The Fairfield headquarters of GE provided a lovely setting for our March meeting. Following a wonderful cocktail hour and dinner, both hosted by GE, and sponsored by Research Books and Standard & Poor’s Credit Market Services, we were delighted to have Eric Lesser, Executive Consultant with the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management speak to us about Communities of Practice (CoP). Mr. Lesser has presented this timely and informative topic to many organizations and associations worldwide.

Following his presentation, speaker Eric Lesser answered questions from attendees.

There is nothing new about communities of practice; they’ve been around for years, and many may exist within your company right now. They’re used to share a common purpose, interest, or issue, and they exist to exchange knowledge. Simply put, CoPs match knowledge seekers to knowledge sources and provide an environment for people to experiment with new ideas without the fear of rejection. Additionally, research has shown a strong correlation between the implementation of communities of practice and organizational performance.

Although this is not a new tool, companies are using this type of collaboration in new ways and new formats.  In one of Eric’s examples, the retailer Best Buy used CoP to overcome the obstacle of high turnover rates commonly experienced in the retail industry. With the goal of retaining and sharing product and sales knowledge among associates, they established three pilot CoPs to help new sales associates effectively sell and install products such as MSN contracts, car audio equipment, and PCs. With simple rules in place, including community “leaders” and the requirement that these leaders  act on submissions within 48 hours, the pilot was an overwhelming success, with over 700 sales ideas posted on the MSN CoP alone. Based on this success, Best Buy expanded its CoP program to include other business areas such as appliances, home theater products, and inventory management.

As information centers, libraries have opportunities to support and serve as focal points for Communities of Practice.  They provide one more way that we, as information professionals, can facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas and help to increase overall company performance.