Communities of practice create value by improving the performance of their members when they apply their knowledge in the performance of their job. Because practitioners belong at once to their communities of practice and to their work teams, they are the direct “carriers” of knowledge. If a new solution is proposed in their community, they can apply it to their work. If they discover a new solution in their work, they can share it with their community. Such multi-membership avoids many of the hand-off problems that arise when specialists manage knowledge for others to apply. This is why it is important to have the practitioners themselves be in charge of managing their own knowledge, no matter how much assistance they receive in the process.
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