CoP : Getting Started 4

Engaging the “Right” Stakeholders: Building the “community” 2

Problems of Practice What are the key problems of practice? Who shares a passion for solving these problems of practice? 3

COP Members Facilitators lead…. – Organizational leaders with passion, vision, & commitment COP Members do…. – Cross-stakeholder or like-stakeholder – Expectations for COP members: Observers, participants, contributors – Drive the work of the COP Inviting participation & engagement: – What are the goals of the COP? – Who is needed to accomplish these goals? Content Experts Enthusiasts – Who are potential allies and worker-bees? – Who might create potential barriers to this work? 4

What are the “rules” for interaction? The community will benefit from coming up with a set of “rules” to guide their interactions. – Pragmatics: Meeting schedule, method, agenda, task management – Inviting or engaging new members – Inactive members – Decision making (consensus) 5

Setting the Strategic Context for a Community of Practice 6

EDUCATE Why do we want to build a CoP? What efforts are underway separately? How will working together advance our individual work? Our shared work? What information and resources can be collected and disseminated related to problems of practice? – Articles – Websites – Guidebooks – Working notes 7

SUPPORT What method for communicating and interacting about the work of the COP will be used? – Face to face meetings – Conference calls – Technology – Virtual document sharing 8

CULTIVATE – What will we do to assist a group in ‘getting going’ and sustaining a positive ‘rhythm of interaction’? – Inviting others into the CoP – Monitoring CoP work and progress – Evaluating and reporting out progress 9

ENCOURAGE How can we feature or promote the work and accomplishments of the community? – Newsletter articles – Conferences – Webinars – E-News – SPDG Evaluation – Other? 10

INTEGRATE How can we involve and integrate the community work into the policies and decision-making of the organizations and agencies? – How can the value of these relationships be communicated to decisionmakers? – Can we create feedback loops among decisionmakers, practitioners and consumers? 11

Examining your Progress Record the work of your COP Plan for reviewing your progress (quarterly?) Solicit feedback from COP participants Solicit feedback from external stakeholders Utilize and/or adapt the progress check Report progress 12

Next Steps Will we do this? Who will take the first leadership/facilitation roles? What next? 13