The Impact of Leaders on the Creation of

Communities of Practice

Marla J Hetzel

November 19, 2013

Leading From Behind Creating a context for communities of practice

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What words and phrases

resonate with you?

What Are Communities of Practice?

...a group of people who come together

to share

in order to move a purpose forward.

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Current Leadership Practices Current leadership practices are not a fit for creating communities of

practice

• It is about more than communities of practice

• It is about working differently

Learn

Experiment

Innovate

• Represents significant change

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Current Leadership Practices

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“In today’s world, the executive’s job is no

longer to command and control but to cultivate and coordinate the actions of others at all

levels of the organization.”

Ancona et al.

Learning to Lead Again As leaders, we are learning new skills to put into practice

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”

Peter F. Drucker

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Through the Lens of the Follower Three ways leaders can meet the needs of followers when creating

communities of practice

• Give a #$%^&

• Check the Ego

• Do Your Job

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Background on Case Study Communities of practice to facilitate change: a story of leaders and

followers

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• CEO calling for change

• Communities of practice established to support change

mandate

• Leaders

Individuals in positions of authority

• Chairpersons

Volunteered to help create the communities of practice

Leaders Lacking Engagement

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Leaders Not Meeting Expectations

Leaders Not Sharing in the Experience

Leaders Not Sharing in the Learning

Chairpersons Feeling Disappointed

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“We are not interested in failure. We want to see

this succeed. I am disappointed leadership

is not here too.”

“Because this represents change, leadership needs to be involved.

Leadership needs to be learning too.”

“Leadership cannot

wait to come in every now and

then. What kind of message does that

send?”

Give A #$%^& And cultivate the community in communities of practice

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Create Shared Purpose

Interact

Establish Trust

Give A #$%^&

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“The way to start rebuilding community is to stop the practices that undermine it ... the organization has to shed much of its individualistic behavior and many of

its short-term measures in favor of practices that promote trust, engagement, and spontaneous

collaboration aimed at sustainability.”

Henry Mintzberg

Give A #$%^&

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Leaders Lacking Participatory Style

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Leaders Not Sharing Decision Making

Leaders Not Being Explicit

Leaders Not Facilitating Progress

Chairpersons Not Feeling Empowered

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“So leadership is not engaged and it holds decision

making authority.”

“It would have been helpful to know this earlier so we would

not have wasted our time.”

“I am trying to reconcile wanting to be empowered with the reality of what we are. We are not

empowered.”

Check the Ego And create the context for collective leadership

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Share Decision Making

Share Leadership Responsibilities

Encourage Participation

Check the Ego

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“...today’s complex environment often demands a team approach to problem solving. This requires a leader who,

among other things, is comfortable sharing power and generous in doing so, is able to see extraordinary

potential in ordinary people.”

Linda Hill

Check the Ego

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Leaders Lacking Change Management

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Leaders Not Providing Direction

Leaders Not Establishing Organizational Buy In

Chairpersons Not Feeling Supported

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“Like us, the

organization has questions too. The ambiguity stifles

our ability to take action.”

“Leadership needs to define the common goal and sell it to the organization so people get to the heart of why we exist, what we are

about, so that we would not have to go through this journey on our own.”

“I have the

knowledge to be a change agent but I cannot say that I feel supported as

a change agent.”

Do Your Job And lead the change

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Create the Change Path

Orchestrate the Process of Change

Demonstrate Support to Change Agents

Do Your Job

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“Of course, diffusing such groups across the

organization requires the support of leadership. Without it, efforts in communityship seldom get far.”

Henry Mintzberg

Do Your Job

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An Important Role There is an important role for leaders in creating communities of practice

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Give a #$%^& Cultivate Community

Check the Ego Create Context for Collective

Leadership

Do Your Job Lead the Change

“Though much network behavior

is emergent, the way network

leaders catalyze action

makes a difference.”

Katrina Pugh & Laurence Prusak

An Important Call to Action Learning how to lead again

• Be students of leadership

• Create a Community of Practice

Identify with the topic

Care about the topic

Commit to learning a new set of skills

Invite others to do the same

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Good Reading!

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• Abele, J. (2011) “Bringing Minds Together,” Harvard Business Review, July.

• Adler, P., Heckscher, C., Prusak, L. (2011) “Building Collaborative Enterprise,”

Harvard Business Review, July.

• Hill, L. (2008) “Where Will We Find Tomorrow’s Leaders,” Harvard Business Review,

January.

• McDermott, R. and Archibald, D. (2010) “Harnessing Your Staff’s Informal Networks,”

Harvard Business Review, March.

• Mintzberg, H. (2009) “Rebuilding Companies as Communities,” Harvard Business

Review, July.

• Pugh, K. and Prusak, L. (2013) “Designing Effective Knowledge Networks,” MIT

Sloan Management Review, Fall.

• Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating Communities of

Practice, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Thank You!

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