Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Leadership in social learning communities and networks Exploring the art Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Leadership

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner

Leadership in social learning

communities and networksExploring the art


Leadership plaza workshopIceland, October 2-3, 2012


Introduction


Communities of practicea central type of social learning space

In gangs… they learn to survive on the streets

In organizations… they provide better service to clients

A community of practice is ...

… a self-governed learning partnership among people, who

• share challenges, passion or interest

• interact regularly

• learn from and with each other

improve their ability to do what they care about

define in practice what competence means in their context


Negotiation of

mutual relevance

Provider

Recipient

Different from training horizontal learning partnership

anchored in practice


product or service

task

single problem

personal connections

expert service

strategic capability

department

team

task force or committee

social network

center of excellence

community of practice

need structure

Matching needs and structures ...


Social learning initiativesacross sectors

Ontarioleading municipalities

provincial service

organizations

RADAR CHART - SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

"Success Wheel: Bigger is better"

2002 - 2007

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

70.0

75.0

80.0

85.0

90.0

95.0

100.0

Enrolment % of 1000Staff - Supportive Leadership

Staff - CoworkersStaff - Participative Decision Making

Staff - RecognitionStaff - Employee Development

Students- Self Confidence

Students Relating to others

Students- Interest in learning

Students - Commitment to community

Students - Work readiness

Students - Understanding social order

Students - Optimism for the future

Parents - Quality of Teaching

Parents - Learning outcomes

Parents - Student reporting

Parents Geeneral environment

Parents - Customer Responsiveness

Parents - General satisfaction

Student - Empathy

Student - teacher energy/enthusiasm

Student - fairness/Firmness

Student - Helpful/responsiveness

Student - High expectations

Student - Quality of instruction

Student - Feedback

Student - Difficulty of work

Student - Time allocation

Vet Participatipon

Retention

Attendance

L&N - Numeracy

L&N - Literacy

SS Mathematics

SS English

SS Science

SS SOSE

SS Lote

SS HPD

SS Arts

SS Technology

Sace results

MS Mathematics

MS English

MS Science

MS SOSE

MS HPD

MS Lote

MS Technology

MS Home EconomicsMS Arts

20022003

20042005

2006

PEM PAL

http://www.cancercare.on.ca/

http://www.cat.com/

http://www.cdc.gov/page.do/id/0900f3ec80112422

http://www.gov.sg/

http://www.mckinsey.com/


Types of domains

Professional communitiesProfessions or disciplines usually recognized outsideFairly stable over one’s careerCharter: advancing discipline, professional

development

Technical communitiesSpecific technologies or processesAcross business processesCharter: evaluating and managing technology

Issue-driven communitiesOngoing business concerns or issuesCharter: bringing all perspectives to bear on issue


Practitioners need a community to …

… help each other solve problems

… hear each other’s stories and avoid local blindness

… reflect on their practice and improve it

… build shared understanding

… keep up with change

… cooperate on innovation

… find synergy across structures

… find a voice and gain strategic influence

When have you experienced this?


Learning process


Social learning … communities and networks


Learningpartnership

A social discipline of learning communities of practice as learning

partnerships


Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

A social discipline of learning

key dimensions


A social discipline of learning

key processes

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Bring practice in

Reflect andself-design

Push practiceforward

Create self-representation


Leadership tasks


A social discipline of learning key self-design processes

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface withorganization

Manage community

memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in

Drive the learning agenda


A social discipline of learning internal leadership

Community

Domain

Learningpartnership

Practice

Reflect on process

Interface with organization

Manage community memory

Get the message out

Bring voices in

Drive the learning agenda

Critical friends Institutional brokers

Community keepers Agenda

activists

Social reportersExternal

messengers


Value creation


Framing narratives aspirations and experience

Gro

un

d n

arra

tive

: com

mu

nity/ne

two

rk activities

As

pira

tion

al n

arra

tive

: fram

ing

succe

ss


Cycle 1Immediate value:

Cycle 2Potential value:

Cycle 3Applied value:

Cycle 4Realized value:

Cycle 5Reframing value:

Gro

un

d n

arra

tive: co

mm

unity/n

etwo

rk activities

As

piratio

nal n

arra

tive: fra

min

g su

ccess

Level of participation

Inspiration

Skills acquired

Level of engagement

Level of reflection

Change instrategy

Personalperformance

Reuse of products

InnovationIn practice

Quality ofinteraction

Organizationalperformance

New learningapproaches

New metrics

Tools and documents

Socialconnections

New viewsof learning

Havingfun

Implementationof advice

Use of socialconnections

Organizationalreputation

New expectations

Institutionalchanges

Assessing value-creation cycles and indicators







Gro

un

d n

arra

tive: co

mm

unity/n

etwo

rk activities

As

piratio

nal n

arra

tive: fra

min

g su

ccess

Value-creation cyclesValue-creation stories


Value-creation cyclesValue-creation matrix






Gro

un

d n

arra

tive: co

mm

unity/n

etwo

rk activities

As

piratio

nal n

arra

tive: fra

min

g su

ccess

Document

Relation-ships

Use of connection

Feedback

Retweetedtweet

Excitingproject

Goodmeeting

Insight

Use ofconnection

Newpractice

Criticalreflection

Outcome

Measure

Case study

Appliedadvice

Challenginginquiry


What meaningful activities did you participate in?

What specific skills or insights did you gain? What access to useful information or material?

How did this influence your practice? What difference did it make to your performance? What did it enable that would not have happened otherwise?

How did this contribute to your success?- Personal, professional?- Organizational? Key metrics?

Did your experience change your sense of what success is?- Personal, professional?- Organizational? Key metrics?

Community/date: Member/role:

Value-creation storiesconcrete examples


Learning activities and formats


Involve and prepare internal leaders Choose an approach Plan activities Prepare a follow-up Do it

4. Dynamic design

Value to organization Value to people How could a community help? What would success look like? Why would people participate?

2. Value proposition

Other potential participants What are your challenges? Who do you talk to? Is there a community

process?

1. ConversationsHow to get moving

… four-step cycling

What do you think of the idea? Are you willing to help make it

happen? What would that mean to you? Who else could help?

3. Internal leaders


Information Informal

Formal

WithFrom

Models of practice

Project/after-action

reviews

Case clinics

Document sharing

Collections

Learningprojects

Hot topicdiscussionsStories

Formalpracticetransfer

Visits

Invitedspeaker

Mutual benchmark

External benchmark

Broadcast inquiry

Readinggroup

Problem solving

News

Jointresponse

Boundarycollaboration

Trainingand

workshops

Pointers to resources

Systematic scan

Guests

Jointevents

Documentingpractice

Field trips

Exploringideas

Eachother

1

2

7

4

3

6

5

Tips

Practice fairs

Warranting Helpdesk

Outsidesources

1.Exchanges2.Productive inquiries

3.Building shared understanding

4.Shared memory

5.Creating standards

6.Formal access to knowledge

7.Visits

a great variety

Debates

Q&A Role play

Casestudies

Peerassis

t

Polls

Learning activities

Followpractitione

r

Demos

Challenge


Twitter/Yammer

discussion boardblog

PDF

google doc

web conferencing

wiki

YouTubeblen

ding

syn

ch

and

asyn

ch

ramping up/dow

n

remixing

modeling

spotlighting

integrating

coaching and hand-holding

shared

memory

one member leading

time delimited facilitated

discussants (primed)

summary

Hot topics

back/front channel chatassisted Q/A chat

pollsthumbs up/down

recordphone integration

public note-taking

Guest speaker

tagg

ing

someone to follow

regular check-in

synthesize/aggregate

reflect

Follow the leader

select stories

video interviewsdifferent media

publish

comment and discuss

series

Storiesrandom inquiry multimedia

guaranteed response

broker replies

summary or FAQ

Broadcast inquiry

post reading on read/write web

discussion/comments in document

springboard into parallel discussion board

Reading group

email

shared note-taking

time zones

language

Online versions of selected activities

mobile

design engagement

triggerartifact

host

analytics

back channel


occasional

transactional

peripheral

active

coordinator

core group

lurkers

leaders

sponsors

experts

beginners

support

outsiders

Levels of participationa common picture

clients



Roles and cultivation activities


Facilitator Logistics Journalist Technology support Interpreters

Support roles

Convening elder Core group member Domain expert Networker/weaver Broker Outpost/scout Questioner Newcomer Observer/guest Representative

Member roles Coordinator Working group leader Cybrarian Technology steward Host

Community roles

Election

Consensus

Nomination

Volunteer

Rotation

TacitAppointmentAssigned Emergent

An ecology of leadership community nurturing roles

Invitation


Cultivating activitiesfostering high value for time

Distribute leadership Cultivate core group Form leadership groups Coach leaders

Backchannel work Keep in touch Invite members to act Send notes and newsletters

Enabling participation Convene meetings Initiate activities Facilitate interactions

Self-care Pursue own learning Meet other leaders Visit other communities

Institutional brokering Talking with sponsors Making business case Budgeting

Learning agenda Challenges of practice Emerging issues Hot topics

Communitycultivation

Assessment Health checks Monitor indicators Value-creation stories

Community building Manage boundaries Welcome newcomers Build identity and trust

Enabling reification Blogging, tweeting etc. Creating summaries Capturing insights

Ensure quality Model inquiry culture Coach participation Garden website


Be the voice of communities across agencies

Legitimize their work in terms of strategic priorities

Help develop a sponsorship structure and negotiate accountability around communities

Social learning teamhow to lead and support an initiative

Strategy

Support

Cultivation

Steward the use of technology for communities

Promote cross-structure knowledge exchange

Coordinate overall research, assessment, measurement, and reporting

Offer training about communities of practice

Provide coaching to community leaders

Help with community launch and renewal


● Passion for domain

● Relevance to practice

● Ownership of agenda

● Internal leadership

● Energized core group

● Learning trumps power

● Community rhythm

● Trust

● High value for time

● High expectations

● Engaged sponsorship

● Skilled support

● Distributed leadership

● Lack of time

● Leader neglect

● Groupthink

● Build it and …

● Stuck in complaining

● De-energizing tasks

● Red tape

● HQ - field

● Command/control

● Cookie-cutter approach

● Fad or mandate

● Ideology

● Lack of strategic thinking

Key success/failure factors


Thank you!


Email: [email protected]

Website: http://wenger-trayner.com

Workshops: http://wenger-trayner.com/betreat/

Documents

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Leadership in social learning communities and networks Exploring the art Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner Leadership