John’s Idea

The new community of practice (COP) based approach to knowledge management is providing the IDeA with a radical stimulus, forcing us to rethink the delivery approach to a number of our core programmes.  A good example is the Beacons Scheme.
 
The Beacons Scheme is now 10 years old and its impact on local government improvement has been significant and quantifiable.  It is however tired in format and interest in it from councils is declining.  While the objectives of the scheme remain relevant; identifying and sharing best practice, the methods used now feel outdated and slow.  The process is linear and involves agreeing improvement themes, developing best practice criteria, inviting bids, evaluating bids, awarding beacons status and then sharing the practice.  It is therefore long winded and expensive both to participate in and administer. 
 
So how do we re-envirogate the scheme and deliver the original objectives more efficiently?
 
What we are proposing is literally a Beacons Scheme “revolution”.  We intend  to completely flip the current process on its head with “shared learning” at the start rather than finish .  To achieve this we intend to make “communities of practice” the central feature of the new scheme.
 
So how will it work?
 
Through Local Area Agreements, and other sources of information, we now have a much better understanding about what council priorities are (see my last blog).  We know which councils are interested in which policy outcomes and these councils can then provide the basis for a COP.  By working with the COP to develop ideas about what constitutes best practice (perhaps using a wiki to develop criteria) we can build practice sharing into the process from the beginning.   While we still want to celebrate and promote best practice, awarding beacons status is an output from the process, almost a by-product, rather than the objective.  The award grant associated with beacons status could then used in a more focused way - perhaps through an “agreement” with the COP - to deliver a programme of practice sharing or even development.