What is Community of Practice?

 Like any other subject or professional path, the tools and trends of coaching keep evolving with time. Continuing solo often makes practitioners oblivious of the changes happening around them regarding the professional area, which might halt their progression and enhancement. To prevent that from happening, a coach must have a collaborative approach and a spirit to stay connected with peers through a community of practice in coaching.

An Overview on Community of Practice

The community of practice (CP) is referred to as a virtual group consisting of practicing ICF coaches interested in a particular genre/area. These communities offer platforms to coaches, enabling them to share the best coaching practices, the latest tips, and tools, along with the emerging trends for the advancement of individual and collective professional development. 

 

The communities of practice provide a virtual meeting point for coaches that share the same interest and viewpoints. They can connect and hold discussions on varied topics and deepen their understanding of the same. If one is having any difficulty breaking through a case, they can share it with such peers to find a sustainable solution or chart a roadmap to address the issue for a positive outcome. These groups comprise different coaches, with their diverse specializations and varied experience levels, making it a gold mine of a coaching forum. 

The community of practice groups is spearheaded by volunteering leaders who expedite the learning process by organizing the meeting, conversations, trends, and ideas from a group. It promotes active participation in discussing and sharing by the members.   

The Purpose of Community of Practice in Coaching

The community of practice fulfills the following purposes through a range of activities:

  • It has a problem-solving approach, allowing the practicing coaches to work towards a specific goal and brainstorm to that effect.
  • Create marketing strategies together, including CRMs and even coaching forms.
  • The experienced coaches get a platform to share insight from their years of practice and dealing with different types of clients.
  • Discuss the latest coaching tools and trends and assess their efficiency.
  • Pool in resources and ideas to collaborate and create a synergy to help each other maximize the potential to be of aid to the client.

 

Communities of practice also document the outcomes of the discussion and create a hypothesis on various aspects of coaching so that other coaches can benefit from it. 

The Reasons to take part in the Community of Practice

Participation in a community of practice can greatly benefit coaches, especially those who have just started conducting client sessions. It helps them in:

  • Sharing of coaching ideas among peers helps in better addressing issues
  • Sharing of resources and tools for coaching
  • Access to whitepapers, articles, presentation topics, and outlines on coaching
  • Further development of core coaching competencies as stated by the Internal Coach Federation
  • Guidance and support for coaches with lesser experience
  • Generate a sense of better awareness that benefits the extent of coaching practice
  • Learn to adopt coaching bots and other latest technological tools
     

The Coach Transformation Academy (CTA) has set precedence in the community of practice. The certified coaches get connected with peers through direct access to global communities. Know more about their offerings here

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