Communities of Practice
The National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR) is working with grantees of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to encourage researchers to expand their common understanding and to jointly address issues related to research quality, standards, and guidelines. To achieve this, the NCDDR is modeling the use of Communities of Practice (CoPs) as a knowledge translation (KT) strategy.
CoPs are "groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis" (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002, p. 4). Three important characteristics help distinguish a CoP from other groups: 1) the domain (topic or theme to be addressed and advanced); 2) the community (members motivated by a mutual interest in the domain); and 3) the practice (ideas, tools, expertise, knowledge, and shared resources that serve to move the field of inquiry forward) (Wenger, 1998; Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002).
A CoP is much more informal than a work group or task force. Participants may volunteer or be assigned to a task force, but the activity usually has a specific predetermined goal and a projected time of existence (Nickols, 2003). Members of CoPs are not typically assigned, but join based on their interest in the domain and their ability to contribute to the practice. Together, the members of the community share their expertise and mutual understanding about the domain to develop greater knowledge and build the practice. Learning communities are "groups of people engaged in intellectual interaction for the purpose of learning" (Cross, 1998, p. 4). They are often cross/or multidisciplinary rather than focused on one primary area, as are CoPs.
Benefits of CoPs
The experiential knowledge that an individual develops over time and through a variety of experiences, places, and activities can be profoundly useful in his or her own particular setting. By building on its members' shared knowledge, a CoP can be useful in developing new ideas and new strategies. A CoP may form in response to a specific issue or need, and once that issue or need has been resolved, its members may disband the CoP or choose another issue to examine.
Varied means of communication (electronic discussion lists and bulletin boards, Web-based meetings, teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, chat rooms, webcasts) help to develop the feeling of community and results in the increased sharing of information. It is important to ensure that technology does not drive the community but rather responds to the needs of the community.
Although people with any level of understanding and experience can participate in CoPs, the purpose is not to teach novices but to build on the cumulative knowledge of members and bring their practice to a new level, thus advancing the domain. Allee (2000) identified a number of benefits of CoPs:
Benefits for an organization include:
- helping drive strategy;
- supporting faster problem solving, both locally and organization-wide;
- aiding in developing, recruiting, and retaining talent;
- building core capabilities and knowledge competencies;
- diffusing practices for operational excellence more rapidly;
- cross-fertilization of ideas; and
- increasing opportunities for innovation.
Benefits for the community include:
- building common language, methods, and models around specific competencies;
- embedding knowledge and expertise in a larger population;
- aiding retention of knowledge when participants leave; and
- increasing access to expertise.
Individual benefits include:
- helping participants do their jobs better;
- fostering a learning-focused sense of identity;
- helping participants stay current and ahead of the field; and
- finding a sense of sharing with colleagues.
References
Allee, V. (2000). Knowledge networks and communities of practice. OD Practitioner, 32(4).
Cross, K. P. (1998, July-August). Why learning communities? Why now? About Campus, 3(3), 4-11.
Nickols, F. (2003). Communities of practice: An overview. Retrieved February 15, 2006, from http://home.att.net/~discon/KM/CoPs.htm
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Adapted from NCDDR's FOCUS: Technical Brief Number 11 Communities of Practice: A Strategy for Sharing and Building Knowledge