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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Communities

When we surveyed our members about our Knowledge Base this summer, almost 10 percent of you said you wanted more content on communities of practice. I’m always publishing fresh content on communities and other knowledge sharing approaches, and I promise that APQC’s 2012 publishing plans will take your interests into account. However, I want to make sure you are aware of the reports, articles, and case studies we currently have available on this topic.

Below is a list of our best resources on communities of practice. For those of you who aren’t APQC members (yet!), all the overview articles are free, and the reports, books, and case studies are for sale.

Overview articles on communities:

  1. Communities of Practice: An APQC Overview
  2. Key Findings About Communities of Practice
  3. A Framework for Creating and Sustaining Communities of Practice
  4. What Does a Best-in-Class Community Program Look Like?
  5. Sustaining Effective Communities of Practice: Study Overview

Collections of content focused on communities:

  1. Sustaining Effective Communities of Practice (Collection)
  2. Case Studies on Communities of Practice (contains 16 in-depth case studies)

Best practices from APQC’s two most recent studies on communities (each article contains a description of the practice supported by real-life examples):

  1. Ensure That Communities Fulfill Explicit Business Objectives
  2. Build Communities of Practice on the Foundation of Existing Networks
  3. Support Communities of Practice with a Single, Enterprise-wide Approach
  4. Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities for Com munities of Practice
  5. Use a Combination of Corporate and Business-Unit Funding for Communities of Practice
  6. Align Communities of Practice with Business Needs
  7. Allow Open Access to Communities of Practice
  8. Emphasize Speed and Simplicity when Designing Communities of Practice
  9. Encourage Community Members to Create Searchable Online Profiles
  10. Make Sure That Software Supporting Communities Serves a Clear Business Purpose
  11. Require Communities of Practice to Create and Adhere to Performance Plans
  12. Enable Expertise Location Through Communities of Practice
  13. Define the Roles and Responsibilities of Community of Practice Leaders
  14. Build a Distributed Support Network for Communities of Practice
  15. Provide Training for Community Leaders and Members
  16. Promote Awareness of Communities of Practice and Communicate Their Value
  17. Create Meaningful Reward and Recognition Opportunities for Community Members
  18. Engage Members in Communities of Practice
  19. Engage Subject Matter Experts in Communities of Practice
  20. Expose New Hires to Communities of Practice
  21. Evaluate Communities by Measuring Both Participation and Effectiveness
  22. Perform Creative and Contextual Evaluations Throughout the Community of Practice Life Cycle
  23. Identify and Charter Communities with Explicit Business Objectives
  24. Recognize the Importance of Community Leadership and Clearly Define the Leader’s Role
  25. Acknowledge the KM Core Team’s Influence on the Overall Success of the Community Strategy
  26. Use a Variety of Methods to Encourage Participation in Communities
  27. Help Community Members Build Trusted Relationships in Virtual Environments
  28. Create a Common Look-and-Feel for Community Web Sites and Home Pages
  29. Use a Range of Indicators to Assess Community Health and Impact

Additional articles based on APQC’s research:

  1. The Need for Strong Leaders to Guide Communities of Practice
  2. How to Foster Collaboration Without Breaking the Bank
  3. Challenges of Global Communities of Practice

Reports and books:

  1. Positioning Communities of Practice for Success (2011)
  2. Sustaining Effective Communities of Practice (2010)
  3. Networks: Compete on Knowledge with CoPs  (2007)
  4. Communities of Practice and Associations (2006)
  5. Using Communities of Practice to Drive Organizational Performance and Innovation (2005)
  6. Building and Sustaining Communities of Practice (2001)

I hope you find this content useful as you design and implement communities of practice at your organization. Please stay tuned for more on this topic in the coming months.