Leadership in social learning communities and networks Exploring the art Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Leadership plaza workshop Iceland, October 2-3, 2012

Introduction

Communities of practice a central type of social learning space A community of practice is ... … a self-governed learning partnership among people, who share challenges, passion or interest interact regularly learn from and with each other improve their ability to do what they care about define in practice what competence means in their context In gangs… they learn to survive on the streets In organizations… they provide better service to clients

Different from training horizontal learning partnership anchored in practice Provider Negotiation of mutual relevance Recipient

Matching needs and structures ... need structure product or service task single problem personal connections expert service strategic capability department team task force or committee social network center of excellence community of practice

Social learning initiatives across sectors Ontario leading municipalities provincial service organizations PEM   PAL

Types of domains Professional communities Technical communities Professions or disciplines usually recognized outside Fairly stable over one’s career Charter: advancing discipline, professional development Technical communities Specific technologies or processes Across business processes Charter: evaluating and managing technology Issue-driven communities Ongoing business concerns or issues Charter: bringing all perspectives to bear on issue Additional notes: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Practitioners need a community to … … help each other solve problems … hear each other’s stories and avoid local blindness … reflect on their practice and improve it … build shared understanding … keep up with change … cooperate on innovation … find synergy across structures … find a voice and gain strategic influence Additional notes: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When have you experienced this?

Learning process

Social learning … communities and networks

A social discipline of learning communities of practice as learning partnerships This slide introduces a simple, basic model for communities of practice as the cornerstone of a social discipline of learning. It contains seven basic elements. The three central elements are definitional of communities of practice as social learning context: each one is an aspect of the social discipline: what we are about, how we form a community and who should be part of it, and what is the practice that we need to get better at. Insist that these three elements are mutually defining and work as a set.   The four arrows refer to four distinct perspectives of constituencies for whom this social discipline is important.    The first horizontal pair of perspective arrows are within the circle of the community. The reason for participation, the “what’s in it for me,” the learning imperative of members is the foundation of the social energy of a community of practice. But having members who are ready to go the extra mile to nurture the community is a key success factor. Sponsorship and support need not be, and usually are not, performed by members. Note that these seven elements also indicate what to pay attention to when attempting to cultivate communities of practice. They are developmental elements. In summary, they address the following questions typical of a social discipline of learning: What is the partnership about? Who should be at the table? What should they do together? How are they going to benefit? Who will take leadership? Who are the external stakeholders? Where are resources for support? Learning partnership

A social discipline of learning key dimensions Domain This slide introduces a simple, basic model for communities of practice as the cornerstone of a social discipline of learning. It contains seven basic elements. The three central elements are definitional of communities of practice as social learning context: each one is an aspect of the social discipline: what we are about, how we form a community and who should be part of it, and what is the practice that we need to get better at. Insist that these three elements are mutually defining and work as a set.   The four arrows refer to four distinct perspectives of constituencies for whom this social discipline is important.    The first horizontal pair of perspective arrows are within the circle of the community. The reason for participation, the “what’s in it for me,” the learning imperative of members is the foundation of the social energy of a community of practice. But having members who are ready to go the extra mile to nurture the community is a key success factor. Sponsorship and support need not be, and usually are not, performed by members. Note that these seven elements also indicate what to pay attention to when attempting to cultivate communities of practice. They are developmental elements. In summary, they address the following questions typical of a social discipline of learning: What is the partnership about? Who should be at the table? What should they do together? How are they going to benefit? Who will take leadership? Who are the external stakeholders? Where are resources for support? Learning partnership Community Practice

A social discipline of learning key processes Reflect and self-design Domain Bring practice in Push practice forward This slide refers to four processes that a key to the learning of a community of practice. Bring the practice in: make sure that there are ways for practice to enter the learning space and that the diverse voices of practice are heard Push the practice forward: drive an inquiry that pushes practitioners to inspect and develop their practice, questioning assumptions and exploring new ideas Create a self-representation: help a community find how it can represent its learning in useful artifacts Reflect and self-design: make sure that there is time for the community to design its learning process and reflect critically on how it is working as a learning system for the members Learning partnership Community Practice Create self- representation

Leadership tasks

A social discipline of learning key self-design processes Interface with organization Reflect on process Domain This slide refers to four processes that a key to the learning of a community of practice. Bring the practice in: make sure that there are ways for practice to enter the learning space and that the diverse voices of practice are heard Push the practice forward: drive an inquiry that pushes practitioners to inspect and develop their practice, questioning assumptions and exploring new ideas Create a self-representation: help a community find how it can represent its learning in useful artifacts Reflect and self-design: make sure that there is time for the community to design its learning process and reflect critically on how it is working as a learning system for the members Drive the learning agenda Learning partnership Bring voices in Community Practice Manage community memory Get the message out

A social discipline of learning internal leadership Critical friends Institutional brokers Reflect on process Interface with organization Community keepers Domain Learning partnership Agenda activists Bring voices in Community Practice Drive the learning agenda Social reporters External messengers Manage community memory Get the message out

Value creation

Framing narratives aspirations and experience Ground narrative: community/network activities Aspirational narrative: framing success

Assessing value-creation cycles and indicators In order to appreciate the richness of the value created by communities and networks, it is useful to think about it in terms of different cycles as briefly defined below. Cycle 1. Immediate value: Activities and interactions The most basic cycle of value creation considers networking and community activities and interactions in and of themselves. Activities and interactions can produce value in and of themselves. They can be fun and inspiring. One can get an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, or help with a challenge. Collective reflection can trigger out of the box thinking and open new perspectives. Participants can cooperate on seeking innovative approaches. Just hearing someone else’s story can open one’s imagination or reveal a new perspective. And being with others who understand one’s challenge can be a relief. Ground narrative: community/network activities Cycle 1 Immediate value: Cycle 2 Potential value: Cycle 3 Applied value: Cycle 4 Realized value: Cycle 5 Reframing value: Aspirational narrative: framing success Skills acquired Implementation of advice Level of participation Change in strategy Innovation In practice Inspiration Personal performance Quality of interaction New metrics Reuse of products Social connections Organizational performance Level of engagement Use of social connections New expectations Tools and documents Having fun Organizational reputation New learning approaches New views of learning Level of reflection Institutional changes

Value-creation cycles Value-creation stories In order to appreciate the richness of the value created by communities and networks, it is useful to think about it in terms of different cycles as briefly defined below. Cycle 1. Immediate value: Activities and interactions The most basic cycle of value creation considers networking and community activities and interactions in and of themselves. Activities and interactions can produce value in and of themselves. They can be fun and inspiring. One can get an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, or help with a challenge. Collective reflection can trigger out of the box thinking and open new perspectives. Participants can cooperate on seeking innovative approaches. Just hearing someone else’s story can open one’s imagination or reveal a new perspective. And being with others who understand one’s challenge can be a relief. Ground narrative: community/network activities Cycle 1 Immediate value: Cycle 2 Potential value: Cycle 3 Applied value: Cycle 4 Realized value: Cycle 5 Reframing value: Aspirational narrative: framing success

Value-creation cycles Value-creation matrix In order to appreciate the richness of the value created by communities and networks, it is useful to think about it in terms of different cycles as briefly defined below. Cycle 1. Immediate value: Activities and interactions The most basic cycle of value creation considers networking and community activities and interactions in and of themselves. Activities and interactions can produce value in and of themselves. They can be fun and inspiring. One can get an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, or help with a challenge. Collective reflection can trigger out of the box thinking and open new perspectives. Participants can cooperate on seeking innovative approaches. Just hearing someone else’s story can open one’s imagination or reveal a new perspective. And being with others who understand one’s challenge can be a relief. Ground narrative: community/network activities Cycle 1 Immediate value: Cycle 2 Potential value: Cycle 3 Applied value: Cycle 4 Realized value: Cycle 5 Reframing value: Aspirational narrative: framing success New practice Good meeting Document Measure Exciting project Use of connection Relation-ships Outcome Retweeted tweet Applied advice Insight Challenging inquiry Feedback Critical reflection Case study Use of connection

Value-creation stories concrete examples Community/date: Member/role: What meaningful activities did you participate in? What specific skills or insights did you gain? What access to useful information or material? How did this influence your practice? What difference did it make to your performance? What did it enable that would not have happened otherwise? How did this contribute to your success? Personal, professional? Organizational? Key metrics? Did your experience change your sense of what success is?

Learning activities and formats

How to get moving … four-step cycling Other potential participants What are your challenges? Who do you talk to? Is there a community process? 1. Conversations Value to organization Value to people How could a community help? What would success look like? Why would people participate? 2. Value proposition What do you think of the idea? Are you willing to help make it happen? What would that mean to you? Who else could help? 3. Internal leaders 4. Dynamic design Involve and prepare internal leaders Choose an approach Plan activities Prepare a follow-up Do it

Learning activities a great variety Outside sources Informal From Exchanges Productive inquiries Building shared understanding Shared memory Creating standards Formal access to knowledge Visits Outside sources Pointers to resources News Informal Information Community members learn together, develop their practice, and share and build knowledge through a wide variety of “learning activities.” This slide is a list of the learning activities that communities of practice typically engage in to learn together. Dimensions In the slide this sample of learning activities is organized along three dimensions: 1. Horizontally: Learning from and learning with When members interact, they learn both “from” and “with” each other. They learn from each other’s experience of practice through stories, lessons learned, and advice; and they learn with each other when they act as learning partners in debating issues or exploring new solutions together. Most activities involve both processes. Even a simple request for information can lead to a debate about the relevance of the information provided. Still, it is often the case that one aspect is more salient in defining the basic structure of the activity.   On the diagram, this dimension is represented by the horizontal axis: activities that are primarily “learning from” are toward the left and activities that are primarily “learning with” are towards the right. 2. Vertically: Informal and formal activities It is important not to confuse the self-governing nature of communities of practice with an absence of internal structure. Learning activities range from very informal to very formal activities. Some activities require almost no facilitation or organization, such as requests for just-in-time information or spontaneous conversations. Some activities are quite formal, requiring facilitation, organization, and even protocols, such as training sessions, practice-development projects, or the setting of standards. On the diagram, this dimension is represented by the vertical access with more informal activities towards the top and more formal activities toward the bottom. 3. Inside and outside That the main thrust of communities of practice is peer-to-peer learning does not entail members have all the knowledge and information they need internally. Finding sources of information and knowledge outside is just as much of a community activity as learning from and with each other. Inviting guests and experts or reading research papers together are ways that communities incorporate broader knowledge into their practice and keep abreast of developments in relevant fields. Such boundary-oriented activities help the community avoid the trap of becoming insular and caught in its own limitations. On the diagram this dimension is illustrated by the two rectangles labeled as “each other” and “outside sources.” Activities located in the inner rectangle mostly involve members. Activities located on the outer band centrally involve sources of learning outside of the community. Note Because activities in the upper left require less commitment, communities often start there, and move progressively to activities in the lower right as they mature. Activity clusters In addition to locating activities along these three dimensions, the slide also groups them into clusters of related activities that have similar learning effects. These clusters represent variations on a theme and are represented by the bubbles on the diagram: Sharing: information, stories, tips, documents Productive inquiries: asking for help, working on a case, exploring an idea Negotiating shared understanding: discussing a topic, reading a paper Producing assets: documentation, bibliographies, tools, Creating standards: benchmarks, maturity scales, warranting knowledge Formal access to knowledge: training, practice transfer, invited expert Visits: visiting a member’s site, a community website While this sample of learning activities cannot be exhaustive, it is large and varied. Obviously, not all communities engage in all these activities. In most cases, this would not be a good goal to strive for; many communities function very well with a small subset of these activities. But having a broad panorama of various kinds of activities is a useful tool. It can open the imagination of members and facilitators as to what their community could do to foster learning together. This is mainly a menu that community leaders can choose from to help organize their communities. 1 Tips Hot topic discussions Stories Broadcast inquiry Polls Exploring ideas Demos Debates 3 Document sharing Case clinics 2 Reading group Joint events Documenting practice Project/ after-action reviews From Each other With Guests 7 Peer assist Collections Joint response Follow practitioner 4 Problem solving Visits Field trips Formal practice transfer Role play Learning projects Boundary collaboration Q&A 6 Practice fairs Challenge Mutual benchmark 5 Case studies Models of practice Training and workshops Help desk Formal Warranting Invited speaker Systematic scan External benchmark

Online versions of selected activities language coaching and hand-holding time zones modeling select stories video interviews different media publish comment and discuss series Stories random inquiry multimedia guaranteed response broker replies summary or FAQ Broadcast inquiry design engagement blending synch and asynch spotlighting YouTube someone to follow regular check-in synthesize/aggregate reflect Follow the leader one member leading time delimited facilitated discussants (primed) summary Hot topics PDF email trigger artifact Twitter/Yammer discussion board blog wiki google doc ramping up/down mobile web conferencing back/front channel chat assisted Q/A chat polls thumbs up/down record phone integration public note-taking Guest speaker analytics post reading on read/write web discussion/comments in document springboard into parallel discussion board Reading group tagging host back channel remixing shared memory shared note-taking integrating

Levels of participation a common picture clients transactional outsiders lurkers peripheral occasional experts active beginners core group leaders coordinator sponsors support Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner

Roles and cultivation activities

An ecology of leadership community nurturing roles Community roles Coordinator Working group leader Cybrarian Technology steward Host Member roles Convening elder Core group member Domain expert Networker/weaver Broker Outpost/scout Questioner Newcomer Observer/guest Representative This slide describes typical leadership roles found in communities of practice. These roles a important. No matter how much external support they receive, all communities of practice ultimately depend on internal initiative for their development. This leadership, however, is not of the leader-and-follower type. It is diverse and distributed. Rather than think in terms of leaders and followers, it is more useful to think of roles in a community of practice in terms of an ecology of leadership. In this ecology, everyone can potentially take a leadership role. Types of roles There are many leadership roles in a community of practice, some formal, some informal, some that can be assigned, some that emerge over the course of the community’s life. They fall under three main categories (community and support roles are in the same column on the slide): Community roles Some roles correspond to clear functions in the cultivation and support of the community. They are usually assigned explicitly to a member or a group, who is then expected to fulfill the attendant responsibilities. These functional roles include: Coordinator: running the day-to-day functions of keeping the community going Practice group leader: taking charge of a subgroup for a specific purpose Cybrarian: taking care of the online resources of the community Technology steward: responsibility for making best use of existing and new technology for the specific needs of the community. Member roles Some roles are integral part of membership. They usually are not assigned to people, but emerge from interactions in the community and/or from characteristics of members. These emergent roles include Convener: senior practitioner(s) who can hold the inquiry space of the community and invite members with legitimacy Core group member: member dedicated to the development of the community Expert: contributing exceptional mastery of an aspect of the practice Mentor: taking newer members under their wing Broker: using membership in multiple communities to bring knowledge and perspective across practices in ways that make sense Weaver/networker: connecting people and helping build relationships Scout or outpost: looking for the new things, going to conferences, exploring possible futures for the community Community support roles Some roles are assigned but need not be fulfilled by members. These support roles include: Facilitator: a professional who supports community processes, and meetings Administrative support: logistical support to those who take leadership Journalist: someone who helps produce documents such as stories or codification of practice Help desk: point persons for requests for help or information Role assignment processes The bottom arrow on the slide lists a variety of processes by which people take on roles in their community. To the left are processes where the assignment is explicit and to the right are processes by which the role emerges. Tacit: some roles do not involve any decision or assignment. People take them on in the course of their participation in the community, whether recognized or unrecognized. Self-selection: in many communities, people volunteer for roles, either because the role interests them or out of “good citizenship.” Nomination: people are often asked to take on a role by other members who think they would be good at it. Rotation: in some communities, people take turn assuming roles that involve work or authority, such as the coordinator role. Election: some communities organize elections for key functional roles, with candidates “running for office.” Interview: leaders in various roles are discovered in the process of interviewing members (see interview guide). Mandate: in some organizations, key roles such as coordinators are assigned to people as an organizational mandate. While this process usually ensures that the person will have enough time assigned to the role, it is important to consider the legitimacy and acceptability of the person for such a role in the eyes of the community. Organizational position: in some organizations, people take on a role such as community coordinator or expert because of their position in the organization. This is not uncommon, but it presents the risk of conflating organizational roles and community roles. Note Note that the roles described in this section do not characterize individuals. Rather they are aspects of leadership, which can be combined in the same person, concentrated in a small subgroup or more widely distributed through the community. In fact, a more distributed responsibility for community cultivation is a sign of maturity in a community. In all cases, those who undertake them must have intrinsic legitimacy in the community. (Some organizational leadership roles are described under “Organizational context” below.) Support roles Facilitator Logistics Journalist Technology support Interpreters Invitation Election Volunteer Appointment Consensus Tacit Assigned Emergent Nomination Rotation

Cultivating activities fostering high value for time Ensure quality Model inquiry culture Coach participation Garden website Enabling participation Convene meetings Initiate activities Facilitate interactions Enabling reification Blogging, tweeting etc. Creating summaries Capturing insights Distribute leadership Cultivate core group Form leadership groups Coach leaders Learning agenda Challenges of practice Emerging issues Hot topics Community cultivation Self-care Pursue own learning Meet other leaders Visit other communities Backchannel work Keep in touch Invite members to act Send notes and newsletters Assessment Health checks Monitor indicators Value-creation stories Community building Manage boundaries Welcome newcomers Build identity and trust Institutional brokering Talking with sponsors Making business case Budgeting

Social learning team how to lead and support an initiative Be the voice of communities across agencies Legitimize their work in terms of strategic priorities Help develop a sponsorship structure and negotiate accountability around communities Strategy Offer training about communities of practice Provide coaching to community leaders Help with community launch and renewal Cultivation Steward the use of technology for communities Promote cross-structure knowledge exchange Coordinate overall research, assessment, measurement, and reporting Support

Key success/failure factors This slide lists factors associated with community cultivation: critical factors for a successful community of practice are listed on the left under the green light risks associated with a mistaken focus are listed on the right under the red light. Success factors Passion for domain: This is the key factor. Unless members feel a strong connection to the domain, because of their personal interest or because it is central to their job, it is not going to work. Internal leadership: The dedication, skills, and legitimacy of people who take internal leadership in nurturing the community is perhaps the most important factor in determining the quality and longevity of the community. When starting a new community, finding members who are ready and willing to take on a leadership role in nurturing the community is the most important step. Passion for domain Relevance to practice Ownership of agenda Internal leadership Energized core group Learning trumps power Community rhythm Trust High value for time High expectations Engaged sponsorship Skilled support Distributed leadership Lack of time Leader neglect Groupthink Build it and … Stuck in complaining De-energizing tasks Red tape HQ - field Command/control Cookie-cutter approach Fad or mandate Ideology Lack of strategic thinking

Thank you! Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Email: be@wenger-trayner.com Website: http://wenger-trayner.com Workshops: http://wenger-trayner.com/betreat/