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244 Chapter 7

CoP Maturity Models
Maturity models have also been applied to the CoP life cycle. A CoP maturity
model can serve as a good road map to show what steps need to be taken to move
communities to the next stage. The CoP life-cycle model provides a good diagnostic
to assess whether informal networks exist within an organization and if they do,
whether they are recognized and supported by the organization. The life-cycle model
(see fi gure 7.3 ) shows that a community needs to have attained the maturing and
stewardship of knowledge levels in order to begin creating value for its members and
for the organization as a whole. The life-cycle model is particularly useful for aligning
any new KM roles and responsibilities that will be needed in order to optimize KM
efforts throughout the life cycle, for example, a knowledge journalist to help build,
identify, and extract valuable content from community members; a knowledge tax-
onomist to help organize content once it is being produced at a steady rate; and a
knowledge archivist to help distinguish between content that should be stored or that
is no longer considered active.
Organizational and KM maturity models help to assess the current level of knowl-
edge sharing and knowledge activities within an organization. In situating a given
company on a given maturity model, organizational change is greatly facilitated as it
becomes easier to visualize what is needed in order to step up to the next level. It is

Phase 2: Value creation

Knowledge taxonomist
Value of
content
created Maturing Stewardship

Coalescing
Transformation
Knowledge
journalist Knowledge archivist
Potential

Community maturity Phase 3: Transition
and productivity
Phase 1: Identity
Building trust

Figure 7.3
Community of practice maturity model