What is the difference between a Knowledge Café and a Community of Practice (CoP)?
Etienne Wenger defines a Community of Practice as a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
A Knowledge Café, on the other hand, is a highly flexible, face-to-face conversational process that can be used in many different situations to bring a group together for an open conversation with a particular purpose.
A Café can be run as a one-off event, for example, to explore the impact of a new technology or as a regular series of events, for instance, a series of talks/cafes on a specific theme or a variety of different issues.
A Café or a series of Cafés does not constitute a CoP. And although a series of Cafés for people with a common interest may appear very CoP-like, in reality, a CoP will adopt many different ways of interacting rather than just the Café format. e.g., less-structured conversations, open-space technology sessions, and online discussion forums.
In summary, the Knowledge Café is a powerful conversational tool that a CoP can use, but it is not the same as a CoP.
Join one of my upcoming Knowledge Cafés or workshops and explore Conversational Leadership in practice.
Engage in thoughtful conversation, challenge assumptions, and connect with others working in knowledge, leadership, and organisational change.