Two Kinds of Communities of Practice

1. Self-Organizing
2. Sponsored

Self-Organizing CoPs are self-governing as well. They pursue the shared interests of the group’s members. These CoPs add value to an organization by sharing lessons learned, acting as distribution points for best and emerging practices, providing forums in which issues and problems can be raised and resolved and, in general, by learning from each other. Owing to their voluntary, informal nature, self-organizing CoPs are fragile yet extremely resilient. They are fragile in that attempts to manage or control them can result in the group members disbanding or going "underground" instead of sharing their expertise and knowledge more broadly. They are extremely resilient in that members come and go as interests and issues shift and evolve. Over time, then, they adapt. They can even evolve into a formal or sponsored CoP. Or, they might disband if enough of the members decide they are no longer deriving any benefit from their membership.

Sponsored CoPs are initiated, chartered, and supported by management. Sponsored CoPs are expected to produce measurable results that benefit the company. They get needed resources and they have more formal roles and responsibilities. Even so, they are much more self-governing and wide-ranging than the typical cross-functional project team.

The basic charter for all sponsored Communities of Practice (CoPs) should have three major objectives:

1. To enable colleagues to learn from one another through the sharing of issues, ideas, lessons learned, problems and their solutions, research findings and other relevant aspects of their mutual interest;
2. To more broadly share and better leverage the learning that occurs in the CoP with other colleagues;
3. To generate tangible, measurable, value-added benefits to the business.

The mission for a particular CoP and the results expected from it will depend upon the issue, process, or practice area around which it is organized and upon which it is focused.  In general, however, the mission and expected outcomes for all CoPs should encompass the following:

• stimulating interaction
• fostering learning
• creating new knowledge
• socializing new members
• identifying and sharing best practices

A CoP (Sponsored or Self-Organizing) might be established to focus on almost any area of interest to the people forming or chartering it. Some of the more common focal points around which people organize CoPs in organizations are:

• A profession such as engineering, law, medicine or research.
• A work-related function or process such as supplier management, production, distribution, purchasing, customer service or sales.
• A recurring, nagging problem situated in a process or function.
• A topic such as technology, intellectual capital, knowledge management or innovation.
• An industry such as automotive, banking and other financial services, healthcare or travel.

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This page last updated on August 2, 2019