Wednesday 23 September 2015

Ten worst practices for communities of practice

This list comes from Asif Devji of the ComPrac community

It is his list of the top ten worst practices, or “ what not to do to have a successful CoP". It's a great list, and very thought provoking

Don't ...

1) Expect a CoP to change your organizational culture

2) Incorporate a CoP into an unstable organizational environment

3) Use a CoP to filter down organizational talking points

4) Be exclusivist in your selection of CoP members

5) Fail to recognize employee participation in your CoP

6) Control the discourse in your CoP

7) Leave your CoP to its own devices

8) Use a CoP to colonize knowledge (ie lurk in there, and steal ideas).

9) Commodify a CoP for profit

10) Expect a quick quantifiable ROI from your CoP

1 comment:

Stephen Dale said...

I posted something similar based on my experience of setting up CoPs, but with a slightly different spin - WHAT TO DO as opposed to what not to do:
http://www.stephendale.com/2014/02/04/communities-of-practice-what-ive-learnt/#sthash.4woCk0Qy.dpuf

Command and control will kill a community.
Don’t assume everyone knows how to contribute.
Let users drive their own experimentation and use of tools.
Ensure CoP facilitators/moderators are given sufficient time for their role.
Without active facilitation, CoPs will revert to ‘tribal’ working.
Don’t worry about the ‘lurkers’ – be happy that they have chosen to be there.
Don’t set unrealistic targets.
Condition your managers for failure; not every CoP is going to be successful.
Know when to let go!

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