This guide is for anyone interested in learning about Communities of Practice. When I first heard the term, I thought it sounded complex and unclear. Then, the global pandemic taught us why we all need to understand and elevate the concept of a Community of Practice, even if we haven’t realized it yet.
Our very existence as intelligent beings may depend upon it!
The goal of this post is to help guide you to understand, join, or even create a Community of Practice.
Topic Overview
The term Community of Practice, CoP, is “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Traynor, 2018).
Communities of Practice exist in business, organizations, government, education, professional associations, social settings, and all over the internet. Most notably, CoP’s emerge around a need to understand how to do something better than it’s been done before. For wiki example, customer service reps at Xerox started sharing repair tips and tricks at lunch.
Eventually, Xerox saw the value of these interactions and created the Eureka project to allow these interactions to be shared across their global network of representatives. The Eureka database has been estimated to have saved the corporation $100 million. (Community of Practice Wiki).
Now, let’s answer the journalistic questions: 5 W’s and an H
What makes a Community of Practice?
A CoP is a group of people with a common concern or interest around a set of problems. You might be thinking as I did, “Well, this isn’t unique.” People work jobs and most jobs are created to solve a problem. People have to learn the job from the experts senior to them or from training outside of the job. At Xerox, the service reps organically created a CoP by developing a way to learn how to do their jobs better by interacting regularly. This became a CoP because it has the three key elements: domain, community, and practice.
Domain: members assemble around a shared learning need
Community: lessons learned together bond each other to the group
Practice: interaction leads to “how to do it better” resources
So, if you are trying to determine if you are in a CoP or if you want to expand a group to be a CoP, measure your investigation with the three elements above.
What are the benefits of a CoP?
In my world, I create learning experiences focused on improving the KSB (Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors) of the people I’m helping to train or to teach. The Community of Practice amplifies the KSB with these three benefits.
- Shared knowledge – leads to more efficient and effective learning for everyone.
- Rapid skills development – access to expert solutions to problems accelerates the time it takes to develop new skills.
- Continuous learning behaviors – frequent interactions and well-developed resources organically bind members to one another through intrinsic motivation.
In other words, the benefit of a CoP is that you will learn and develop new knowledge, skills, and behaviors faster and feel good about it doing it than if you tried to learn on your own.
Who can be in a CoP?
Participation in a Community of Practice can be informal or formal. In other words, you can join one on your own or be assigned to one through school or work. You may be in one right now and not realize it. If you interact with people around a common purpose, support and encourage each other, share challenges and solutions, and ultimately keep returning to that group — then, you are probably in a CoP.
“The Impressionists, for instance, used to meet in cafes and studios to discuss the style of painting they were inventing together. These interactions were essential to making them a community of practice even though they often painted alone.” Wenger-Trayner
Where do CoP’s exist?
Technology has enabled humans to assemble global communities of practice. Through websites and applications, people can come together around a shared purpose to learn how to code better (GitHub). They also exist inside of businesses as company academies or universities (Fluor). If you start looking for CoP’s using the Domain-Community-Practice measurement, you’ll find them.
Why are CoP’s important today?
When the global pandemic struck, almost everyone had to learn how to work and learn from home. Remote learning affected 1.38 billion students worldwide.
Remote work became the norm as well. Data (pwc) proves that employers and employees feel that remote work has been a success.
Therefore, it is super important that everyone who cares about learning and development learn about Communities of Practice and how to keep them going remotely.
What are some examples of CoP’s?
UGC – I’m calling on User Generated Content for this one.
I want your examples of Communities of Practice. Send me a video or a quick write up about a thriving CoP. Tell me the Domain, Practice, and the Community. Then, share why you think it’s great! I’ll add your posts and content to this guide. Let’s come together around a shared purpose and find better ways to increase knowledge, skills, and behaviors. And for goodness sake, let’s have some fun doing it!
Helpful Links
Introduction to Communities of Practice – signature content
Beginner’s Guide: Communities of Practice – Tamarack Institute
Creating Communities of Practice – Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium
What is a Community of Practice? – Bind
eLearning Communities Of Practice: 6 Forms Of Practical Application – eLearning Industry
COVID-19’s Staggering Impact On Global Education – Statista – UNESCO
It’s time to reimagine where and how work will get done – pwc US Remote Work Survey
Conclusion
As you read in the guide, Communities of Practice are essential to the future of our world. Without CoP’s we run the risk of being isolated and less intelligent. Understanding CoP’s and learning how to join or create one is only the beginning. Now that you know what a Community of Practice is, elevate the conversation. Share this guide to help others join a community of practice.
Join my learning pals
What are some examples of CoP’s?
UGC – I’m calling User Generated Content for this one.
I want your examples of Communities of Practice. Send me a video or a quick write up about a thriving CoP. Tell me the Domain, Practice, and the Community. Then, share why you think it’s great! I’ll add your posts and content to this guide. Let’s come together around a shared purpose and find better ways to increase knowledge, skills, and behaviors. And for goodness sake, let’s have some fun doing it!
Did you like what you read? Join my learning pals. Please subscribe to my newsletter to receive free learning resources delivered to your inbox every two weeks.
THE END
