check out this post

41.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Design to self-sustain
Connect community members
• Know your community
• Draw people in via engagement events and conversations
• Create conditions for this to happen without you

42.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Design to self-sustain
Help create artifacts and shared knowledge
Create Curate
• Encourage storytelling • Tag, categorize and curate
• Connect problems with solutions • Help to make sense of information
• Celebrate successes • Encourage remixing.
• Learn from failure
Tyco publishes a
success booklet
to inspire through
personal stories

43.
Strategic CM Design for value Catalyze Smart growth Design to self-sustain
Blend online and offline
Catalyze online relationships in
Enhance physical events with person. Physical space should
online community elements. match online interactions &
Examples: community personality
All-hands meetings, exec Examples:
breakfasts, conferences, symposi Innovation jams, unconference
ums, workshops workgroups

44.
Wrapping up…

45.
What will you get in the end?
Agility
Practitioner retention
Cutting edge knowledge
Business and individual value

46.
Remember…
1. Be realistic about where you are; be clear about value
2. Take baby steps and be patient; behavior change takes a
long time. Prepare for a marathon, not a sprint
3. Thoughtful community design should free and enable;
not handcuff
4. Be the change you want to see; model behaviors
5. Pay it forward

47.
Resources
• “Ten tips for leading communities,” Stan Garfield
• “Community Manifesto,” Stan Garfield
• Six Risks of Not Having Community Management from Community Roundtable
• Community Managers, Don't Try To Do It All On Your Own on The Yammer blog
• Measuring an Online Community from Feverbee
• The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social
technologies, McKinsey Global Institute
• Firms' own social networks better for business than Facebook, University of
Michigan
• Narration of Work, Harold Jarche
• Three Principles of Net Work, Harold Jarche
• How to Engage Your Customers and Employees, Ray Wang for Harvard
Business Review
• Majority of American Workers Not Engaged In Their Jobs, Gallup
• How Employee Engagement Leads to Higher Stock Prices, Kevin Kruse for
Open Forum
• “Change That Sticks” by Harvard Business Review
• When Will We Work Out Loud? Soon by Bryce Williams

48.
Contact us
Keep in touch:
Twitter:
@TheMaria @Yammer
Read our blog:
http://blog.yammer.com

49.
Photo Credits
Slide 9: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59319911@N00/2542767294/
Slide 11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9080018@N07/4465392937/ &
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85941395@N00/1464005913/
Slide 15: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45688285@N00/1048905340/ &
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17751217@N00/2703980776/
Slide 20: Yammer Engineering Blog
Slide 22: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035734296@N01/2575986601/
Slide 24: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11862557@N00/5726726600/
Slide 26: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7855449@N02/3120385357/in/set-72157606844282993/
Slide 27: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65339210@N02/6231641551/
Slide 31: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22177648@N06/2137729430/
Slide 34: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55634677@N00/4388984995/
Slide 36: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48441030@N00/128655796/
Slide 37: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22607885@N08/4772347311/
Slide 40: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99496537@N00/148849801/
Slide 42: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42202689@N00/2601694302/
Slide 44: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21932201@N04/4962969492/
Slide 46: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57567419@N00/7496765660/
Slide 48: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47402349@N00/2741652353/
Slide 49: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29596200@N00/2477396306 &
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19251296@N00/2265050966/
Slide 50: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35683319@N00/3306421665/
Slide 52: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80318385@N00/7625639974/