Friday 7 July 2017

How communities of practice can help reduce staff turnover.

There are many ways in which Communities of Practice add value to an organisation, 27 of which are listed here.  Here is a 28th way.




There is a really interesting analysis of Communities of practice from the Geneva Knowledge forum which looks at CoPs in several large multinationals, and which points out some of the softer benefits. For example, CoP members can get the following personal benefits:


  • the thrill of participating in an exchange of ideas with like-minded colleagues who share a common interest and skills, resulting in a major boost to organisational members’ motivation and satisfaction at work;
  • the feeling of belonging to a group and the particular value of recognition by peers who are perceived as competent judges of one’s own ideas and performance;
  • the possibility of honing existing skills and developing new ones through participation in network activities is an obvious plus for individual performance;
  • networks may serve as a ‘shop window’ for talented employees. 


As a result, network membership not only engages the employee, but also helps the showcasing of individual performance towards an audience that is ‘ready to promote.’


The article quotes the following example from Deutsche Bank

Networks at Deutsche Bank focus on this particular aspect. The company learned its network lesson the hard way. In 2000, the acquisition of Bankers’ Trust prompted an exodus of key investment bankers — taking accounts with them. However, top managers were less concerned by the loss of accounts than by the loss of knowledge, which they feared could potentially have even more severe consequences. After all, the managers who quit the organization had an in-depth understanding of key procedures and they knew best how to manage their customer relationships. 
In 2000, Deutsche Bank decided that merely tracking turnover was not sufficient, so it made explicit efforts to develop an indicator to measure the commitment of key individuals to the company. The reasons individuals left the bank proved the point that best-practice networks are one of the most important tools for tying highly qualified managers to the organization.

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