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
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
Smart growthCatalyze Self-sustainDesign for valueStrategic CM
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!
Smart growthCatalyze Self-sustainDesign for valueStrategic CM
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”
Smart growthCatalyze Self-sustainDesign for valueStrategic CM
To create the conditions that can support a self-sustaining community, you must be deliberate about design.
Smart growthCatalyze Self-sustainDesign for valueStrategic CM
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
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign for value Catalyze Self-sustain
• 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?
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign for value Catalyze Self-sustain
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
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign for value Catalyze Self-sustain
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign for value Catalyze Self-sustain
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.
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
Design for value
• Design activities• Establish a rhythm• Interesting, provocative
content• Divergent thinking & activity• Inspiration• Measure success and iterate
Build engagement through activities
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
Design for value
• Build trust• Make sharing easy• Create artifacts
Promote storytelling
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
Design for value
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growth Self-sustainDesign to catalyze
Design for value
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
Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart
growthDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart
growthDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart
growthDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart
growthDesign for value Catalyze
Show value, get support
Strategic CM Self-sustainDesign for smart
growthDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign to self-
sustainDesign for value Catalyze
• Know your community• Draw people in via engagement events and
conversations• Create conditions for this to happen without you
Connect community members
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign to self-
sustainDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign to self-
sustainDesign for value Catalyze
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
Strategic CM Smart growthDesign to self-
sustainDesign for value Catalyze
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
Keep in touch:
Twitter: @TheMaria @Yammer
Read our blog:http://blog.yammer.com
Contact us
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