building a community of practice at bechtel
DESCRIPTION
Building a Community of Practice at Bechtel Ani Mukerji, Learning and Development, Bechtel Corporation Online Communities of Practice sound like a great idea in theory But how do you translate theory into practice, especially at a large traditional corporation? In May 2010, two construction safety engineers on the Bluegrass project in Kentucky asked us to help them find a way to exchange safety practices and tools with workers on other Bechtel sites throughout the world. With few resources, and little executive support, the presenters helped set up Boots on the Ground, a Community of Practice on construction safety. By December 2011, this community had grown from 5 to over 380 members all over the world. Over 100 Best Practices, tools, templates , checklists and new mobile applications had been shared. In December, the Federal government gave the Bluegrass project it’s highest OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) rating possible, the VPP star rating. The Boots on the Ground community was specially cited as an Area of Excellence in the OSHA report. This presentation will explain the strategy, design and execution that made this community a success. Participants will learn: - Practical steps to build the community - Pitfalls to avoid - Combining grass roots enthusiasm with executive support - Software features to look for in and to avoid in building a Community of Practice - Organizational barriers to Communities of Practice and how to overcome them - Security considerationsTRANSCRIPT
Building a Community of
Practice at Bechtel
Paul Drexler & Ani Mukerji Global Learning & Development
Bechtel Corporation
May 2010
2 Construction Safety Professionals
1
Today
440+ Members
50+1 Project Location in Kentucky
3 Learning & Development
Professionals
5Posts
50+Office & Project Locations
278+ Posts
5000 + Page views/yr
2
Communities of practice are groups of people who
share a concern or a passion for something they do
and learn how to do it better as they interact and learn how to do it better as they interact
regularly.
Source: Etienne Wenger from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/3
a show of hands
• How many of you have participated in a CoP?
• How many of you have played a role in starting a
CoP?
• How many of you have played a role in starting a • How many of you have played a role in starting a
successful CoP?
4
the back story
Bechtel Knowledge Sharing at Bechtel
A global leader in engineering,
construction, and project management.
5 Global Business Units executing
projects around the world
Expert Communities (Chief Engineers, &
Bechtel Fellows)
Lessons Learned Database
projects around the world
Standard Work Process & Procedures
drafted by experts or committees
Informal Networks of project
Professionals
5
the learning 2.0 Challenge
Key themes from the 64 Entries:• Access to relevant content at the time of need
• Access to tools & platforms to enable knowledge sharing between
employees
• Richer Collaboration & Access to Expertise for solving problems• Richer Collaboration & Access to Expertise for solving problems
• Marketplace of Questions & Answers
• Mobile Access to consume/develop content
6
what don & brad wanted…
When you have a question:
• Calling a colleague you know only gets you so much
• Need a more trusted source of information than the internet
– Google Fall Protection = About 9,520,000 results (0.09 seconds)
This community will:
• Bring practitioners from project sites (and experts) together and provide
them a platform to share knowledge
• Store the knowledge shared so it can be queried for future use
• Help practitioners validate practices – “What are other projects doing?”
• Help bring attention and interaction on hot topics in the company – Falling
Objects, Slips and Trips
7
so what did we do next…
BOTTOM UP
or
TOP DOWN?
RISK MITIGATION PLATFORM
Stay under the radar but
meet the unmet need &
engage the passionate few
Put together actual use
cases and presented
examples to Sr. Legal
Counsel
Tested a number of
platforms by posting
sample content and
simulating how members
Or
Get Management Support
and start with a large
membership
Counsel simulating how members
of the community might
interact with the content
8
User Generated Content Expert endorsed Content
Mockup
for
Risk Mitigation
Discussion
9
launch!
BOTTOM UP
or
TOP DOWN?
RISK MITIGATION
STRATEGY IN PLACE
PLATFORM SELECTED
Start small.
Core group uses their
personal networks
Core Admin/Moderation
team roles &
responsibilities defined
Bloomfire
Easy-to-use interface
personal networks
Simple & Clear Community
Guidelines
Moderation strategy
endorsed
Posts can be videos, audio,
text, images
Q&A Engine
10
boots on the ground home
11
q&a section
12
add content
13
profile
14
community analytics
15
secret sauce
Immediate
Value
Moderate after
posting
Engaged Core
Participants
Critical Mass Of the people,
by the…
Members who
join
immediately
find value
In the life of
the community
only 2 posts
have been
Safety is a core
value at
Bechtel and
our ES&H
Once the
community
reached 200+
members,
The tone of the
posts on the
community is
informal find value
because from
day one there
was compelling
content
have been
taken down,
more due to
tone not
content
our ES&H
Practitioners
are particularly
engaged & like
sharing
members,
there was a
constant flow
of new
member
generated
content
informal
bearing little
resemblance to
16
recognition
17
is our work done?
18
how do you sustain interest?
• Answer open questions ASAP
• Periodic newsletters to community
• Promote through existing sites & newsletters
• Events• Events
• Management or Expert participation
• Membership drives
19
