About
Why the playbook was developed
Working through communities of practice has never been more encouraged in organisations than it is now. Better gathering, sharing and using of data, information and knowledge in public organisations such as the European Commission are essential to deliver integrated policy work and overcome silo mentalities. This is highlighted explicitly in European Commission President von der Leyen’s work guidelines stipulating transparency and the ambition to become a digitally transformed, user-focused and data-driven administration. Communities of practice are an excellent instrument for fostering collaboration among internal and external stakeholders: they can bring groups with different knowledge perspectives together and can strengthen their capacity to work and learn creatively together. Thus, communities of practice harness the collective intelligence in organisations and help improve performance.
How it took shape
Based on scientific research and empirical experience, we explored the life cycle of communities of practice in the European Commission. We considered all of the questions that arise when setting up a new community or keeping an existing one alive and thriving.
Through surveys in different parts of the organisation and mentoring and coaching sessions with over 25 community managers, we tested and refined the Communities of Practice Success Wheel methodology, which underpins The Communities of Practice Playbook.
Who is it for
Everybody with an interest in or the task of managing a community can use this playbook to understand and apply processes that enable communities to thrive and deliver on their vision.
This methodology can be applied in any organisation, as it assists organisations in developing communities, networks and other formal or informal structures that require collaboration and cooperation between various stakeholders who need to work together with a common purpose and vision.
This playbook equips everybody interested in running communities to be able to understand and apply the most important factors that enable communities to thrive. It consists of evidence-based guidance, good practices and interactive visual boards. Community managers with sponsors, core groups and members can work together on these boards by following the step-by-step guidance and questions posed in this playbook. The playbook covers eight success facets that allow you to develop, engage and empower your community at every stage of its journey.
What it is
The playbook consists of guidance, good practices and interactive visual boards. Community managers with sponsors, core groups and members can work together on these boards by following the step-by-step guidance and questions posed in this playbook. It covers eight success facets that allow you to develop, engage and empower your community at every stage of its journey.
The playbook provides you with the tools and processes to create your community roadmap. These tools and processes are based on in-depth and interactive explorations of eight community success facets:
- vision–what is your community raison d’être, what are the goals it aspires to achieve and what are the corresponding SMART objectives?
- governance–how do you work together, and with whom and how do you take decisions?
- leadership–how will you ensure strong leadership participation by both sponsors and core groups?
- convening–what kind of convening opportunities work for your community?
- collaboration and cooperation–how do you co-create and coordinate different cooperation and collaboration processes to deliver concrete community knowledge assets/artefacts?
- community management–how do you facilitate dynamic, hybrid and (a) synchronous community interactions?
- user experience–how do you ensure a member-centric community experience while delivering on the tasks set and supporting members’ needs?
- measurement–how do you understand and measure community vitality and what can you learn from it?
What it can do for you
The playbook:
- helps you run and develop communities, networks and any other formal or informal structures that require collaboration and cooperation between various stakeholders who need to work together with a common purpose and vision;
- proposes a step-by-step approach on how to co-create your policy proposals or policy implementation actions through communities;
- supports you in designing and facilitating convening opportunities, as well as blended synchronous and asynchronous interactions;
- guides you on how to ensure systematic community engagement and participatory decision-making to harness the collective intelligence of your organisation and its partners;
- offers a community-building backbone for creativity, productivity and coownership of results;
- provides guidance on ways to make your community/network prepared, resilient and responsive to today’s challenges.
How to use it
This playbook is intended to empower everybody interested in running communities to understand and apply the most important facets that enable communities to thrive.
You can use it as a guiding framework on your own to:
- assess where you are with your community and identify areas of and processes for improvement;
- dive deep into one area of community development with your core group and/or with your members to unlock your community potential (e.g. how you could work on governance to create more engagement);
- refer to, using it as a point of reference whenever your community faces questions on how to work towards a goal;
- equip you with all you need to start a community or a similar structure, namely guidance, good practices based on extensive research and experiences of other communities and the processes you need to follow to get started.
How to contact us
You can reach us via EC-COMMUNITIES@ec.europa.eu
Identifiers
| HTML | ISBN 978-92-76-38110-5 | ISSN 1831-9424 | doi: 10.2760/433723 | KJ-NA-30-466-EN-Q |
| ISBN 978-92-76-26343-2 | ISSN 1831-9424 | doi:10.2760/443810 | KJ-NA-30-466-EN-N | |
| ISBN 978-92-76-26344-9 | ISSN 1018-5593 | doi:10.2760/42416 | KJ-NA-30-466-EN-C |