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The Knowledge for Regional NRM Team, with input from regional bodies, has identified the need to establish a community of practice to support regional NRM practitioners and knowledge brokers. A community of practice is a network of people that share a common interest in a specific area of knowledge or competence and are willing to work and learn together over a period of time to develop and share that knowledge.
A community of practice of NRM knowledge brokers would link knowledge brokers across Australia in sharing learning and personal experiences to adapt and effectively respond to changing circumstances. It will provide a wide pool of expertise to draw on. Much of this 'know how' has not been captured, written down or stored in databases. Other benefits are described below.
The NRM Toolbar (www.nrmtoolbar.net.au) is also being developed with social networking functionality to support communities of practice. For example, the My Library development in early 2008 will enable information resources to be stored and shared between knowledge brokers.
If you are interested in being involved in a community of practice for regional knowledge brokers, please contact Nerida Hart by email or on (02) 6263 6014.
Benefits of a community of practice
There are many benefits associated with communities of practice, as they:
- provide a valuable vehicle for developing and sharing specialist knowledge
- provide a non-threatening forum to explore and test ideas or validate courses of action
- have access to broad networks and expert help
- enable rapid problem solving
- generate new knowledge in response to problems and opportunities
- can be more flexible than traditional arrangements
- cut across organisational boundaries and formal communication lines
- provide early warning of potential opportunities and threats
- can be a vehicle for cultural change (creating a knowledge sharing culture)
- are largely self-organising
- allow for professional skills to be honed through sharing of ideas and discussion.
