Communities of practice playbook

Internal Communities of

Practice

Maria Ogneva, Head of Community, Yammer

A comprehensive guide to community strategy, design and execution.

“Community is a group of people with unique shared

values, behaviors and artifacts.”

- The Community Roundtable

What is a community?

Communities of Practice

Dedicated to stewarding knowledge. Members

connected by interdependent

knowledge

Business units

Dedicated to helping employees

work better together in a

business structure designed to meet a

market opportunity.

Work groups, project teams

Dedicated to completing

projects; knowledge is lost

when disband. Members

connected by interdependent

subtasks

Internal Communities

Knowledge is a competitive advantage

Knowledge increases in complexity

Half-life of knowledge getting shorter

Rapid globalizationRestructuring internally and

externallyWar for talent

Accelerating velocity of change

Business challenges

CoP structural elements

Practice

Domain

Creates common identity, meaning,

purpose & value. Inspires

participation, mutual

exploration

Creates social fabric of learning, fosters mutual respect and trust, willingness to share, ask, listen, be

vulnerable and courageous

Creates domain-based knowledge the community develops, shares & maintains – frameworks, tools,

ideas, stories, documentation, etc.

Community

Source: “Cultivating Communities of Practice,” Wenger, McDermott, Snyder

Examples of success

Source: McKinsey

Source: University of Michigan

Short-Term Value Long-Term Value

Tangible Value Intangible Value

…but without proper planning, your community may not reach its potential; even worse, it may backfire.

These benefits are achievable

1. Lack of supporting resources: people, technology, finances

2. Low engagement: vocal minority drowns out the community

3. Negativity: may be cultural; may be ongoing or situational

4. Fails to meet business objectives: no one wants yet another place to go

5. Confusion: People don’t know what to do there and why

For more pitfalls, check out the Community Roundtable

Potential risks without active CM

http://community-roundtable.com/2012/03/six-risks-of-not-having-community-management/

What do we do now?

We need to become strategic about internal communities

Knowledge ≠

information

Smart growthCatalyze Self-sustainDesign for valueStrategic CM

“Communities that steward knowledge & business processes where knowledge is applied

must be tightly interwoven”

– “Cultivating Communities of Practice,” Wenger, McDermott, Snyder


BRAIN

Well-connectedHas credibilityUnderstands

existing business process

Industry and market expertise

COURAGE

Tactful and diplomaticConfident and shrewd

politicianCreates structure

without stiflingCan make difficult

decisions

HEART

EmpatheticPassionate

Inspired by peopleInspires others to

actPatient

ApproachableHonest, transparent

Meet the community manager!


What does a healthy community look like?

Collaborative & open

Transparency

Authenticity

Intellectual honesty

Mutual trust &

accountability

Ability to communicat

e without fear of

retribution

Comfortable with

“working out loud”

Hierarchy doesn’t

define flow of

information

Aligns to higher

purpose, the “why”


To create the conditions that can support a self-sustaining community, you must be deliberate about design.


1. Design for value

Strategic CM Smart growthDesign for value Catalyze Self-sustain

Source: David Armano

Organization’s needs and wants

Member needs and

wants

Discover the sweet spot

“Striking the sweet spot between the interests and needs of the community and the interests and needs of the organization is critical to

the long term success of business communities.” - Rachel Happe, The Community Roundtable

Your community needs to be healthy and deliver business value


• Needs, jobs that need to get done

• Expertise that exists & is needed

• Intrinsic motivators• What other informational

sources compete for their attention / time

Understand your

members

How will you create value for each member?


Design around sources of motivation:

Autonomy: Are employees empowered to get their job done without obstacles?

Mastery: Get better at their craft? Formal training is not enough; must learn from each other daily.

Purpose: Do employees feel like they are part of something bigger?

From Daniel Pink’s book “Drive”

Tap into WIIFM



Community personas

Core members

Contributors

Lurkers

Encourage varied contributionBuild a fire

2. Design to catalyze

Aim, fire, adjust!

Befriend change & be comfortable with ambiguity. Listen, learn and iterate.

Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze

Design for value

Build community WITH community

Charter & vision: co-create

with communi

ty

Enlist core

members

Evolve best

practices

Make it about the

members

Design for

evolution

Founding members and Ambassadors are stewards of community’s vision & culture.


Design for value

Evolution, not revolution

• Build on preexisting networks & interest groups

• Invite divergent points, dialogue

• Allow to evolve beyond original design

• Collaborative evolution makes community stronger


Design for value

Work with your early Ambassadors

Design private and public spaces

Design structures: groups, meetings, projects,

Help members make it their own

Create light structure without stifling

By expertise levels

By geograph

y

By function


Design for value

• Design activities• Establish a rhythm• Interesting, provocative

content• Divergent thinking & activity• Inspiration• Measure success and iterate

Build engagement through activities


Design for value

• Build trust• Make sharing easy• Create artifacts

Promote storytelling


Design for value


Design for value

Build benches

Invite different levels of participation

Help members evolve their personas

Catalyze change through observable actions

“Working out loud = Narrating Your Work + Observable Work”

-Bryce Williams

Narration is making one’s tacit knowledge (what one feels) more explicit (what

one is doing with that knowledge). Narrating work

is a powerful behaviour changer”- Harold Jarche


Design for value

http://thebryceswrite.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/when-will-we-work-out-loud-soon/

http://www.jarche.com/2012/04/three-principles-for-net-work/


3. Design for smart growth

• Member recruitment and vetting

• Think through exit process

• Flow between communities, explore adjacencies

• Think through community sunsetting at the beginning

Be thoughtful about membership

“Beyond a certain level of activity, it becomes difficult for all members to believe they can influence the

community. Members no longer feel a genuine sense of connection with another member.” Richard Millington,

FeverBee

Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart

growthDesign for value Catalyze

Onboard new members

• Outline a 30-60-90 day plan

• Public and private welcomes

• Socialize new members with existing members



Educate and guide

Employees• Educate employee

community• Bring together

stakeholders and champions

• Educate and reiterate purpose

• Bring in adgacent groups

Executives & managers

• Address fears and concerns

• Get the right resources

• Reiterate purpose• Legitimize through

showing value

Onboarding, expectation setting, & open communication are an ongoing process



Global communications are complex:• Languages• Time zones• Customs and cultures• Subtle cultural peculiarities

Solutions:• Work with Ambassadors to

localize• Create local groups • Localize content

Expand global reach



1. What does success look like?What does it mean to the

community? What does it mean to

individuals?What does it mean to the

organization?

2. How will you measure it?

Tell the whole story with:Quantitative metricsQualitative benefits and

impacts

3. Understand and quantify value to your business

Check out this FeverBee article on community health metrics

Measure success



http://www.feverbee.com/2011/06/measuring.html

Show value, get support



4. Design to self-sustain

Ultimate test of community health

Strategic CM Smart growthDesign to self-

sustainDesign for value Catalyze

Give up control to Ambassadors

For more on working with Ambassadors, check out this post



http://blog.yammer.com/blog/2012/12/community-managers-dont-try-to-do-it-all-on-your-own.html

• Know your community• Draw people in via engagement events and

conversations• Create conditions for this to happen without you

Connect community members



Create• Encourage storytelling• Connect problems with

solutions• Celebrate successes• Learn from failure

Help create artifacts and shared knowledge

Curate• Tag, categorize and curate• Help to make sense of

information• Encourage remixing.

Tyco publishes a success booklet to inspire through personal stories



Blend online and offline

Enhance physical events with online community elements.

Examples: All-hands meetings, exec breakfasts, conferences, symposiums, workshops

Catalyze online relationships in person. Physical space

should match online interactions & community

personalityExamples:

Innovation jams, unconference workgroups



Wrapping up…

What will you get in the end?

Cutting edge knowledge

Agility

Business and individual value

Practitioner retention

1. Be realistic about where you are; be clear about value

2. Take baby steps and be patient; behavior change takes a long time. Prepare for a marathon, not a sprint

3. Thoughtful community design should free and enable; not handcuff

4. Be the change you want to see; model behaviors

5. Pay it forward

Remember…

• “Ten tips for leading communities,” Stan Garfield• “Community Manifesto,” Stan Garfield• Six Risks of Not Having Community Management from Community

Roundtable • Community Managers, Don't Try To Do It All On Your Own on The

Yammer blog• Measuring an Online Community from Feverbee• The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social

technologies, McKinsey Global Institute• Firms' own social networks better for business than Facebook,

University of Michigan• Narration of Work, Harold Jarche• Three Principles of Net Work, Harold Jarche• How to Engage Your Customers and Employees, Ray Wang for Harvard

Business Review• Majority of American Workers Not Engaged In Their Jobs, Gallup • How Employee Engagement Leads to Higher Stock Prices, Kevin Kruse

for Open Forum• “Change That Sticks” by Harvard Business Review• When Will We Work Out Loud? Soon by Bryce Williams

Resources

http://www.slideshare.net/DG-SocialBusinessCouncil/ten-tips-for-leading-communitiesdeloitte

http://www.slideshare.net/SGarfield/communities-manifesto

http://community-roundtable.com/2012/03/six-risks-of-not-having-community-management/

http://blog.yammer.com/blog/2012/12/community-managers-dont-try-to-do-it-all-on-your-own.html

http://www.feverbee.com/2011/06/measuring.html

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/mgi/research/technology_and_innovation/the_social_economy

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/mgi/research/technology_and_innovation/the_social_economy

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20192-firms-own-social-networks-better-for-business-than-facebook

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20192-firms-own-social-networks-better-for-business-than-facebook

http://www.jarche.com/2012/01/narration-of-work/


http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/how_to_engage_your_customers_a.html?awid=585923165a8022164506-3271

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150383/Majority-American-Workers-Not-Engaged-Jobs.aspx

http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-employee-engagement-leads-to-higher-stock-prices/

http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-employee-engagement-leads-to-higher-stock-prices/

http://thebryceswrite.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/when-will-we-work-out-loud-soon/

Keep in touch:

Twitter: @TheMaria @Yammer

Read our blog:http://blog.yammer.com

Contact us

http://blog.yammer.com/

http://blog.yammer.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59319911@N00/2542767294/Slide 11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9080018@N07/4465392937/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/85941395@N00/1464005913/Slide 15: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45688285@N00/1048905340/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/17751217@N00/2703980776/Slide 20: Yammer Engineering BlogSlide 22: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035734296@N01/2575986601/Slide 24: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11862557@N00/5726726600/Slide 26: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7855449@N02/3120385357/in/set-72157606844282993/Slide 27: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65339210@N02/6231641551/Slide 31: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22177648@N06/2137729430/Slide 34: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55634677@N00/4388984995/Slide 36: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48441030@N00/128655796/Slide 37: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22607885@N08/4772347311/Slide 40: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99496537@N00/148849801/Slide 42: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42202689@N00/2601694302/Slide 44: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21932201@N04/4962969492/Slide 46: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57567419@N00/7496765660/Slide 48: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47402349@N00/2741652353/Slide 49: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29596200@N00/2477396306 & http://www.flickr.com/photos/19251296@N00/2265050966/Slide 50: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35683319@N00/3306421665/Slide 52: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80318385@N00/7625639974/

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