Hello Mr Wenger, I have been a member of an organization and working as a team leader. My question is that how do we build appropriate structure for this organization.

Hi Lisa

There have been all sorts of studies of communities of practice. Have you read the book “Beyond communities of practice: language, power, and social context” edited by David Barton and Karin Tusting (Cambridge)? It contains many studies of communities of practice that might be of interest – and it’s not just about managing them.

Hope that helps.

Hi Kylie… here are some of the things we have learned about the leadership groups:

1. Don’t be ideological about them. Use them in ways that make sense to the community you are working with. Perhaps you call them different names, perhaps you call them “Design groups”, perhaps you only use three of the groups. Make them work for you.

2. There is a tension about time with the leadership groups. You need to give people enough time to understand them, use them, and see how powerful they can be. But you don’t want to give them so much time that people feel like it is distracting from their focus on content.

Re the value creation framework – here is a link to some lessons https://wenger-trayner.dreamhosters.com/resources/publications/strategic-evaluation-of-network-activities/ and we have a few examples of other people who have used it in our newsletter, if you are not subscribed – http://eepurl.com/bQ32y9.

Both of these approaches we use and help you apply in your context in our BEtreat workshops – https://wenger-trayner.dreamhosters.com/betreat/. Perhaps we’ll see you at one!

Brian,

Many health care systems have cultivated communities of practice to improve patient care, with various degrees of success. You should definitely look into the work of Michael Fung-Kee-Fung at the University Hospital of Ottawa. A recent dissertation by Igor Prysko from Strathclyde University looks at some efforts at the NHS in the UK. Also look at the work of Sue Huckson when she was at the National Institute of Clinical Studies in Australia. The list could go on, but this gives you a start.