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Communities of practice playbook
This document provides a comprehensive guide to developing internal communities of practice within an organization. It begins by defining communities and comparing different types, such as communities of practice, work groups, and business units. It then outlines several business challenges that communities can help address, such as knowledge retention and rapid change. The document provides guidance on key elements to establish a successful community, including domain, community, and shared practice. It also discusses potential risks without proper community management and strategies community managers can employ, such as designing for value, catalyzing participation, enabling smart growth, and creating self-sustainability.
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Communities of practice playbook
- 1. Internal Communities of Practice A comprehensive guide to community strategy, design and execution. Maria Ogneva, Head of Community, Yammer
- 2. What is acommunity? “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 areachievable …but without proper planning, your community may not reach its potential; even worse, it may backfire.
- 8. Potential risks withoutactive 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 wedo now?
- 10. We need to becomestrategic 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.
- 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.
- 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 smartgrowth
- 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.
- 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
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- 45. What will youget in the end? Agility Practitioner retention Cutting edge knowledge Business and individual value
- 46. Remember… 1. Berealistic 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/