Learning…collaborating…taking advantage of great resources specific to your interests. These are the benefits of PMI’s communities of practice. But there is more to them than that. Communities of practice are really communities.

PMI recently spoke with Etienne Wenger, PhD, communities of practice researcher and author, social learning theorist and recognized leader in the field. What follows is a summation of his thoughts and insights about how communities of practice can help you.

Identity and Home

Connect Through PMI PMI currently has eight communities of practice in which members can engage, connect, learn and generate knowledge. For a limited time, you can explore as many communities of practice as you would like at no extra charge. Visit PMI’s channel on YouTube to watch video interviews with Dr. Wenger, who talks more about what makes a community of practice. The PMI Organizational Project Management Community of Practice is sponsoring a Webinar on 2 February, from 5:00 p.m. GMT to 6:30 p.m. GMT. The Webinar, titled “What is Organizational Project Management,” will help you understand the applicability and benefits of this organizational approach to drive business results effectively. Register today!

People belong to communities of practice to network, learn and give back. Beyond that, a community can represent who you are, such as a woman practicing project management, or an area of interest, such as global sustainability.

There are different forms of belonging and different levels of commitment. Communities of practice offer a flexible system of belonging and a place to engage. They lift you out of isolation, nurture your identity as a project manager and create an intimate feeling of “home.”

In a profession like project management where it is common to change jobs or even industries, a community can provide a sense of stability amidst change.

Engaging in a community of practice also becomes part of who you are. When you engage, you:

• Help each other solve problems
• Hear each other’s stories and avoid blindness
• Find synergy across structures
• Reflect on your practice and improve it
• Build shared understanding
• Cooperate on innovation
• Advance the discipline

Learning Partnerships

Communities of practice are a knowledge landscape where people can connect, create learning partnerships and share experiences with others around the globe. This interaction promotes collective learning.

What are the challenges you meet in your practice that the community could help you with? What issues can you work on together with the community? Without interaction and a learning partnership, a website is a library, not a community.

Thus, knowledge generation is secondary. Creating knowledge (i.e., creating documents or templates) is a by-product because knowledge is naturally in the air when practitioners share ideas. When you connect communities together, new ideas jump out.

Further, by participating in the community, you display your reputation and how you can help others.