Preparation
01 · Define the purpose
- Create a sustained space for collaborative learning.
- Address common challenges through shared experience.
- Strengthen a sense of belonging and professional or group identity.
02 · Identify the common thread
- This can be a shared role, problem, goal, topic, or specific practice.
03 · Invite participants
- Reach out to people who share that common thread, who are motivated to learn together, and who are willing to contribute from their own experience.
04 · Design the structure
- Meeting frequency, duration, rotating roles, communication channels, and documentation methods.
Step-by-step instructions
1
First meeting: opening and mapping
- Introductions, sharing expectations and motivations.
- Identifying shared interests, knowledge, and needs.
- Building a group agreement on norms and collective objectives.
2
Regular meetings
- Rotate facilitators and topics according to the group's interests or challenges.
- Use case studies, guiding questions, concrete experiences, or shared resources as conversation starters.
3
Collective building
- Record learnings, key ideas, useful resources, and solutions.
- Create a shared repository: documents, maps, lists, tools.
4
Participatory evaluation
- Periodically evaluate the process and adjust agreements, dynamics, or priorities.
5
Closure or continuity
- If concluding, celebrate achievements and leave shared traces.
- If continuing, plan the next learning cycles.
Materials
Meeting agenda and structure
Platform or space for regular gatherings
Collaborative documentation tools
Thematic prompts: cases, texts, questions, real-world problems
Digital tools
Platforms
For virtual sessions or collaborative documentation.
Practical recommendations
Build trust from the start with opening activities and active listening.
Respect the diversity of voices, paces, and participation styles.
Rotate roles to distribute responsibility and encourage distributed leadership.
Favor the ongoing documentation of knowledge generated.
Take care of the group's emotional and logistical sustainability.
Inspiration
25 participatory activities for Communities of Practice meetings
- Sharing works in progress: each member or team shares what they are currently working on.
- Case clinic: collectively analyzing a challenging practical situation brought by a participant.
- Micro-presentations: brief presentations on tools, frameworks, or innovations relevant to the group.
- Problem-solving session: identify a concrete challenge and generate possible solutions from collective experience.
- Learning panel: three or four people present key reflections or learnings on a shared topic.
- Open challenges forum: a free round where each person shares obstacles or dilemmas in their practice.
- Innovation lab: experimenting with new methodologies, approaches, or technologies live.
- Trends exploration: researching and reflecting on emerging innovations in the field.
- Shared study: reading and discussing together an article, paper, or resource that contributes to practice.
- Collective prototyping: co-creating tools, guides, templates, or applicable solutions.
- Effective practices bank: each participant contributes a strategy or resource that has worked in their context.
- Map of professional interests: visualizing what motivates or interests each member, and how collaboration might emerge.
- Applied knowledge mapping: building a diagram of what the group knows and does.
- Peer mentoring space: pairing or grouping participants for mutual support.
- Questions that move us: collective reflection on the questions that guide our practice.
- Collaborative logbook: documenting learnings, findings, and challenges from each meeting.
- Update round: sharing what changes have been implemented since the last meeting.
- Synthesis circle: gathering and connecting the main learnings from a stage or cycle.
- Thematic meeting with a guest: inviting someone external to share their experience and inspire the group.
- Showcasing successful cases: presentation and analysis of positive experiences from the group or sector.
- Constructive feedback space: offering respectful feedback on ideas or projects in development.
- Co-designing future agendas: planning upcoming meetings or topics based on the group's needs.
- Participatory process evaluation: reflecting on what worked and what can be improved in the CoP.
- Creating a collaborative practical guide: systematizing learnings in a document useful for others.
- Open questions mural: collectively building a space for what still has no answer.
