A Beginner’s Guide to Communities of Practice
With Questions and Application for Ministers Council ABCUSA
The Ministers Council introduced “Together in Ministry” collegial covenant groups to local councils with funding from the Lilly Endowment. With the grant money coming to an end, the national council looked for ways to continue TIM groups in order for local Ministers Councils to take greater ownership of their own professionalism and integrity.
The concept of Communities of Practice (COP) is introduced as a way to take TIM groups to the next level in learning, support, and accountability. The following synopsis is taken from the book, “Cultivating Communities of Practice” by Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder, with comments and questions in italics from the Ministers Council of the Greater Bay Area.
What are communities of practice?
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.”
“Over time, they develop a unique perspective on their topic as well as a body of common knowledge, practices, and approaches. They also develop personal relationships and established ways of interacting.”
“Knowledge…is simply too valuable a resource to be left to chance.”
Communities of practice are designed as a business model for a knowledge economy. The focus of the communities is to share and resource new learning. The examples in the book, however, are business models that have a fairly scientific approach to their applications. What do we do when the practice of ministry is an art, not a science?
What does a community of practice look like?
“A community of practice is a unique combination of three fundamental elements: a domain of knowledge, which defines a set of issues; a community of people who care about this domain; and the shared practice that they are developing to be effective in their domain.”
Domain—What’s the issue?
What topics and issues do we really care about?
What’s in it for us?
What are the cutting-edge issues?
What kind of influence do we want to have?
Are we ready to take leadership to find workable answers?
Community—Who’s in?
What roles will people play?
How often will we meet?
How will we connect between gatherings?
What kind of activities will generate energy and trust?
How will we deal with conflict?
How can we balance individual needs with that of the group?
How will newcomers be introduced to the community?
Practice—How do we increase our expertise?
What kinds of learning activities will we use?
How will we access and share information?
What resources lie outside the community?
What do we want to accomplish?
What is the end result?
“Design and development are more about eliciting and fostering participation than planning, directing, and organizing their activities.”
“Cultivating communities of practice in an organizational context is an art.”
How do we help existing TIM groups transition to more of a COP model?
Is there a specific design for a COP?
“Because communities are built on existing networks and evolve beyond any particular design, the purpose of a design is not to impose a structure but to help the community develop.”
“The heart of a community is the web of relationships among community members…a common mistake in community design is to focus too much on public events.”
“When the individual relationships among community members are strong, the events are much richer…good community events usually allow time for people to network informally…orchestrate activities in both public and private spaces that use the strength of individual relationships to enrich events and use events to strengthen individual relationships.”
What would we do differently in our Ministers Council gatherings if communities of practice were fully in play?
“the idea is to create liveliness, not manufacture a predetermined outcome.”
Early Stages
“At this early stage, what energizes the potential community is the discovery that other people face similar problems, share a passion for the same topics, have data, tools, and approaches they can contribute, and have valuable insights they can learn from each other.”
“As the community begins, the key domain issue it faces is defining the scope of the domain in a way that elicits the heart-felt interests of the members and aligns with important issues for the organization as a whole. The key community issue is finding people who already network on the topic and helping them to imagine how increased networking and knowledge sharing could be valuable. The key practice issue is identifying common knowledge needs.”
“defining the community’s focus, identifying and building relationships between members, and identifying topics and projects that would be exciting for community members.”
“define the domain in a way that will engage potential members, rather than determine its final shape…dimensions of the domain that are important to the business…members will be passionate about…wide enough to bring in new people and new ideas” but of interest to most all.
“At this early stage of development, opening the channels of communication through knowledge-sharing activities has a better chance of quickly creating value for community members and the organization than forging into uncharted territory.”
Identify potential coordinators and thought leaders
Build a case for membership
(The job description for my first church pastorate included my membership and participation in the local religious educator’s cluster. This intentionally placed me with an expectation to be part of a community of practice. Joan Friesen)
“events…need to be frequent enough to become familiar and routine, while respecting the time availability of members.”
“during the coalescing stage, building membership is actually much less important than developing the core group.”
“Focusing on current problems jump-starts the community with high-energy issues…generating value is critical to a community’s viability.”
The tasks of community development are “first, by striking a balance between discovering the natural networks and imagining the value of enriching those relationships; and second, by nurturing strong, lasting relationships while at the same time quickly demonstrating the value of communities.”
What happens as the community grows?
“A community resolves the tension between focus and growth when it learns how to preserve relationships, excitement, and trust as it expands membership, and when it can maintain helping interactions while systematizing its practices. Resolving this tension typically drives the community to a deeper sense of identity and greater confidence in the value of its domain.”
In the mature stages a COP must maintain the relevance of the issue, keep the tone and focus lively and engaging, and keep the community on the cutting edge.
How do we balance an openness to new members with the developing of relationships of trust? Should all TIM groups be open to new people joining?
What Can Go Wrong
A community that is not functioning well may not arouse the passion of its members, may fail to develop trust, may be stagnant, or simply reflects the human frailties of its members.
Do we think we already know it all? “Imperialistic communities are not open to alternative views, outside experts, or new methodologies because of their passionate belief that their perspective is the right one. They need to be exposed to other perspectives in the context of real challenges that go beyond their domain and to problems that can be solved only by combining multiple approaches.”
Are we a clique? “They become exclusive, either intentionally or as an unintended outcome of the tightness of their relationships…Pushed to an extreme, close friendship and the desire for a sociable atmosphere can prevent members from critiquing each other or from seeking to deepen their understanding of their domain. The community then becomes locked in a blind, defensive solidarity as members strive to protect each other from challenges. What cliquish communities need is new blood.”
Is it all about the answers? “The papers, the memos, and the Web site come to define the community, displacing other aspects of community such as relationship building or collaborative problem solving.”
The long-term benefits
“Communities create a potential for organized change far beyond the individual capacity to change. It is easier to change radically if you have a community going through the process with you.”
It is the hope and plan in Minsters Council of the Greater Bay Area to transition existing TIM groups to a COP model, and to intentionally form new groups as communities of practice.