Building a Community of Practice (Part 1)

What do you think would happen if everyone who attended an IT service management (ITSM) class – ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, MOF – went back to work and talked to the person who sits next to them about how their organization could apply best practices? Or, what if everyone shared their ideas with just the people in their work groups. Those organizations would see tremendous benefit. Even small steps – think plan-do-check-act – can reap large benefits over time.

But why stop there? Many organizations have people in different departments and locations, perhaps even in different parts of the world, who must work together to realize the true benefits of a consistent, integrated approach to ITSM. A community of practice can be used to bring these people together. A community of practice (CoP) is group of people who are bound together by similar interests and expertise. Members are active practitioners who come together to share information, experiences, tips and best practices. Members provide support for each other to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel,’ and look for innovative ways to overcome challenges and achieve common goals.

A CoP can be an informal network of practitioners, or it can be created specifically with the goal of developing members’ capabilities and providing a forum for collaboration. Come back next week for ways to foster that collaboration and build a thriving CoP.

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