Dare I say it, it’s a—Community of…
PRACTICE!
I was in our Moose Herd the other day, yes, you’ve herd me say that more than a few times in blogs ;-)
And we were talking about Communities of Practice (CoP’s) as a phenomenal way to “raise the bar” in agile organizational contexts.
Everyone was aware of the practice and had participated in them. But there was a general feeling that most organizations don’t have a good recipe for a great CoP. So, we started brainstorming some of the tactics or patterns for a Good-to-Great Community of Practice. Here are some of the ideas we explored—
Get your organization and leadership to make growth and learning a priority. Ensuring that everyone is empowered to invest the time.
Inspire everyone individually to make growth and learning a personal priority.
CoP’s aren’t just for teams – Scrum Master, Product Owner, DevOps, UX, Security & Performance, Leadership, and Coaches. So, the more the merrier.
Find a “sparkplug” to lead each one. Someone to maintain energy, commitment, and focus on the growth and value of the CoP.
Bring in outsiders (people, speakers, perspectives, panels, etc) to share with your CoP. The point being—don’t be too internally focused.
Vary the focus – books, presentations, teach-backs, dojo’s, lean coffee’s, panel discussions, fish bowls, fireside chats, vision-setting, etc.
Reflect frequently on the CoP dynamics. Listen to your “customers” and endeavor to always be increasing the value, energy, and impact.
AND, remember self-care, so sometimes the best thing you can do is take a break and let everyone recharge their batteries.
I wrote another article that focused on the dynamics of a Leadership-centric CoP that you might find useful as well.
Wrapping Up
The picture associated with this blog is of a CoP Canvas that Emily Webber from TacitLondon.com has created. She’s written a wonderful book on this important topic entitled—Building Successful Communities of Practice. I would recommend it.
I also want to say that I think having high-energy, highly engaged, and highly focused Communities of Practice is a critical success factor of any agile/digital transformation. One that far too many companies aren’t implementing at all or are simply giving lip service to.
And as an aside, if you have a CoP that needs an “energy jolt”, reach out to me. I’d love to visit yours in person or virtually.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.