Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Social learning leadership in communities and networks State of...

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner

Social learning leadership incommunities and networks

State of the Art


Professional BEtreatGrass Valley, California

July 7-10, 2014


Introduction


Origins in studies of apprenticeship

Learning as trajectory into a community of practice

legitimate peripheral participation


Phase II: self-organized professional developmentin international settings

English for Specific Purposes:

genres in international settings

Portuguese participation

in international practices

Communities of practiceas learning contexts

International networks of

communities of practice


Communities of practiceacross sectors

Ontarioleading municipalities

provincial service

organizations

RADAR CHART - SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

"Success Wheel: Bigger is better"

2002 - 2007

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

70.0

75.0

80.0

85.0

90.0

95.0

100.0

Enrolment % of 1000Staff - Supportive Leadership

Staff - CoworkersStaff - Participative Decision Making

Staff - RecognitionStaff - Employee Development

Students- Self Confidence

Students Relating to others

Students- Interest in learning

Students - Commitment to community

Students - Work readiness

Students - Understanding social order

Students - Optimism for the future

Parents - Quality of Teaching

Parents - Learning outcomes

Parents - Student reporting

Parents Geeneral environment

Parents - Customer Responsiveness

Parents - General satisfaction

Student - Empathy

Student - teacher energy/enthusiasm

Student - fairness/Firmness

Student - Helpful/responsiveness

Student - High expectations

Student - Quality of instruction

Student - Feedback

Student - Difficulty of work

Student - Time allocation

Vet Participatipon

Retention

Attendance

L&N - Numeracy

L&N - Literacy

SS Mathematics

SS English

SS Science

SS SOSE

SS Lote

SS HPD

SS Arts

SS Technology

Sace results

MS Mathematics

MS English

MS Science

MS SOSE

MS HPD

MS Lote

MS Technology

MS Home EconomicsMS Arts

20022003

20042005

2006

PEM PAL

Transparency and accountability

Initiative

http://www.cancercare.on.ca/

http://www.cat.com/

http://www.cdc.gov/page.do/id/0900f3ec80112422

http://www.gov.sg/

http://www.mckinsey.com/


Communities of practiceas a learning partnership

In gangs… they learn to survive on the streets

In organizations… they provide better service to clients

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


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

When have you experienced this?


occasional

transactional

peripheral

active

coordinator

core group

lurkers

leaders

sponsors

experts

beginners

support

outsiders

Levels of participationa common picture

clients


Community rhythmfinding the heartbeat of a learning partnership


A community is a living entity … not unlike a couple

It takes hard work and careful nurturing It depends on renewed passion

It becomes an entity in its own right

It takes initiative

It is voluntary

It involves responsibilities

It is fun

private and public

commonground

ongoinglegacy

recognizedstewardship

communalidentity

long-termviability

Transforming

Sustaining

Maturing

Coalescing

Potential

A learning partnership lifecycle and evolution


Networksstructures of social connections

Professional networks …Social networksPersonal networks …

broad patterns of relationships

all the people one has access to

A network is ... … a set of connections among people, who

• may or may not have much in common

• rely on these connections for their own purposes

These connections

enable social exchanges

carry information flows

provide access to learning resources


Practitioners need a network 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

When have you experienced this?


Social learning … communities and networks


Social learning horizontal learning partnership anchored in practice


Phase III: Complex communities …… at the crossroads of multiple practices

missed learning potential

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Etienne & Beverly Wenger-Trayner

Landscape of practice


Create slide for social learning spacesand leadership


Social learning leadership living at the intersection


Café conversation

What is your journey into social learning?

What challenges are you bringing?

What would you like to achieve?


Create slideWhat do SLLs do?

The framework


Learning-value framework

Cycle 1Immediate

value:

Cycle 2Potential

value:

Cycle 3Applied value:

Cycle 4Realized

value:

Gro

un

d n

arra

tive: co

mm

unity/n

etwo

rk activities

As

piratio

nal n

arra

tive: fra

min

g su

ccess

Document

Relation-ships

Collaboration

Failure

Useful caseclinic

Excitingproject

Goodmeeting

Promisingadvice

New approach

Newpractice

Outcome

Measure

Insight

Advice does not

apply

Challenginginquiry

Perspective Perspective

Reframing loops

ConditionsConditions

Improving loops (short or long)

(short or long)

Prospective Retrospective

Learning capability


Information Informal

Formal

WithFrom

Models of practice

Project/after-action

reviews

Case clinics

Document sharing

Collections

Learningprojects

Hot topicdiscussionsStories

Formalpracticetransfer

Visits

Invitedspeaker

Mutual benchmark

External benchmark

Broadcast inquiry

Readinggroup

Problem solving

News

Jointresponse

Boundarycollaboration

Trainingand

workshops

Pointers to resources

Systematic scan

Guests

Jointevents

Documentingpractice

Field trips

Exploringideas

Eachother

1

2

7

4

3

6

5

Tips

Practice fairs

Warranting Helpdesk

Outsidesources

1.Exchanges2.Productive inquiries

3.Building shared understanding

4.Shared memory

5.Creating standards

6.Formal access to knowledge

7.Visits

a great variety

Debates

Q&A Role play

Casestudies

Peerassis

t

Polls

Learning activities

Followpractitione

r

Demos

Challenge


Facilitating group activitiesformats for engaging community members

Mutual discovery Fair/booths Quick booth scan Gallery walk Social network mapping Matrix of practice

Networking Ice breakers/intro Speed dating Geek dating Knowledge market Breaks

Presentations and Q&A Traditional TED talks Ignite presentation Multimedia tools Brown bag lunches

Visioning Appreciative Inquiry Envisaging the future Time line Design templates

Enactments Forum theatre Role play Character archetypes

Mutual learning Apprenticeship Peer mentoring Buddying

Working together Open Space Leadership groups Discussion groups Working groups

Large conversations

World café Discussion guides Fishbowl Panel/Round table Debates Talk show Hot buttons Conversation guides

whole-group small-groups

one-to-many

many-to-many

one-to-one

few-to-few


Leadership roles and cultivation


A social discipline of learning

key processes

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Bring practice in

Reflect andself-design

Push practiceforward

Create self-representation


Success factors

Learning agendaSocial learning

process

Memory and messages

Technology Value creation

Internal leadership

Engaged sponsorship

Social learning team

Identification with domain

Personal passion

Sense of ownership

High expectations

Practice-driven trajectory

High value for time

Horizontal interactions

Generative activity design

Attention to different voices

Learning trumps power

Candid inquiry

In the service of learning

Multiple tools and devices

Integration, integration, integration

Different entry points

Persistence

Driving community development

Articulate value proposition

Strategic relevance

Continuity over time

Continuity across boundaries

Shared memory

Awareness of stakeholders

Intentional communication

DynamicDistributed


A social discipline of learning key self-design processes

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface withorganization

Manage community

memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in

Drive the learning agenda


A social discipline of learning internal leadership

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface with organization

Manage community memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in


Critical friends Institutional brokers

Community keepers Agenda

activists

Social reportersExternal

messengers


Cultivating activitiesfostering high value for time

Distribute leadership Cultivate core group Form leadership groups Coach leaders

Backchannel work Keep in touch Invite members to act Send notes and newsletters

Enabling participation Convene meetings Initiate activities Facilitate interactions

Self-care Pursue own learning Meet other leaders Visit other communities

Institutional brokering Talking with sponsors Making business case Budgeting

Learning agenda Challenges of practice Emerging issues Hot topics

Communitycultivation

Assessment Health checks Monitor indicators Value-creation stories

Community building Manage boundaries Welcome newcomers Build identity and trust

Enabling reification Blogging, tweeting etc. Creating summaries Capturing insights

Ensure quality Model inquiry culture Coach participation Garden website


Launch


Involve and prepare internal leaders Choose a launch approach Plan launch activities Prepare a follow-up Do it

4. Launch design

Value to organization Value to people How could a community help? What would success look like? Why would people participate?

2. Value proposition

Potential members What are your challenges? Who do you talk to? Is there a community?

1. ConversationsHow to get going

… the first four steps

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


Explore existing networks Define overall approach Locate potential members and leaders

Discovery andpreparation

Action plan andfollow-up

Launch workshopdesign

Anticipate follow-up Logistics and invitations Action plan and next steps

Context setting and education Exciting learning activities Community self-design

Designing a launch processkey steps


What happened in Cape Town?

Day 1: exploring Day 2: working Day 3: planning

Prioritized issues Learning plans Community design

In mixed and separate groups, we discussed what were the main challenges we needed to address together and we voted on the most pressing ones

We formed several practice groups to start working on the issues we had prioritized and to explore how we can make progress on them together

We formed new groups to bring the different work plans together into an overall community design, including activities for the coming year


Online practices and tools


● Use it for your own good

● Open it up for your team

● Support the early adopters

● Create a culture of experimentation

● Collect analytics

● Recognize technology stewards

● One size fits all

● New tools without practices

● IT department leads decisions

● Build it and …

● Underestimate the time

● Expect the tool to do it

Warning signs

Strategic advice


Twitter/Yammer

discussion boardblog

PDF

google doc

web conferencing

wiki

YouTubeblen

ding

syn

ch

and

asyn

ch

ramping up/dow

n

remixing

modeling

spotlighting

integrating, tools

coaching and hand-holding

shared

memory

one member leading

time delimitedfacilitated

discussants (primed)

summary

Hot topics

back/front channel chatassisted Q/A chat

pollsthumbs up/down

recordphone integration

public note-taking

Guest speaker

tagg

ing

someone to follow

regular check-in

synthesize/aggregate

reflect

Follow the leader

select stories

interviewsdifferent media

publish

comment and discuss

series

Storiesrandom inquiry multimedia

guaranteed response

expert following discussion

summary or FAQ

Broadcast inquiry

post on read/write web

discussion/comments in document

springboard into parallel discussion board

Reading group

email

shared note-taking

time zones

language

Online versions of selected activities


3. Value creation


What meaningful activities did you participate in? What was your experience?

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?

How has this been fed back into the community’s learning:- improvement- reframing

Community/date: Member/role:

Value-creation storiesconcrete examples


Organizational environment


Newstructures

Existingstructures

Advisorycouncil

Coordinatorcouncil

Supportteam

Strategicteam

R&D

IT

HR

Portfoliosponsors

Communitycoordinators

Domainsponsors

Individualsponsors

Localsponsors

Communitymembers

Support teamleader

Sponsorship and support structuring strategic conversations


Value proposition


Why should I care? How will your community contribute to

the strategy/mission of my organization?

Making a business casequestions from a sponsor

Why

How

What

How will you operate? What resources will you need? What do you expect from me? What

role do you want me to play?

What capabilities will your community develop? What new connections will it enable? What

boundaries/silos will it cross? What will success look like and how will you

know?


Support: social learning team


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

Social learning teamhow to lead and support an initiative

Strategy

Support

Cultivation

Steward the use of technology for communities

Promote cross-structure knowledge exchange

Coordinate overall research, assessment, measurement, and reporting

Offer training about communities of practice

Provide coaching to community leaders

Help with community launch and renewal


● 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


● Stuck in complaining

● De-energizing tasks

● Red tape

● HQ - field

● Command/control

● Cookie-cutter approach

● Fad or mandate

● Ideology

● Lack of strategic thinking

Key success/failure factors


Thank you!


Email: [email protected]

Website: http://wenger-trayner.com

Workshops: http://wenger-trayner.com/betreat/


Convening in complex systems


CoP

Vertical and horizontal accountability the need for transversality

Vertical accountability… Hierarchy

Institutionalized accountability

Evidence-based prescription

Codification and regulation

Standards of qualification

Horizontal accountability… Communities and networks

Peer-to-peer learning

Personal meaning

Engagement and creativity

Individual identity/reputation

Transversal accounts through… People

Processes and practices

Objects


Systems conveners: convening across complex landscapes


Pioneering innovationbalancing long and short term

Getting buy-inbrokering across boundaries

Managing the intersectionvertical and horizontal

Sustaining coherencemoving parameters

personal mission

passionate and strategic

upbeat and persistent

legitimacy across boundaries

leverage personal networks

Aspirational narrative: capturing imagination

Meaningful engagement: cross-boundary encounters

Strategic alignment: enabling significant results


Leadership roles and cultivation


occasional

transactional

peripheral

active

coordinator

core group

lurkers

leaders

sponsors

experts

beginners

support

outsiders

Levels of participationa common picture

clients



A social discipline of learning key self-design processes

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface withorganization

Manage community

memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in



A social discipline of learning internal leadership

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface with organization

Manage community memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in


Critical friends Institutional brokers

Community keepers Agenda

activists

Social reportersExternal

messengers


Cultivating activitiesfostering high value for time

Distribute leadership Cultivate core group Form leadership groups Coach leaders

Backchannel work Keep in touch Invite members to act Send notes and newsletters

Enabling participation Convene meetings Initiate activities Facilitate interactions

Self-care Pursue own learning Meet other leaders Visit other communities

Institutional brokering Talking with sponsors Making business case Budgeting

Learning agenda Challenges of practice Emerging issues Hot topics

Communitycultivation

Assessment Health checks Monitor indicators Value-creation stories

Community building Manage boundaries Welcome newcomers Build identity and trust

Enabling reification Blogging, tweeting etc. Creating summaries Capturing insights

Ensure quality Model inquiry culture Coach participation Garden website


Systems conveners: convening across complex landscapes


Launch


Involve and prepare internal leaders Choose a launch approach Plan launch activities Prepare a follow-up Do it

4. Launch design

Value to organization Value to people How could a community help? What would success look like? Why would people participate?

2. Value proposition

Potential members What are your challenges? Who do you talk to? Is there a community?

1. ConversationsHow to get going

… the first four steps

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


What happened in Cape Town?

Day 1: exploring Day 2: working Day 3: planning

Prioritized issues Learning plans Community design

In mixed and separate groups, we discussed what were the main challenges we needed to address together and we voted on the most pressing ones

We formed several practice groups to start working on the issues we had prioritized and to explore how we can make progress on them together

We formed new groups to bring the different work plans together into an overall community design, including activities for the coming year


Learning activities and formats


“It was fantastic to see everyone digging their teeth into these issues we all struggle with

individually ...”


Capturing the value creation of social learning is strategic, but subtle. To be both rigorous and

helpful our framework is held to five disciplines: Relevance - recognizing different kinds of

value to members and multiple stakeholders

Attribution - creating plausible causal links between outcomes and activities

Mixed methods - integrating quantitative and qualitative sources of data

Ease of use – commonsense, hence usable by community members as well as professional

evaluators

Learning orientation – not be purely evaluative, but a learning tool for members

and stakeholders

Toward a discipline of value creation


Conditions

Aspirations Aspirations

Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Reframing loops

Improving loops

Immediate value Potential value Applied value Realized value

Strategic value

Enabling value

AspirationsConditions


Useful caseclinic

Excitingproject

Goodmeeting

Challenginginquiry

Promisingadvice

Document

Relationship

Insight

Advice does not apply

New practice

Collaboration

Differentapproach

Customersatisfaction

Improved performanceor outcome

Personalsuccess

Failure

Social learning team Secretariat

Vision

Sponsorship

Transformative value

Learning activities

Value-creation cycles

Technology

Strategicconversations

Good leadership

Crossingboundaries

Boundary

Aspirations

Conditions

Criteria

Institution

IdentityP

racticeLandscapeorientation

Alignment


Value-creation stories: template

What got you involved?

What was the CoP-related activity?

What was your experience of engaging with the CoP this way?

What did you get out of it? How did you apply it?

Did it transform your view?

Did you feed this back into the CoP?

Were there specific enablers that you think made this story possible?

Was there a significant connection to strategy?

Start here

What was the result?


Conditions


Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Reframing loops

Improvement loops


Strategic value

Enabling value



Useful caseclinic

Excitingproject

Goodmeeting

Challenginginquiry

Promisingadvice

Document

Relationship

Insight


New practice

Collaboration

Differentapproach



Personalsuccess

Failure

Social learning team HR recognition

Vision

Sponsorship


Learning activities


Technology


Good leadership

Crossingboundaries

Boundary

Aspirations

Conditions

Criteria

Institution

IdentityP


Alignment

Retrospective narratives

Applications of the framework

Aspirational narratives

Feedback narratives

Aspirational narratives

Feedback narratives

Retrospective narratives


Conditions


Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Aspirations

Conditions

Reframing loops

Improving loops


Strategic value

Enabling value



Useful caseclinic

Excitingproject

Goodmeeting

Challenginginquiry

Promisingadvice

Document

Relationship

Insight


New practice

Collaboration

Differentapproach



Personalsuccess

Failure

Social learning teamSecretariat

Vision

Sponsorship


Learning activities


Technology


Good leadership

Crossingboundaries

Boundary

Aspirations

Conditions

Criteria

Institution

IdentityP


Alignment

Learning how to learn


Support: social learning team


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

Social learning teamhow to lead and support an initiative

Strategy

Support

Cultivation

Steward the use of technology for communities

Promote cross-structure knowledge exchange

Coordinate overall research, assessment, measurement, and reporting

Offer training about communities of practice

Provide coaching to community leaders

Help with community launch and renewal


● 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


● Stuck in complaining

● De-energizing tasks

● Red tape

● HQ - field

● Command/control

● Cookie-cutter approach

● Fad or mandate

● Ideology

● Lack of strategic thinking

Key success/failure factors


Value proposition


Why should I care? How will your community contribute to

the strategy/mission of my organization?

Making a business casequestions from a sponsor

Why

How

What

How will you operate? What resources will you need?

What do you expect from me? What role do you want me to play?

What capabilities will your community develop? What new connections will it enable? What

boundaries/silos will it cross? What will success look like and how will you

know?


Thank you!


Email: [email protected]

Website: http://wenger-trayner.com

Workshops: http://wenger-trayner.com/BEtreat/


Communit

y Domain

Practice

Participation and

Reification

Imagination, engagement and alignment

Identity Identification

Sponso

rship

Social learning

leadership

Learning capability

Landscap

es of

practice

Systems convener

Boundaries

Brokering

Competen

ce

Knowledgeability

Vertical, horizontal

and transversal

accountability

Technology stewarding

Negotiation of

meaning

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Social learning leadership in communities and networks State of...

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Transcript of Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Social learning leadership in communities and networks State of...