Ernst & Young virtual presentationSustaining Effective Communities of Practicecollaborative research report overview for KM Chicago

9 February 2010

Darrin BroganBrad Kenney

2

Presentation to KM Chicago – Agenda

► EY global and Center for Business Knowledge (CBK)

► Communities of practice (CoPs) at EY

► Role in supporting APQC’s CoP report

► Key findings

3

EY global and CBK overview

~170America

~250EMEIA

~130shared service center

~40China/HK (Asia-Pac)

~25Japan

~25

Number of CBK and eChannel FTEs

Center for Business Knowledge:

► Formal knowledge organization – presence in all EY Areas (EMEIA, Americas, Far East, Oceania and Japan)

► Total CBK: ~600 FTEs (60 CBK FTEs with a global role)

Mission:

► Connect people to people

► Connect people to content

Objectives:► Growth► Operational efficiency► People development

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.

People: 144,000 Locations: 5 global Areas and shared service locations

4

► Started in 1995 with strong executive sponsorship

► Currently more than 600 knowledge-related employees in ~40 locations globally

► Chief Knowledge Officers for each global area

► Strong, collaborative relationships with Learning, HR, and Technology teams as well as service line and sector stakeholders

► Implementing Future State of Knowledge blueprint for the next generation of KM at Ernst & Young

Center for Business Knowledge (CBK)overview

It didn’t happen overnight

’95 ’10

Customerneeds

Intranet

Customerneeds

Research& analysis

Networks

Vendormanagement Deployment

5

Communities of practice at EY

EY CoPs have enabled a strong knowledge culture, including the sharing of leading practices, due largely to the following critical success factors:

► CoPs are easily accessible (and available enterprise-wide)

► CoP strategy is not “one size fits all”

► Continuous improvement is essential

► Rigorous deployment and governance processes are applied

► Must have executive sponsorship

► Membership must meet certain thresholds (e.g., all requests go through an approval process)

► Must have specific goals/objectives

► Measurement is applied to goals

► Communities are retired/consolidated as needed

6

Communities of practice at EY enabled via Community HomeSpaces (CHSes)

7

Presentation to KM Chicago – Agenda

► EY global and Center for Business Knowledge (CBK)

► Communities of practice (CoPs) at EY

► Role in supporting APQC’s CoP report

► Key findings/EY perspective

8

Study process overview

► EY was the research champion for the study, which explored how some of the world’s foremost organizations successfully apply KM techniques and measures to sustain communities of practice

► Best practice partners for the study included Conoco Philips, Schlumberger and Flour.

► About a dozen other firms also participated (e.g., BP, Deere, ExxonMobil, Pfizer)

► Primary areas of focus included:► Strategies and practices for sustaining CoP alignment with business

strategies/objectives► Practices for promoting and sustaining CoP activity► Cultural enablers for sustaining CoPs; and► Assessing CoP maturity and business impact

► Final report is expected to be available by 15 April 2010

9

CoP Study FindingsContent organized around five chapters

Chapter 1 -- Creating a sustainable community strategy Emphasis on the need for single enterprise-wide approach, and the importance of clearly articulated goals and objectivesEY perspective – Lots of forces at play regarding CoP strategy, including:

How many is too many? Influence of social networking In a professional services environment, there are competing (and often

overlapping) community strategies across industry sectors and services Establishing rigorous governance policies without discouraging

collaboration Retiring content and communities

10

CoP Study Findings

Chapter 2 – Practices and approaches for sustaining communitiesKey best practices in this chapter include: alignment of communities with business needs, using community performance plans and leveraging technology thoughtfullyEY perspective –

Organizations unable to effectively connect people-to-people (e.g., via expertise locators) will not have strong CoPs

Staying aligned with business needs often puts a major strain on KM in organizations that continuously restructure

Technology can support, but will not drive, effective community enablement

11

CoP Study Findings

CoP Leader Knowledge Advisor Knowledge Manager Knowledge Champion Set annual objectives

for the CoP Accountable for the

acquisition, reuse and creation of knowledge within their realm of

Capture leading practices

Steward a body of knowledge on behalf of the larger organization

Communicate with the community members

Primary liaison between internal and customer groups

Achieve consistency in content architecture, use of technology, training and deployment

Drive change to knowledge-sharing culture and harvest leading practices

Manage CoP templates and support mechanisms for their community

Provide guidance and training on how to use and leverage the CoP

Extensive experience and knowledge of the CoP area

Influencers with senior management and executive sponsors

Identify what the business strategies, goals and user community needs are and how CoPs can assist in knowledge sharing

Chapter 3 – Tools and resources for community leadersClearly articulated roles and responsibilities for community leaders are essential, as is a strong support network for the leadersEY perspective – CoP leaders need a support team to operate, maintain, and demonstrate the value of the CoP in accomplishing the organization’s strategies and objectives. Some of key roles defined within EY CoP’s are outlined below

12

CoP Study Findings

Chapter 4 – Promote awareness and communicate valueBest practice organizations constantly communicate the value that CoP’s provide to the organization, and they will typically create meaningful recognition and reward opportunitiesEY perspective – value of knowledge sharing is grounded in several core principles:

Each new hire must sign a knowledge sharing agreement Knowledge is integrated into new hire, classroom and web-based training

programs Knowledge competency development is part of employee goals process Central knowledge team fosters awareness and provides additional

support

13

CoP Study Findings

Chapter 5 – MeasuresMeasures must align with business processes, with a balanced approach between activity measures and measures of effectiveness EY perspective – Developing more “impact”

measures that are geared toward executive audiences

Detailed CoP metrics also provided, and offer a combination of usage and effectiveness data

Provide measures that:1. Align with organizational goals

2. Demonstrate improved performance

3. Assist in managing risks

4. Justify the business value and ROI

14

Questions?