CPsquare:My Practice Series

From [[http://cpsquare.org CPsquare]], the community of practice on communities of practice.

Summary

Once a month we invite one person talk about their job or current projects and the communities of practice or social learning issues that are currently coming up. 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. People are invited to reflect on their experience, what they think about it, 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

1. First 10 days of every month. Usually there's a slow start, but we try to end by the 10th of the month.
2. Asynchronous

Set-up

1. Use this practice notes page to set the context and invite the person who will be "it".
2. Move previous month's session to the background (to an archive that people can browse).
3. The person who's "it" prepares at least a paragraph or two to get the conversation going.
4. The person who is "it" is subscribed to the discussion by email, so they're alerted to new questions and responses.
5. The discussion is set up with a recognizable form in a prominent location (e.g., featured on the community banner).
6. It takes a few days for the conversation to get going.
7. Let the discussion take it's course.
8. More than ten days would probably be too much of "an ask"

History

• CPsquare members can see previous sessions here: http://conversations.cpsquare.org/WebX/Community/MyPractice/ (password protected -- accessible to CPsquare members only)
• Here are the people who have shared their practice:
  • Jack Merklein
  • John Parboosingh
  • Joitske Hulsebosch
  • Lauren Klein
  • Sue Wolff
  • 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.