Answers the question, How can you build a successful community of practice that is integrally linked to your company's strategic vision? Combines theory and practice to outline a model for developing successful communities of practice.



How can you build a successful community of practice that is integrally linked to your company's strategic vision? Learn from the first-hand experience of Hubert Saint-Onge, recognized by Fortune magazine as a leader in the field of knowledge capital, and co-author Debra Wallace, the people responsible for a recent project to establish a community of practice for independent agents at Clarica Life Insurance Company voted one of the most admired knowledge enterprises in the world by practitioners and researchers.



'Leveraging Communities of Practice for Strategic Advantage' combines theory and practice to outline a model for developing successful communities of practice and proposes a direction for establishing communities of practice as an integral part of the organizational structure. Saint-Onge and Wallace relate what worked, what didn't, and why as they tell the story from inception through implementation to assessment. Whether you're developing communities of practice or want to learn how to leverage existing communities for strategic gain, this book provides you with everything you need to launch successful communities of practice in your organization.



* Hubert Saint-Onge has been recognized by Fortune magazine as a leader in the area of leveraging knowledge capital

* Clarica has been voted one of the most admired knowledge enterprises in the world by practitioners and researchers

* Combines theory and practice to outline a model for developing successful communities of practice



Table of Contents

Introduction

Setting the context for communities of practice: Increasing capabilities in the knowledge-driven organization

Communities of practice: high-trust vessels for increasing capabilities Situating communities of practice in a strategic context

A Blueprint for Building Communities of Practice

Building communities of practice as a strategic tool: The community development process model

Phase I: community design and launch

Phase II: community implementation and growth

Establishing community value: measurement and reflection

Creating communities: a course of action

Community design and launch: illustration of activities

Community implementation and growth: illustration of activities Communities as catalysts for change

Appendix: Community development: quick-start toolkit.



About the Author

Hubert Saint-Onge is the Chief Executive Officer of Konverge Digital Solutions Corp., a Toronto-based firm of practitioners that implements fully integrated knowledge strategies based on optimized business processes and custom technology solutions. Mr. Saint-Onge is also the former Senior VP, Strategic Capabilities at Clarica Life Insurance Company, Waterloo, Ontario.

Debra Wallace, Ph.D., is Consultant, Knowledge and Learning Strategy Development, Sun Life Financial Canada. She is responsible for developing the knowledge and learning strategy for the newly combined Sun Life Financial and Clarica Life Insurance Company organizations.