CoPs – a Personal Journey

The concept of Communities of Practice is well understood but that has not always been the case.  Peter’s journey in this area started in the early 1990s and is still progressing.  The role of the CoP in culture change will be discussed and its use to foster KM in organisations.  Starting as a technical project, the need to address culture change and the motivation of members soon became the key drivers.  This session will be conducted as a facilitated conversation, where Peter Chomley will start the conversation then will pose and answer questions to and from the audience.

• What are Communities of Practice?  How did we start then change the project?
• What was their relevance in four projects?
• How did they evolve in practice?
• How do they relate to KM? to culture change? to strategy?
• How have others survived their journeys?

Agenda:  Wednesday October 21st

6:00-6:30      Networking with other thinking collaborators (over drinks and nibbles).

6:30-7:15      Peter Chomley – CoPs – a Personal Journey

7:15-8:00      Informal conversation amongst the group to explore the ideas and concepts.

Venue: 

RMIT Graduate School of Business, 300 Queen Street. Melbourne

Lecture room 158.1.2B (Ground level – just behind reception).

Ample metered street parking nearby in Queen Street (between La Trobe and Little Lonsdale).

RSVP: by email to melbournekmlf@gmail.com

About our Guest Speaker

Peter Chomley is an independent consultant, sessional lecturer and PhD candidate at RMIT University.  His consulting activities range from project management training and assessment, cultural change and organizational development.  After 27 years in management and high level consulting, Peter “retired” to sessional  lecturing at University of Melbourne and RMIT.  In 1999, he was asked to join a couple of acquaintances in an internet services company. This resulted in a dot.com venture is business-to-business neutral net-markets wining contracts around the world in USA, UK, Australia and Asia. The company was floated on the ASX in 2000 and is still listed, albeit in a “morphed” form.  His recent consulting is in innovation and cultural change using CoP models, and in business intelligence/healthcare through India, Asia and Malaysia.  His PhD research has focused on elearning and more recently on the “influence of culture on knowledge sharing in innovation processes in a “trans-national organization”. He is passionate about the people side of knowledge management.