Transcript Document

How to set up a
Community of Practice
(CoP) for Nutritionists
See What is a CoP and how do I use this resource?
Introduction
• You have decided to set up a COP for nutrition
professionals- Great!
• The aim of this presentation is to guide you on
how to create a successful and sustainable CoP
• We hope to offer you practical tips and help you
navigate common issues
• Plus provide you with useful resources via
hyperlinks
See Why a Community of Practice?
Introduction
• Setting up a CoP can be divided into these steps
1. Inquire
2. Design
3. Prototype
4. Launch
5. Grow
6. Sustain
7. Evaluate
Key Definitions
• Domain- a particular shared Nutrition interest
• Community- a group of people (Nutrition
professionals from a specific health field or
region)
• Practice- practical implications and applications of
professional knowledge
Inquire
• Make a case to employers to allow you to
dedicate time to a CoP
• Potential benefits to organisations include:
– Employee efficiency, in terms of time and cost, in
retrieving information
– Industry benchmarking capacity
– Involvement in key industry and national initiatives
– Organisational reputation as a contributor in
building new capabilities
– Increase access and use of evidence
Inquire
Organisation
Members
Summary of the advantages of a CoP
Short-term value
Long-term value
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Help with challenges
Access to expertise
Confidence
Fun with colleagues
Meaningful work
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Personal development
Reputation
Professional identify
Network
Marketability
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Problem solving
Time saving
Knowledge sharing
Synergies across units
Resuse of resources
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Strategic capabilities
Keeping abreast
Innovation
Retention of talents
New strategies
See CoP versus other forms of professional development
Design
• Draft charter or group guidelines with three to five
members including:
– Mission
– Scope
– Goals
– Objectives
– Participant expectations
See CoP Charter Template
Design
• Identify leaders in your CoP
– Find a skilful and reputable coordinator that has an
interest in the domain
• Allocate two primary roles
– Community leader: Takes overall organisational
responsibility for the CoP. Helps the group stay
focused and aligned with the charter
– Community sponsor: encourages member
participation and access to technology or
resources
See Case for Sponsorship Brief
Design
• Subject Matter (domain) of CoP
– Identify topical/controversial/common issues
related to the circumstances of the profession
– Groups are best for problem solving
– Find Subject Matter Expertise (SME). These will
be people who are considered knowledgeable
and leaders in identified domains
See SME Tip Sheet
Case Study
• Subject matter expertise:
 The CoP for PHNs working with remote retail stores aimed
to increase access to the evidence base for this unique
and newly emerging field
 This included access to six experienced professionals who
previously and currently work in the field, at different
times during the groups existence
 Sessions were conversational in nature allowing members
to ask questions of such experts where they may not have
had access or felt comfortable to do so in another
professional development forum
Design
• Choose a facilitator to keep conversations
focused, relevant and inclusive. There are
many different ways to do this, some
options include:
– Most experienced person facilitates/chairs
meetings
– Facilitators rotate monthly or each session
See Facilitation Tip Sheet
Design
• Consider timing of meetings
– Frequency ideally six weekly to ensure no long
gap between meets
– Duration (depending on size of group ~two
hours)
– Face-to-face meetings (this can especially be
useful for members in rural/remote areas,
trying to meet 1x year i.e. at a major national
professional conference once per year
Design
• Communication: consider accessibility, cost,
reliability, practicability
– Video/audio conferencing e.g.
• Google Chat (free)
• Adobe (cost) – lets users present documents and
screen share
• Skype (cost for group conference)
– Telephone
– Face to face
See Technology Tool Comparison
Design
• Management of knowledge
– Record of meetings e.g. allocate a scribe
– Inform members who miss sessions
– Have a way to follow up on issues raised for
future meetings
– Prompt dialogue between meetings through
chat room or emails
– Encourage sharing of reflections whilst they
occur in the workplace
Prototype
• It is time to test the CoP out with the core
members
– Refine method of communication and technology
tools the community will use
– Ensure each core member’s role is clear
– Go through “case scenarios” to test the
functionality of meetings
A group of remote Public Health Nutritionists may test out
their CoP with a topic like ‘The process of developing a store
nutrition policy’
Launch
• Use the below templates as one example of
how to get the word out to potential members
• To recruit members try
– Emailing past and present colleagues
– Social and research network sites such as
Facebook, ResearchGate, Linkedin, Twitter
– Professional bodies i.e. DAA, PHAA, Nutrition
Society of Australia and special interest groups
within these bodies
See Formation Announcement Template
See Invitation Approach
Launch
• Membership
– Consider the size of your group, evidence
suggests groups of around ten are most
manageable
– Use the template below to track membership
skills, contact details
See Membership Tracking Template
Grow
• Aim to increase participation and member
contribution:
– Create subgroups to support emerging group
activities
– Publicise successes and encourage sharing of
stories from the front line
– Consider rewards for participation such as CPD
points (may need to involve and discuss with
professional bodies i.e. DAA)
– Involve experts and develop the evidence base
with research and university bodies
See Maximising group effectiveness
Sustain
• Value the work of communities
– Actively encourage ideas, sharing of knowledge
• Create a newsletter to summarise activities
of the CoP and to plan for next meetings
• Keep stakeholders and your organisation
informed of your involvement
See Newsletter template
See Sustaining a CoP
Evaluate
• Individual and/or group reflection and evaluation
See Evaluation interview guide
• Employ the Most significant change technique
See MSC guide
• Facilitator diaries
See Evaluating a CoP
Summary
• The creation and evolution of a CoP can be broken down
into simple steps.
• Use the hyperlinks to help you set up your CoP but
remember they are just a guide. It is important to just
work with what suits the groups needs.
• Aim to create a CoP that empowers its nutrition members
and encourages them to Collaborate, Apply, Support and
Engage for lifelong learning and career development.
Go and set up your own CoP