An Intensive 5-day Training Course
Establishing and Growing Communities of Practice (COP)
From Concept to Implementation
Course Introduction
This Oxford Management Centre’s Establishing and Growing Communities of Practice (COP) training course focuses on vital areas to promote collective learning in shared domains of human endeavour. It is a unique training courses that addresses the key practices and challenges to overcome - from a practitioner's perspective.
Over this 5-day training course will bring you up-to-date information, techniques and approaches that will enable you to develop your practice through a variety of activities.
This training course on Establishing and Growing Communities of Practice will highlight:
- Coordination and strategy
- Sharing experience and problem-solving
- Building member participation and involvement
- Building narrative and enrolling others
- Growing confidence in dealing with members at all levels
- Professional development
- Documenting projects, mapping knowledge, and identifying gaps
Objectives
By the end of this training course, participants will learn to:
- Understand what communities of practice are and look like
- Recognise best practice methods for applying communities of practice
- Identify challenges to building the COP and strategies to overcome them
- Understand how to manage knowledge strategically
- Enable and encourage practitioners to take collective responsibility
- Create direct links between learning and performance
- Address tacit and dynamic aspects of knowledge creation and sharing
- Create effective connections among people across organisational and geographical boundaries
Training Methodology
This training course will utilise a variety of proven learning techniques to ensure maximum understanding, comprehension and retention of the information presented. Learning methods will include, presentation of theory, discussion, role play and skills practice exercises, case study review and syndicate group work.
Organisational Impact
- Add value to the organisation by taking care of areas of competence identified as strategically important
- Challenge more traditional hierarchical organisations to embrace change, be innovative and empowering
- Coordinate knowledge sharing and problem-solving approaches for issues such as education, health, and security across the organisation
- Increase connections with people in the organisation independent of formal structures
- Encourage and promote peer to peer professional development opportunities
- Develop practical skills and knowledge that are dynamic and relevant to building the COP
- Have COP Leaders, Moderators, COP Practitioners, and HR personnel demonstrate greater strategic awareness
Personal Impact
- Will enable participants to explore and understand best practice COP
- Have an enhanced appreciation of how COP can be developed in their own organisation
- Will enable participants to build greater dialogue and interaction with members
- Manage their time effectively when COP is one of a range of responsibilities and activities, they are responsible for
- Be instrumental in developing knowledge building
- Build confidence in dealing with organisational issues
- Measure the impact of their COP initiatives
Who Should Attend?
This Oxford Management Centre's training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:
- HR professionals, leaders, moderators, and personnel who are charged with the success of organisational initiatives that rely on engagement and knowledge sharing from team members
- Members who do not necessarily work together but need to develop strong networks and working relationships, such as cross functional teams, customer, or product focused business units
- Anyone who is a member of a group where there is a shared domain of interest and wants to galvanise knowledge sharing, learning and change
- Those who are committed to growing the collective competence of an organisation
- Those charged with developing the strategic capabilities of an organisation
- Those already responsible for a COP who want to network with others and share know-how to achieve their organisational goals and objectives
Course Outline
Day 1
Introduction to Communities of Practice (COP)
- Understanding the Community of Practice (COP)
- Recognising the changing face of COP - How they have evolved and continue evolving?
- Identifying potential COP in your organisation
- Providing the infrastructure to assist COPs to reach their full potential
- Guidelines for hallmarks of effective COPs
- Balancing the cultural complexities of spontaneous innovation with supervision and hierarchy, typically found in established organisations
Day 2
Honing the COP Strategy
- Learning from COP organisational success stories
- Dispelling the common myths about COP
- Identifying the skills and character traits required to build and sustain a COP
- Encouraging sharing of experience and knowledge of group members
- Practical communication skills for leading webinars and meetings
Day 3
Developing Narrative Thinking
- Understanding story telling as a method to relate experiences to inspire, make meaning and gain commitment
- Utilising emotion to facilitate the transmission of knowledge
- Bringing facts and figures to life in COP webinars and presentations
- Sharing learning experiences so that others gain value from them
- Reading the climate of your organisation
Day 4
Communicating Knowledge through Storytelling
- Creating buy-in and engagement through storytelling
- Transferring best practice in the organisation
- Stimulating group participation and involvement
- Sharing successes and learning from the journey
- Developing the moral of the message
- Using visual aids to support the narrative
Day 5
Harnessing the Power of the COP
- Practical problem solving in COP
- Using non-traditional methods to assess the value of the COP
- Gaining the support of managers, thought leaders and sponsors
- Overcoming organisational barriers to COP implementation
- Identifying and planning new applications for the COPs to initiate or be involved with
- Making time for COP activities
- Identifying professional development opportunities within the COP for self and others
Certificate
Oxford Management Centre Certificate will be provided to delegates who successfully completed the training course.
Accreditation
