Establishing a Community of Practice
Published: 10 March 2021
Reflection on establishing the University's first project management community of practice
Our experience of establishing a Community of Practice…
As co-leads of the Project Management Community of Practice for the University, we have both been involved right from the beginning in establishing exactly what our colleagues wanted from this type of network. From set up workshops run by the Organisational Development team to identifying a small team of project leads to gathering ideas, suggestions and feedback, we have listened and worked hard to create something that provides real benefit to the University. We know that people want to be able to meet other colleagues in similar roles, have a space to share ideas, advice and best practise and develop new and existing skills and we hope that this is exactly what the CoP provides.
The Community is still in its very early stages and has only really been up and running since November 2020. However, even in that short time we have held various events, developed a survey to help guide us in meeting the needs of our Community and built up a supportive network of almost 100 colleagues involved in project management from all across the institution.
Our goal for 2021 is to make as many colleagues aware of the CoP as possible and (hopefully) welcome lots of new faces, not just those who already work in project-based roles but anyone with an interest in PM or a desire to take on project work in the future. We have some exciting events and guest speakers in the pipeline for this year so it’s a great time to join if you’re not already a member. If you want to have a chat or find out more info, drop either of us an email or Teams message, we would love to meet you.
Caitlin Farquharson & Dougie McIntosh
Community Co-Leads
First published: 10 March 2021