CPsquare:My Practice Series
From [[http://cpsquare.org CPsquare]], the community of practice on communities of practice.
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Contents |
Summary
Once a month we invite one member of the community talk about their job or current projects and the communities of practice or social learning issues that are currently coming up. The idea is to have a session that is direct and simple and only lasts 10 days. Apart from designating one person to be "it", this series is intended to be an informal and open-ended way for the community to get to know itself and to see the variation in what people do. We talk about what's difficult, challenging or rewarding about someone's work. The person who is "it" is invited to reflect on their experience, where they would like to go, and what opportunities or constraints they see.
Audience and relevance
Does participation in CPsquare define us or does our presence in the CPsquare community define it? Probably both. The My Practice Series leads with a focus on the individual, but it also deepens our sense of our community and it's amazing diversity.
Steps
Duration & frequency
- First 10 days of every month. Usually there's a slow start, but we try to end by the 10th of the month.
- Asynchronous
Set-up
- Use this practice notes page to set the context and invite the person who will be "it".
- Move previous month's session to the background (to an archive that people can browse).
- The person who's "it" prepares at least a paragraph or two to get the conversation going.
- The person who is "it" is subscribed to the discussion by email, so they're alerted to new questions and responses.
- The discussion is set up with a recognizable form in a prominent location (e.g., featured on the community banner).
- It takes a few days for the conversation to get going.
- Let the discussion take it's course.
- More than ten days would probably be too much of "an ask"
How much time does it take?
Here is what previous participants have said:
- after the introductory paragraph, it took about 3 hours per week for 2 weeks
- less 30 minutes to start off and maybe 1 hour to respond
- I think the time needed will depend on the nature of the conversation (e.g. more academic or more conversational), and the number of people who show an interest and respond. I would have thought a maximum of an hour a day would be enough. More important would be to log in and check the forum every day.
History
- CPsquare members can see previous sessions here: http://conversations.cpsquare.org/WebX/Community/MyPractice/ (It's password protected -- accessible to CPsquare members only. The archive has sessions from previous years.)
- Here are the people who have shared their practice so far:
- Beth Kanter
- Beverly Trayner
- Bronwyn Stuckey
- Caren Levine
- Jack Merklein
- Jay Cross
- Jenny Mackness
- Jerry Yoshitomi
- Jim Eichhorn
- John Parboosingh
- Joitske Hulsebosch
- Karen Guldberg
- Lauren Klein
- Lotte Krisper-Ullyett
- Marco Bettoni
- Monique Léger
- Robin Yap
- Shawn Callahan
- Sibrenne Waagenar
- Steve Gance
- Sue Wolff
- Sylvia Currie
- Tony Carr
Variants and applicability
- Feature a Forum member is described on p. 120 of Nancy M. Dixon, Nate Allen, Tony Burgess, Pete Kilner, and Steve Schweitzer, CompanyCommand: Unleashing the Power of the Army Profession (New York: The Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning, West Point, 2005). http://isbn.nu/9780976454106
- Good for communities that are distributed and big enough so that people don't automatically know everyone else.
Health check questions
- Who gets invited: not the same old faces, but not completely new people who might be intimidated by the experience either.
- Ideal if there is a balance so that the person who is "it" can legitimately represent the common practice, can speak on behalf of it, but also shows up as an individual.
