Communities of practice
in government:
the case for sponsorship
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This report was commissioned by the Council of CIO's of
the US Federal Government.
It consists of a memo of 15 pages, plus 15 exhibits for a total of 84 pages. |
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Executive summary Government today faces unprecedented challenges, from rising citizen expectations to an expanding breadth and complexity of problems to address. These challenges require an increased capability for learning and innovation as well as a scope of coordination that are not afforded by current structures. Creating large consolidated departments such as Homeland Security is only applicable in a few cases; and even in this case, addressing the problem of security still requires learning and coordination with other entities such as local governments and the private sector. This study, sponsored by the Council of CIOs, reveals that promising new structural approaches already exist in government. They are peer-to-peer networks of practitioners that we call "communities of practice." These communities cross formal boundaries to bring together practitioners who are facing a common challenge—to learn from each other, to develop new solutions to problems, to find synergies across organizations, and to coordinate efforts. We argue that it is important to learn to recognize these communities, legitimize their work, and cultivate them more intentionally and systematically. We describe several communities of practice in the federal government. They bring practitioners together within and across agencies, as well as across government levels. And they produce results. The Rumble Strip community has spurred the widespread adoption of highway safety devices that have saved lives and taxpayer money. The E-Regulation community has accelerated the implementation of a cross-agency effort to reduce paperwork. SafeCities has created new partnerships across a range of disciplines to reduce gun violence on the streets. And CompanyCommand has helped Army company commanders take on the challenges of leadership. We could have described many more, but we thought these four examples would make the point. They illustrate what these communities of practice are, how they work, what value they produce, and what it takes to make them thrive. But the main result of our study—and our main argument here—is the urgent need for executive sponsorship. This was a theme that pervaded all our conversations with community members. Practitioners unfailingly value the opportunity to learn and coordinate with peers, but they believe much greater results are possible with increased support from the hierarchy. The problem is especially acute when a community crosses agency or government-level boundaries because much of the value of such cross-boundary connections shows up outside the purview of local managers. The importance of executive sponsorship for communities of practice in government parallels the experience of leading organizations in the private sector. This memo is addressed to leaders in agencies, in the Administration, in Congress, and in cross-sector advocacy groups. Community sponsorship should become an essential role of government executives. Sponsorship for community initiatives should be built into legislative mandates and the management strategies of the executive branch. The purpose of this memo is to make the case that results require sponsorship: We need committed leadership to cultivate strong, vital communities of practice; and we need such communities to build and apply the capabilities required now to get results. |
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