Developing a Community of Practice in Local Authority Information Workers Paul Haslam, Head of Learning Technology Mike Hart, Professor of Business Informatics King Alfred’s, Winchester, UK (wkac.ac.uk) Bristol Business School Teaching and Learning Conference 24 September 2002

Communities of Practice - common features evolve from informal rather than espoused practices common interests and challenges provide the basis for regular sharing and learning exhibit high levels of trust and collaboration responsible for their own destiny members gain a sense of identity from belonging, and recognise that continual learning is required to keep their knowledge and skills up to date

Underlying themes informal communities of practice potentially offer more fruitful ground for learning and generating new knowledge than formal corporate structures both tacit and explicit knowledge shape learning communities the nurture of their evolution and interaction within formal organisational structures is a challenge

Issues from the paper How has a community of practice emerged during an academic programme and how might it be sustained? Given Wenger’s (1998) contention that people must work with CoPs from the inside rather than manipulate them from the outside, how far can external partners facilitate the process?

Hampshire County Council Large, prosperous local authority (30,000 employees) Economy (GDP) of Hampshire is worth £16.3 billion (equivalent to N. Ireland) Hantsweb 5.1m accesses; 542,177 unique visits by 170,000 unique hosts Possibly "the most comprehensive site of its nature for a local or county government in the world” - Bill Gates, on discovering Hantsweb

Hants CC Information Strategy Up to 1000 ‘para-information professionals’ in the Hampshire region 4 information centres, plus 100 information points No recognised programme of continuing professional development Development traditionally provided by short courses and skills training

Support offered in PSIM modules ‘Communities of practice are mostly self-sufficient, but they can benefit from some resources, such as outside experts, travel, meeting facilities, and communications technology’ - Wenger, 1998 discussion presentations outside experts work-based tasks computer-mediated communication

Discussions Create space and acknowledge value Uncover tacit understanding of roles Discover shared commitments and values Offer the opportunity to talk about how they contribute to organisation as a whole

Presentations Work-related, practice-based topics Share narratives and experiences Explore synergies Uncover common challenges Exploration of common ‘wicked problems’

Outside experts Senior figures from Hampshire County Council e.g Director of IT Strategy External experts in particular fields e.g project manager for e-Delivery from other local authority Attendance at seminars organised by HCC Course tutors as catalysts

Work-based tasks Present own service, imperatives, strategies and current challenges Identify ways of contributing to initiatives, such as e-Govt and potential bids for projects to make a difference on the ground Outline current challenges of the role and appropriate forms of continuing professional development

Computer-mediated communication Network the know-how in non-canonical forms Self select themes or areas of interest Work as a larger CoP or in sub-groups Develop understanding of broad aspects of job faster than through traditional training (Wenger, 1998) Make tentative suggestions about how to maintain expertise (McDermott, 2001) Use of VLE as exemplar support system

Relationship to official organisation (Wenger, 1998)

Moving forward Explore concepts of facilitative leadership appropriate to communities of practice Ensure codification does not compromise the tacit knowledge it tries to capture (Button et al, 1995) Focus on empowerment rather than leverage Encourage managers to accept the gap between power and knowledge (McKinlay, 2000) Recognise that radical insights often occur at the boundaries between communities (Wenger 1998)

Issues arising Knowledge management assumes that knowledge and experience (explicit and tacit) should be levered for organisational advantage Over-management of communities of practice can be a problem CoPs need space and resources, rather than managerial direction