Communities of Practice (CoP) are groups of people who are brought together by a common concern, a set of opportunities/problems, and a desire to learn and deepen their knowledge by interacting on a continuing basis. A Community of Practice is formed with an intention to add value by directly collaborating, using one another and outside resources, to learn and teach each other. Community members are drawn to one another by forces that are both professional and personal.
These communities are made up of people from all types of professions: information technology, teachers, engineers, oil platform managers, accountants and many others have formed CoPs. These people don’t work together every day, they meet because the find value in their interactions. They share insights into common problems, explore ideas and act as sounding boards for each other.
There are some basic principles that are common to all successful CoPs:
Field of Interest (Domain):Global Gateways has over 10 years experience in creating and facilitating CoPs. We are currently facilitating CoPs for IT Directors for over 12 Silicon Valley companies and we were instrumental in creating a CoP for VPs of Engineering. We are also forming Communities for other groups, please contact us if you are interested in participating or want to learn more.
The purpose of a CoP is to develop a body of actionable knowledge; to learn and contribute through sharing information on challenges and best practices within the Field of Interest. Our work with these CoPs has resulted in one book authored by the members of the CIO CoP and a chapter in another.The CIO Wisdom book royalties contribute to a scholarship fund for disadvantaged students studying IT or Computer Science.
Members of Communities of Practice recognize that they live in a rich and dynamic environment of opportunities. For them, learning best practices and innovating stems principally from collaborative, coevolving relationships with a network of other contributors and stakeholders.