Share Fair Day 0 - A conversation with Etienne Wenger

There couldn't have been a more inspiring keynote speech to open the Day 0 of the Share Fair here in Rome today. Etienne Wenger, a globally recognized thought leader in the field of social learning theory, communities of practice and their application to organizations, deliver a keynote address on “Communities of practice and strategic capabilities”. In fact, Etienne's talk was not just the usual key note address: after providing food for thought on communities of practices, he involved participants in lively fish bowl conversation.

After the session, we had the chance to talk with Etienne and to capture the essence of his talk in the short interview below.

   

According to Etienne, communities of practices are a vehicle to develop strategic capabilities within an organisation. He also underlines how the discourse around knowledge sharing and CoPs needs to change somehow: too often we focus only on the operational level of knowledge sharing, as opposed to a more strategic conversation about the domains where an organisation needs to excel, and the creation of spaces where staff can engage and develop those capabilities.