Tech Networks of Boston (TNB) exists to provide integrated and managed technology services to nonprofits and other mission-based organizations, and it’s also our privilege to offer you professional development opportunities through our Roundtable series.
Our featured guest at our August 23rd session was Naava Frank who is Director of Naava Frank, LLC/Knowledge Communities. This session was held at EMPath’s Seccomb Room from 2:00pm-3:30pm.
Here’s what Naava says:
“A Community of Practice brings professionals with shared interests together to learn with and from each other. Communities allow you to share ideas, so you don’t have to “re-invent the wheel” thereby saving you time and money. Finding others with similar challenges can help you solve problems that are too difficult to solve alone and keep you from feeling isolated. Recent research confirms that communities support individual professionals and help organizations tackle ‘systems change’.”
Workshop Description:
This workshop will allow you to:
- Take stock of professional Communities of Practice you sponsor and belong to – are they meeting your needs?
- Utilize an assessment tool to understand what is working and not working
- Learn about best-practices fixes for the most common errors in Communities of Practice
- Collaborate with your peers and the facilitator to discover ways to apply the learning to communities you sponsor and belong to
- Walk away with a tool, a new framework, practical tips, and strategies to start or move your community of practice to the next level
Please note that this session will be tailored to the needs of any nonprofit professional who is tasked with making strategic decisions for a mission-based organization. If you would like to benefit from the wisdom of peers and encourage others to do so, you should attend this. No previous experience or training is necessary to participate in this session.
PLUS: Follow up office hour call for the Roundtable session on how to design an effective community of practice with Naava Frank
Selected Feedback:
- I got a lot of concrete strategies and tools for implementing a CoP
- It crystallized something important for me around this work AND is connecting me to someone I can learn more from!
- The PowerPoint slides were useful – the definition of CoP, the job description for a community manager, etc.
- Good thinking about people’s motivations to participate in Communities of Practice
- I learned all about COP’s and what is involved in creating a COP and how helpful COP can be.
- Learned more about different COP models
Here’s a little more about Naava:
Naava Frank is Director of Naava Frank, LLC/Knowledge Communities. Naava consults to foundations and non-profit organizations on communities of practice, networks, professional development, and program evaluation. Naava is a nationally recognized expert in the use of communities of practice and networks. She holds an Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Barnard College/Columbia University.
TECH NETWORKS OF BOSTON ROUNDTABLE: DESIGNING EFFECTIVE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
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