Communities of Practice: an opportunity for the growth of your brand
Innovation, competence and competitiveness: the advantages of corporate communities
In an increasingly saturated market and with fiercer competition than ever, companies must be able to best face the challenges of today and tomorrow to remain competitive.What many companies lack to achieve this goal is awareness of the true potential of the brand. Potential that often remains dormant, but which can be reawakened by involving all the forces that have an interest at stake in the corporate project: employees, financiers, commercial partners and so on.
This is the ambition that is moving more and more entrepreneurs to exploit the benefits of Communities of Practice by integrating them into their marketing strategies.
In this article we would like to talk to you in more depth about this topic. We will show you what the characteristics of Communities of Practice are, but above all we will explain how they can represent a decisive competitive advantage for your company.
What are Communities of Practice and what are their characteristics
As we explained in this article, a Community of Practice is made up of individuals who share a specific professional, study or business field.The elements that characterize it are:
- a common mission.
Members of a Community of Practice find themselves collaborating together to accomplish something on an ongoing basis. Their horizon is not limited to today, but they clearly see the broader purpose of their work, their mission;
- a commitment to mutual educational growth.
In Community of Practice people interact with each other not only to coordinate the carrying out of a job, but also to discuss and exchange suggestions and advice on know-how with respect to their activity with a view to collective growth and dissemination of best practices for the benefit of all;
- a shared methodological repertoire.
It is not only the type of work that constitutes the point of contact between the members of a Community of Practice. Those who are part of it share much more: working techniques, theoretical tools and even language. These elements contribute to building a very strong group identity.
It is interesting to note that the objectives pursued by the Communities of Practice (training growth, diffusion of professional skills, stimulation of innovation, etc.) represent determining factors for the success of the companies themselves, especially in the areas, processes and functions in which an advantage in performance provides a concrete competitive advantage (be it financial, operational or any other type). And this is why many companies are starting to engage in the promotion and support of these Community, sometimes managing them directly and making specific proprietary platforms available to users.
How Communities of Practice can foster business growth
The benefits for companies that have their own Community are many. Communities of Practice encourage more experienced members to share their knowledge and help others learn valuable information to improve their skills. These dynamics help the company maintain a high level of competitiveness and keep up with the latest developments in the sector.Not to mention the ease of onboarding. New employees often need training programs that quickly integrate them into company processes. Programs that often require precious time and resources from the company. CoPs can greatly facilitate onboarding by offering newcomers a vast repertoire of easily accessible skills and the opportunity to continually compare notes with those who have more experience in solving the problems they face on a daily basis.
In addition, they encourage team spirit and collaboration among Community members, improving overall performance well beyond the simple arithmetic sum of individuals. These are the advantages of group synergy, of directing collective resources towards specific objectives.
Communities of Practice also represent fertile ground for innovations. In a competitive market like today's, the difference between a growing company and a stagnant one is very often measured on the level of ideas.
Whoever is the first to develop new knowledge, an innovative method to solve a problem or to make a process more efficient which, until that moment, seemed to have already achieved optimal performance, has a clear advantage over competitors.
And these innovations don't necessarily have to come from company boards: anyone involved in the life of the company could have an interesting intuition. And by sharing it with others, this intuition can be developed and put into practice with the support of the community and to the advantage of the company itself.
➡️ Read also: How to launch a successful Community
In conclusion
Communities of Practice represent a valuable tool for companies because they allow you to:
share knowledge and skills among employees, improving the quality of the products and services offered;
promote collaboration and creativity, encouraging innovation and increasing the competitiveness of the company;
harmonize the energies of all those interested in the company project by directing them towards targeted objectives.These are the benefits that companies that are committed to cultivating their own community and creating the optimal conditions for their development can aspire to.
Like Codacons, a powerful association for the defence of the environment and the protection of users' and consumers' rights, which chose the SelfCommunity platform to build its Social Intranet and offer a community place to its stakeholders.
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