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Community of Practice Toolkit

Before you create a new Community of Practice, let's have a conversation. Is a new group needed? Is it the right scope? Do you have the people needed to lead and sustain the community? We can help! Please contact us to get started.

Forming Your Group Meetings Communications Measurement

Forming Your Group

Create a Google Group

A Community of Practice is typically an opt-in group. To make it easy for people to join or leave the group, create a Google Group for them to opt into. You can use this group for calendar invitations, emailing members, or setting up a Google Chat space.

  • Add a Welcome and About message to let people know about your group and how to find your website.
  • Under Group settings, review the options for:
    • Who can join the group
    • If you want to allow external members (outside of ND.edu)
    • Who can post or view conversations.

Your selections may vary by group but the settings shown here are appropriate for most groups.

Google Groups configuration screenshot showing various settings.

Leadership

  • Chair: The primary lead for the group, this person is responsible for convening the group regularly.

  • Vice-chair or co-chair: The partner who helps the Chair execute their responsibilities, the Vice-chair is also the nominal successor to the Chair when they are unable to fulfill their duties.

  • Leadership cabinet: These are committed volunteers who have agreed to help manage group and its activities. They may help plan and run meetings, update the website, and more. Many hands make light work!

  • Establish terms: Set expectations with terms so that volunteers know how long they have committed to the group. A standard practice is to set 1-year terms that can be renewed annually. Making an intentional commitment to the group is easier if you know that you have an option to step back at the end of your term. This is also useful for succession planning: who will take over the leadership when the current leader(s) step down?

Charter Document

We've developed a template you can follow to describe the purpose, goals, and expectations for your community. We recommend starting small and creating a first draft with your group's leadership before asking your new group to help fill out the charter.

Meetings

Scheduling

BEST PRACTICE
Schedule all of your meetings through the end of the year, allowing people time to plan and rearrange other events as needed.

As you assemble your group, work through these questions:

  • Frequency: What's the right frequency for your group? A well-established group may opt for a monthly cadence. Other groups may only have content or availability for quarterly meetings. It's totally up to your group to decide.
  • Format: In-person, hybrid, or fully remote? It may change depending on the time of year, how many of your members are remote employees, etc.

Agendas

TIP
Before you close your meeting, identify topics for the next meeting.

Create a Google Doc for your meetings. You can make new documents for each meeting or you could use the Google Docs tab feature to organize your meetings. Share the document with your Google Group so they can add agenda items, keep notes, etc.

  • Brainstorm a list of future topics with your leadership team or the entire group and include them in the running notes.
  • Asking a group of people for volunteers isn't as effective as asking someone directly. Reach out to an individual and invite them to present on a topic or lead a discussion.
  • Are there relevant partners or stakeholders who could come speak to your group?
    • You could invite a panel of users for your platform to gain their valuable perspective.
    • Vendors are often happy to join and present at these meetings, too.
  • Content and structure:
    • The UX CoP spends the first half of the meeting on a presentation, and the second half on a collaborative work session.
    • The Articulate360 CoP starts with a recap of the last meeting, then show and tell from one of the members, and ends with a discussion topic.

Communications

Website

Each community needs to have a page in the CoP directory. This includes introductory information about the group, how to join, etc. However, some communities may invest in building a standalone website. Options include:

Both of these platforms make use of official University themes to provide a consistent look and feel, while providing your site owners the ability to easily manage content.

Consider publishing your community's charter, archive of meetings or notes, and relevant resources for your participants.

Promoting Your Group

First: Is your target audience focused on the IT community or are you actively recruiting members from across the University? Here are a few opportunities to get the word out about your community:

  • Audience: University-wide

    • Digital signs

    • ND Works Weekly newsletter

    • IT Matters newsletter (goes to all employees and students)

  • Audience: Primarily IT

Email Best Practices

  • Meeting reminder and agenda
    Send a reminder email with the agenda for your upcoming meeting. This helps keep the group engaged,

  • Email: Follow-up

  • Email: Newsletter

Measurement