Building thriving Communities of Practice

Andrew Garcia is a Lead Delivery Coach here at Atom. In the second of our monthly deep dives into the world of our technology team, he shares his insights on how to foster a culture of innovation and knowledge sharing.

In a fast-moving industry like digital banking, continuous learning, shared knowledge, and collaboration aren’t just buzzwords, they are the engine of innovation. This is why, at Atom, our technology department and beyond champion the power of Communities of Practice (CoP).

A CoP is a powerful enabler of continuous improvement, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation, all of which are vital for organisational success. A CoP is a group of people who share a common interest or passion and come together to actively engage in learning, share knowledge, and solve problems related to their shared focus. You may also hear this described using the term ‘Guild’.

At Atom, nurturing a CoP is a key strategy for driving value and fostering a culture of continuous learning, through:

• Knowledge transfer: We reduce organisational risk by sharing good practices and embedding lessons learned across our technology teams, ensuring consistency and high standards.
• Accelerated problem-solving: We improve efficiency by quickly resolving complex issues through collective intelligence, tapping into the diverse skills and experiences of our people.
• Engagement and growth: We foster strong professional connections and support individual development, leading to a more engaged and satisfied workforce.

The innovation that can emerge from CoPs is significant. For example, the popular resilience tool ‘Chaos Monkey’ was famously created out of a CoP within Netflix, illustrating the power of these focused groups.

A blueprint for launching a thriving CoP

To successfully launch and sustain a new Community of Practice, focus on establishing clear foundational agreements and guardrails from the outset.

1. Establish a clear social contract

A social contract defines the group’s agreement on how members will interact and behave, ensuring a respectful and productive environment. A quick and effective way to establish this is using the ‘TRIZ’ activity, a method of creative problem-solving, based on the Russian acronym for ‘Theory of Inventive Problem Solving’:

• Step 1 (The ‘bad’): Ask participants to list what would make a BAD CoP (e.g., no clear agenda, one person dominating conversation).
• Step 2 (The ‘good’): Immediately flip the discussion to ask what would make a GOOD CoP.
• Finalise: Use a quick voting mechanism (like reactions or a digital poll) to align on the highest-voted items from the ‘GOOD CoP’ list. These become your agreed social contract principles.

The TRIZ technique is a problem-solving method that uses the principle that it’s often easier to complain about a problem than fix it. By imagining a ‘worst-case scenario,’ it helps unlock creative and inverted solutions for the ideal state.

2. Agree on essential logistics

Alignment on logistics — frequency, duration, and participant base — is critical for attendance and consistency. To save significant time and keep momentum high, present a shortlist of options for people to vote on for each element, and avoid debating the merits of each selection. Remember that these elements can be revisited and voted for again in the future as the CoP matures.

3. Build a rich agenda backlog

To ensure the CoP is focused on relevant and high-value topics, tap into the diverse experience and skills of the participants to build the initial agenda. Ask every participant to write down one topic they would be willing to present or discuss. Follow this with a voting period (e.g., two votes each) to prioritise the most valuable topics for the first few sessions.

Handy techniques for sustaining success

Staying on time with ‘ELMO’

Sticking to a timebox is crucial for effective sessions. Encourage the use of the ELMO technique throughout your meetings to keep discussions on track. ELMO stands for “Enough Let’s Move On”. Participants simply say or type ELMO into the meeting chat if a discussion is veering off-topic or becoming unproductive.

Distributing facilitation responsibility

Responsibility for organising and facilitating future sessions often falls to a small handful of individuals. To ensure a shared sense of ownership, establish an organising rota from the start. A simple icebreaker can be used to set the initial order — try encouraging participants to plot their tenure at your organisation on a scale, opting for the newest people to facilitate first. Doing this ensures the newest people bring fresh perspectives, new ideas, and techniques into the community from the very beginning.

Fostering Communities of Practice is one of the most effective ways to drive innovation and support a culture of continuous learning within any organisation.

Head over to our technology blog for more insights.