A Community of Practice (CoP) provides value to two main constituents: its members and the organization within which it resides and by which it is often funded. Where the two values align is the Shared Value.
Why is Shared Value important?
For a CoP to be successful it must satisfy both the needs of members and the needs of the organization in the short and long term.
If member needs are not met, that is, it provides no value to members, then members will not engage and participate in the Community, and will ultimately leave, which will result in the discontinuation of the Community.
If the needs of the organization are not met, that is, the organization sees no value in the Community, then support could be withdrawn, also leading to the discontinuation of the Community.
As community leaders and managers, you need to identify the "sweet spot" where both values overlap.
How do you identify Shared Value?
To identify Shared Value:
Identify member value
Identify organization value
Determine shared value
Identify member value
A successful Community is one that provides value to its members bt addressing whatever needs they have and challenges they face. Once you know what their needs are, both individual and shared, you are one step closer to building a valuable Community. You can identify what members value through surveys, more in-depth one-on-one interviews, and building on the needs of the Core Group. You can also identify what content resonates with members: what blog posts get the most views and comments, what pages in the website are visited most, what questions are asked most, and which events are attended most.
A common scenario is that Communities are launched because a manager or director thinks that doing so will advance a departmental goal. In this scenario, while you certainly need to provide value to the Community’s members for them to engage in the Community, you cannot lose sight of what is important to the Community’s sponsoring unit. Value to the organization will depend on what problem it is trying to solve: for example, are constituents working in isolation and there is a lack of communication, or is the problem that knowledge products are not getting out into the field or if they are getting out into the field they are not being adopted? The value to the organization will be the extent to which the Community can ameliorate or fix these problems.
Determine Shared Value
Then the question becomes: is there overlap between the member value and the organizational value? If not, you need to reconsider and possibly shift. If your organization wants to achieve one thing, but your Community’s members want something entirely different, and you focus on only their needs, then you are changing the original purpose. This is not necessarily a bad thing: maybe you have realized that the fact that the members' needs have shifted reflects that fact that the Community really has a more relevant and strategic purpose than the one initially defined. In this case, you will want to involve the organization (for example, the manager of the Unit that sponsors your CoP), and discuss with them about whether the Community can provide better value and solve bigger problems for the organization if it satisfies the shifted member needs, and make a conscious decision as to whether the focus of the Community should shift. If the needs of the organization have to remain fixed, then it is the Community that has to realign to satisfy those needs and provide that value, which might mean that the membership of the Community has to change. For example, if the Community was originally set up to provide information to both neophytes and experts, but the organization demands the latest, cutting-edge, sophisticated solutions, the community might have to be restricted to only experts in the field.
Blog » Identifying the Shared Value of a Community
Identifying the Shared Value of a Community
Summary:
Resources:
What is Shared Value?
A Community of Practice (CoP) provides value to two main constituents: its members and the organization within which it resides and by which it is often funded. Where the two values align is the Shared Value.
Why is Shared Value important?
For a CoP to be successful it must satisfy both the needs of members and the needs of the organization in the short and long term.
If member needs are not met, that is, it provides no value to members, then members will not engage and participate in the Community, and will ultimately leave, which will result in the discontinuation of the Community.
If the needs of the organization are not met, that is, the organization sees no value in the Community, then support could be withdrawn, also leading to the discontinuation of the Community.
As community leaders and managers, you need to identify the "sweet spot" where both values overlap.
How do you identify Shared Value?
To identify Shared Value:
Identify member value
A successful Community is one that provides value to its members bt addressing whatever needs they have and challenges they face. Once you know what their needs are, both individual and shared, you are one step closer to building a valuable Community. You can identify what members value through surveys, more in-depth one-on-one interviews, and building on the needs of the Core Group. You can also identify what content resonates with members: what blog posts get the most views and comments, what pages in the website are visited most, what questions are asked most, and which events are attended most.
For more in-depth guidance on this topic, see Understanding Member Needs.
Identify organization value
A common scenario is that Communities are launched because a manager or director thinks that doing so will advance a departmental goal. In this scenario, while you certainly need to provide value to the Community’s members for them to engage in the Community, you cannot lose sight of what is important to the Community’s sponsoring unit. Value to the organization will depend on what problem it is trying to solve: for example, are constituents working in isolation and there is a lack of communication, or is the problem that knowledge products are not getting out into the field or if they are getting out into the field they are not being adopted? The value to the organization will be the extent to which the Community can ameliorate or fix these problems.
Determine Shared Value
Then the question becomes: is there overlap between the member value and the organizational value? If not, you need to reconsider and possibly shift. If your organization wants to achieve one thing, but your Community’s members want something entirely different, and you focus on only their needs, then you are changing the original purpose. This is not necessarily a bad thing: maybe you have realized that the fact that the members' needs have shifted reflects that fact that the Community really has a more relevant and strategic purpose than the one initially defined. In this case, you will want to involve the organization (for example, the manager of the Unit that sponsors your CoP), and discuss with them about whether the Community can provide better value and solve bigger problems for the organization if it satisfies the shifted member needs, and make a conscious decision as to whether the focus of the Community should shift. If the needs of the organization have to remain fixed, then it is the Community that has to realign to satisfy those needs and provide that value, which might mean that the membership of the Community has to change. For example, if the Community was originally set up to provide information to both neophytes and experts, but the organization demands the latest, cutting-edge, sophisticated solutions, the community might have to be restricted to only experts in the field.
This article is part of the WBG Communities of Practice Toolkit licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The toolkit features practical resources to help you develop impactful Communities of Practice. 📖 Learn more about the Toolkit. ▶ Access the Toolkit.