Communities of practice are a crucial aspect of knowledge management. They can be defined as networks that identify issues, share approaches, and make the results available to others. They can be made up of a handful of participants or many dozen. But they all tend to have a core group of participants whose dedication to the topic provides the energy needed to hold the group together. These core participants naturally provide the groups' intellectual and social leadership.
Communities of practice differ from work teams in a significant way.
Teams are formed by management and report to a boss. They have defined membership, deadlines, and specific deliverables. They are responsible largely to themselves. First of all, as we've seen, they are highly effective ways for organizations to continuously learn. New staff and staff in new roles can be productive much more quickly by accessing the institutional knowledge base.