How to sustain the Community of Practice?

We have seen what is a Community of Practice (CoP) and how it can be an effective KM tool if used with people collaboration in an organization.
 

A healthy community of practice (CoP) is one that is active, has a substantially relevant organizational domain, marketing, and technology assets. The community structure should be such that knowledge can be retrieved easily and re-used at the right time. To create such an effective community, owners and moderators play a vital role in not only creating a sustainable community but also which can be seen as a benchmark for others to follow.  

To make the community sustain and churn the organizational knowledge which can be re-used, it has be fine-tuned into the knowledge portal platform and at the same time constantly monitored and updated. The community owners and sponsors need to give it a direction, host events and have an R&R (reward & recognition) program in place to make it successful. 

In the last blog on Community of Practice (CoP) we saw how it can be an effective KM tool as well as a bridge for the entire organization to participate together in an informal way. 

To make the community sustain and churn the organizational knowledge which can be re-used, it has to tune into the knowledge portal and community owners who can manage them effectively. 

We will see some examples of sustainable communities. 

Just like we have groups on Facebook, the more active the admin/moderator of the group, the more relevant and helpful the content on it. 

Essentials of a vibrant community

Following are the essential elements of a strong and effective community

• A global leader driving community members of their respective group
• A local SPOC who know has a great connection with the group
• A community framework which enables an employee to share information seamlessly 
• Rewards and Recognition program which encourages participation & contributions
• Updated relevant content and frequent communication with everyone in the group as well as physical events
• The admin/moderator has a knack engaging with the group. 

I hope the blog post gave you a fair idea about the community of practices. Please leave your comment below for your feedback. You can connect with me if you need consulting on knowledge management.