Communities of PracticeIdentifying, Using and Encouraging CoP for SPs
ASPE June 2016Howard M Gregory II, MS
Introduction
Communities of Practice
Howard M Gregory II
Masters Knowledge Management
SP Program Manager
Mt Sinai Skills and Simulation Center
Cleveland, Ohio
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Quick background on me
Objectives
Communities of Practice
You’ll be able to;
1. Describe the elements of communities of practice (CoP) and identify those you belong to
2. Identify the benefits derived from CoP
3. Identify problems and disadvantages that can arise from CoP
4. Identify ways to encourage CoPs
ASPE Book Club 2015 Chapter 4
Communities of practice and simulated patient methodology
Debra NestelMonash University
Jan-Joost RethansMaastricht University
Gayle A Gliva-McConveyEastern Virginia Medical
School
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
So, Why talk about CoP? Well if you were lucky enough to come to ASPE last year you may have been exposed to the book club selection “Simulated Patient Methodology”. It has some really great chapters, many of them authored by your fellow attendees, but what fascinated me was the Chapter about CoPs I studied them during my masters program and this chapters ideas intrigued me. However, I wanted to see if I could open up the topic, give it a broader appeal and relate it our everyday lives as well as SP management and SP Methodology development.
What is a CoP?
Communities of Practice
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”
Etienne Wenger
Presenter
Presentation Notes
“The term “community of practice” is of relatively new, even though the phenomenon it refers to is as old as time. The examples I used in my abstract included archeologist who tracked ideas and techniques used by potters in the pueblos of the SW US and the poetry societies in Feudal Japan where members from different casts interacted as equals - creating, sharing, and critique poetry. Etienne Wenger first came upon the idea when studying Xerox repair men and finding that they way they successfully completed their jobs had less to do with the repair manual and more to do with the informal group of techs sharing what they’d learned, what they’d observed, what they had in their inventory (company policy set a $ limit on what they could carry around so knowing what everyone had made it easier to make repairs in a timely manor) In KM we say the “what you know depends on who you know”. Data becomes Information from context. Information becomes knowledge through action and use… which is quite validating for us who enable and support the role of simulation in education.
What is a CoP?
Communities of Practice
Learning is not simply the acquisition of knowledge, but rather occurs though [] social participation, in context and embedded within both a social and physical environment.
Etienne Wenger
Presenter
Presentation Notes
These communities can be formal or informal and are so ubiquitous – we don’t realize how many we each belong too.
Three Common Characteristics of CoP
Communities of Practice
Domain
Community
Practice
Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Domain, the area of interest, which creates a common base among members and allows them for the development of a group identity; (Wenger-Trayner, 2015) Examples SP Educators – Extrema Couponers, LARPer Community, the learning social factory (Wenger, 1998a), a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships and through this develop a sense of membership and commitment; � As with all living communities we an a mix of levels of both experience (noob to expert) and participation 90-9-1 Practice, the shared repertory of competencies and common resources (i.e. routines, documents, tools, styles, legends, symbols and language) that members have developed; this repertory includes the knowledge created and shared in the past and allows for future learning, for trusted relationships and for circulation of explicit and tacit knowledge. (Wenger-Trayner, 2015) Tacit knowledge is hard to codify or record … the opposite of explicit knowledge is recorded (in books, cases, videos, etc.…) Did you catch that? Legends? Story telling is a valid learning and sharing tool! We are sharing knowledge tacit knowledge with our war stories. Each community of practice is a different combination of these fundamental aspects, which evolve according to the context the community is in, through a process of continuous redefinition led by its members. (Corso M., Giacobbe A. n.d.)
What are your communities of
practice?
How do you use CoPs in your everyday life?
Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice
Example – Community Theatre
Presenter
Presentation Notes
I’ve noticed many in ASPE have some acting background just as many of our SPs do. How would that community be an example of CoPs? Novice and Experienced Members Levels of participation Practice and Rehearsals
Communities of Practice
Example – Food Bank Volunteer
ASPE
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
ASPE as a CoP Domain, Community and Practice A great place to network and learn from my colleagues and find new ideas on how to enhance my SP performance, run programs, create cases…. Thankfully when I’m done we have Scott George here to talk about that very topic! Novice and Experienced Members Levels of participation Practice and Rehearsals
Benefits of CoP
Communities of Practice
Organizational Benefits
Short Term• Improved Problem Solving• Quick Answers• More Perspectives on Problems• Strengthened Quality Assurance
Long Term• Authority with Clients• Increased Retention of Talent• Emergence of Unplanned Capabilities
Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002)
Benefits of CoP
Communities of Practice
CoP Member BenefitsShort Term
• Help with Challenges• Access to Expertise• Fun of being with colleagues• Sense of Belonging
Long Term• Forum for expanding skills and expertise• Networking for keeping abreast of the field• Enhanced professional reputation• Increased marketability and employability• Strong sense of professional identity
Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002)
The Downside of theStandardized Patient
CoP
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
When good SPs go Bad!!! Baltimore 2010 Standardized Patient Feelings – a Complicating Factor – Elizabeth Kachur, PhD 2015
Temptation of Ownership
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Temptation of Ownership – “Pride of Ownership can induce a fall. Sometimes , the enthusiasm for the domain leads to excessive zealousness. This “arrogance can lead the community to clam exclusive ownership of the knowledge and hoard it from others.” What can happen when an SP starts “Own” a role / part / program? Horror Stories / War Stories - SPs going over your head to get the role they’ve aged out of ? Contacting the facility physician to get the program date changed so they can do the part? How to counter; “Establishing the legitimacy and strategic value of the domain,…” Let them know they are valued clarifying the link to [] issues and find ways for the community to add value, “offering [them] inspiring challenges…” (Wenger 2002) You’ve done this role so long / often I need you for more advanced cases if we can just train someone else to play this one…
Blind to New Ideas and Barriers to New Comers
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
“As intimacy develops in the CoP it can create a barrier to new comers, a blindness to new ideas and a reluctance to critique others. (Wegner 2002)” Like Cliques
Cliques
Communities of Practice
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Cliques When relationships between the members become so strong they dominate all other concerns. Information and knowledge become dominated by a powerful core group that acts as imperious gatekeepers…. Information Silos As I recall our colleague Kewana Smith (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) told me a story last year of bringing in new SP after she was hired to have them stop coming back, when she reached out to them to found out why… it turned out the est SP froze them out…. (Cliques or Owership) When you have no novice learners in a community it can become stagnant, unmoving, How to counter; Trust comes from interactions that are mutually beneficial such as engaging in shared problem solving… Getting new blood into the community my require a framework of mentorship to connect newcomers to old-timers.
Encouraging CoPs
Communities of Practice
Novice & Advanced mingle and interact
Sharing of new ideas and perspectives
Accept varying levels of participation (1~9~90)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Novice & Advanced mingle and interact – That mix of new and established SPs I try to make at all my trainings. The story I tell is the best swordsman in all of France does not fear the second best, he fears the worst… he knows what the second best will do… but who knows what the worst will do? If you don’t know how it’s always been done you can bring fresh ideas and perspective to the group. Stress the value of new ideas – 21st century - continual learning “Establishing the legitimacy and strategic value of the domain,…” Let them know they are valued clarifying the link to [] issues and find ways for the community to add value, “offering [them] inspiring challenges…” (Wenger 2002) You’ve done this role so long / often I need you for more advanced cases if we can just train someone else to play this one…
Questions?
Communities of Practice
References
Communities of Practice
Kerno, S. J. (2008). Limitations of Communities of Practice: A Consideration of Unresolved Issues and Difficulties in the Approach. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(1), 69-78. doi:10.1177/1548051808317998
M, C., & A, G. (n.d.). Building Communities of Practice that work: A case study based research. Retrieved June 20, 2016, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/conf/olkc/archive/oklc6/papers/
Nestel, D., Rethans, J., & Gliva-McConvey, G. (2015). Communities of Practice and simulated patient methodology. In Simulated patient methodology: Theory, evidence, and practice. (First ed., pp. 23-30). West Sussex: Wiley Backwell.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). A guide to managing knowledge: Cultivating communities of practice. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.
Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (n.d.). Introduction to communities of practice. Retrieved June 16, 2016, from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
