Coaching leaders of Communities of Practice

Another key theme that we are hearing in our interviews about the role of a mentor/coach within the Communities of Practice is that of a sounding board.  It’s a common term, but what does it mean?  According to Merriam-Webster it’s a noun and in this context would be a person or group on whom one tries out an idea or opinion as a means of evaluating it.  Okay, so now we can see that in a fast moving organizational setting how finding these individuals that are SMEs can be like hitting the mother lode.  It allows an individual time to perhaps get a shorter version of that 50 page long powerpoint presentation without having to follow it in a linear fashion.  This individual allows others to skip the unnecessary steps, so one could view it as a time saver?  Others view it as an individual that provides you with guidance or suggestions on how and/or where to ”focus” which for some individuals can equate to increased feelings of personal satisfaction in your work and performance.