Organizations are continually seeking cost-effective ways to leverage expertise for problem solving and competitive advantage. Communities of Practice provide a space to exchange practices that might enhance evidence based decision and capacity building for effective delivery of development outcomes. They offer a forum where the competitive advantage, embedded in people’s knowledge and skills, can be disseminated.
In its recently approved Knowledge Management Strategy, IFAD identified the potential benefits that CoPs and learning networks can bring to the organization. Among these, for example, it considers:
- Efficiency gains as a result of a better and faster access to the collective knowledge of staff and to innovative solutions;
- An increased level of retention of the expertise and know-how of retiring staff;
- Reduction of the learning curve for new and re-located staff;
- Safe forums for brainstorming, for receiving constructive critiques and for testing new or emerging practices;
- The possibility of not “reinventing the wheel” when teams share knowledge and experiences;
- Communications barriers that are broken down, especially among individuals who work in different levels, functions and geographical regions. This can a strong impact in reducing the feeling of intellectual isolation that many out posted staff experience.
On an individual level, practitioners can also benefit from a community of practice in many different ways. As they are part of a CoP but also of different operational teams, they can connect the capabilities, ideas and tools of a community of practice to the knowledge needs of the team, project or organization where they work. In short, the benefits that an individual can see include:
- Networking and the possibility of establishing links and relationships with like-minded professionals;
- Collaboration and the possibility of developing ideas together;
- Keeping up-to-date with current thinking and ideas;
- Acknowledgement, recognition and reputation.
Logically, setting up and managing a CoP requires the design of a strategy that will help have the biggest impact with the limited resources available. Such a strategy needs to consider
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Key barriers
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