Though my work started as a theory, I have been very involved in helping organizations put the ideas into practice. I enjoy working with people to solve problems and design organizational environments. It is inspiring to work the theory into practice and both my clients and I always learn a lot in the process. 

Here are some of the ways I work with clients.

As a consultant, I work directly with organizations interested in making communities of practice a centerpiece of their knowledge strategy. My role as a consultant can range from giving advice and coaching to full participation in a project team. I work with organizations at two levels.

At the strategic level, I work with executives and KM leaders to develop knowledge strategy, that is, a framework for strategic capabilities development. This includes:

• design an overall knowledge strategy
• work with managers to develop a business case and fit communities of practice in a strategic context and a vision of the organization
• educate managers on their role in sponsoring communities and creating an environment in which they can flourish
• establish organizational structures that integrate communities of practice into the organization

At the operational level, I work with support teams and community leaders to implement the community side of the knowledge strategy. This includes:

• design an overall approach to community development
• help discover, launch, and cultivate communities of practice
• train and coach community leaders
• charter and coach a support team
• select and customize a community-oriented technological infrastructure
• assess and renew a communities of practice initiative

A large part of cultivating communities of practice is educational because much of the initiative has to come from people in the organization. Workshops with groups of people interested in a topic related to communities of practice are a central part of the way I help organizations develop community-based knowledge initiatives, whether or not I have an ongoing consulting relationship with them.

The audience for these workshops may consist of community members or leaders, internal consultants, managers at various levels, or senior executives. I give two basic types of workshops:

• Educational workshops
  These workshops introduce participants to the "what, why, and how" of communities of practice.
• Developmental workshops
  These highly customized workshops address a specific issue faced by an organization, such as developing a knowledge strategy, creating a support team, or launching or renewing communities.

Actually, I have found that what often works best is a mixture of the two:
introducing concepts and methods, and then getting to work to put them to use on a specific problem.

These workshops can have both face-to-face and online or teleconference components. In all media, my style is very interactive. I always engage participants in discussion, personal reflection, and analysis of actual situations.

I develop case studies of communities of practice and of organizational initiatives involving communities. These case studies can be used to demonstrate the value created by communities, take the pulse of a community, evaluate the need for renewal, disseminate the stories of communities, encourage their development, understand what it takes, and learn from both successes and failures.

Depending on the extent of the case study, I use the following sources of data:

• Interviews with members, leaders, and other constituencies
• Analysis of documents
• Review of websites
• Attending meetings

The data is then turned into a case. It tells the story of the community from its origin to the present, describes its structure, its activities, its leadership, and the organizational context, highlights the outcomes of the community, extracts the lessons learned, and outlines recommendations for the future. The case can be reported either as a text document or as a pack of slides.

I can conduct an assessment of the state of a community-based initiative, including the level of maturity of communities, the organizational and cultural context, and the technology infrastructure. These assessments are usually combined with workshops where we prepare actions plans and educate participants.

I conduct research projects on a variety of topics related to communities of practice and supporting technologies.

I can give keynote addresses at public and private events on various topics related to communities of practice. These events include strategy meetings, knowledge fairs, professional conferences, conventions, user groups, and other public and private events. I have covered various topics, including:

• Introduction to communities of practice
• Advanced topics in communities of practice
• Communities of practice in education
• Communities of practice and e-learning
• Communities of practice and corporate universities
• Communities of practice and innovation
• Appreciating the value created by communities of practice

My philosophical approach to helping organization is to act as what I call "a learning partner." This kind of learning partnership focuses on capability development rather than "outsourcing" work. I have no interest in running large consulting operations, and therefore I focus on developing capabilities in the organizations I work with.