Community of Practice

The digital and ecological transformation is occupying business and society. That is why our ZD.B topic platform Working World 4.0 introduces you to the topic of "Community of Practice" in the following interview with Rebekka Schmidt (Team Research in Customer Insight at DATEV EG) ¬- a practice-proven approach to proactively shape and implement transformation processes together with employees.

Community of Practice
Community of Practice ist eine Praxis erprobte Vorgehensweise, um im Team proaktiv Transformationsprozesse zu gestalten und umzusetzen.

Before we go into more detail about implementation, what are the key transformation tasks at DATEV, Rebekka?

Rebekka Schmidt: The first thing you think of, of course, is digital transformation. We've been on that for quite a while. And Corona has given it another big push. The ecological transformation has also begun. There are very many topics and initiatives that are now taking hold at DATEV.

How are you implementing these transformation processes? And how do you take the employees with you?

Rebekka Schmidt: I can speak from the perspective as an employee. When I joined DATEV about three years ago, it was already happening. This digital transformation process was called "Fit for the Future" at our company. There was a nice little gimmick, namely the "You there" cards. That was a postcard on which you could anonymously leave your feedback - your feelings, your thoughts - on these current efforts. These cards were displayed everywhere. There you feel freer to give feedback than if your name is written underneath. The feedback was also taken very seriously and discussed at company meetings. That was a very nice campaign, and there is much more besides, such as the Digi-Camps. These are events where topics can be discussed. There is simply a lot happening in this area right now. A tried and tested means is definitely the Community of Practice (CoP), of which quite a few are being launched.

How do you live this Community of Practice (CoP)?

Rebekka Schmidt: I perceive it as a meeting. That's the first thing I associate with it. You get together with people who have a common goal and work something out together. The beauty of it is that it works across silos. You have that goal and you're not just within your department, you're across departments or across hierarchies. None of that plays a role in the CoP (Community of Practice); instead, you want to achieve a common goal. I founded the "Green CoP" with two colleagues, which has to do with sustainability. There are a lot of colleagues who deal with sustainability, but there is no networking at all. Synergies can only be created when people know each other better. That was the reason for setting up a CoP (Community of Practice). On the basis of such an uncomplicated and quick CoP foundation, it becomes clear that from the company side, there is a very strong trust. For example, there is a CoP of "Product Owners", of "Scrum Masters" and also a CoP on the topic of "Diversity". On the topic of transformation, there is the "CoP Cat" - Community of Practice for Change and Transition. This community is a nice surprise bag. In this CoP, everything revolves around change and transition, but you don't know in advance exactly which topics will be covered. But you always draw something positive from these meetings.

And the results from this CoP are implemented?

Rebekka Schmidt: In any case, the implementations are the goal. Employees come together in a CoP because they want to generate solutions. The "Green CoP" I would like to bring here once as an example: In the canteen, we wanted to have oat milk in addition to the tetrapack condensed milk. A short time later, a glass bottle with oat milk was hidden at a coffee station. That was a mini-solution, which was obtained by colleagues.

Community of Practice
Mitarbeitende finden in einer CoP zusammen, weil sie Lösungen generieren möchten.


What challenges are there in terms of practical implementation?

Rebekka Schmidt: At the beginning, there is a great euphoria, as for example with the "Green CoP". We have come together in presence. Many female and male employees have come to brainstorm together. What do we want to achieve? How do we want to organize ourselves? What issues do we want to tackle? Quite a lot of Post-Its were stuck. Then, unfortunately, Corona came and many things that were naturally important at the site in terms of sustainability, such as oat milk, lost importance. In addition, and this is my personal impression, one has to be careful that such a CoP does not degenerate as a kind of "popcorn cinema". The participants should not go in with an expectation that they will be informed and entertained. That is certainly also a nice format, but for me not the claim of a CoP.
For me, a CoP is very much driven by solutions. Doing what? Get together, solve problems? And there you can already observe that over time some participants take on the recipient attitude and simply consume. This is what I personally learned from this CoP, and we have to see how we can break this up. What gives me new hope right now is the fact that a lot is happening right now at DATEV and premises are being redesigned.
The goal is to make the workplace more attractive again, and to lure employees out of the home office. For example, there is now a coworking space, DATEV intern, with a nice barista station, with phone whispering cells and much more. The employee in charge said about it, "This is your clubhouse, use it for that". I found this picture with the clubhouse very nice and also very usable for CoP meetings. A colleague is currently casting our "Green CoP" logo in wood. This logo will then be placed in this "clubhouse". So it will become a place where people like to gather and work together. I am sure that other communities will also use this coworking space.

Do you use certain methods such as design thinking or are CoPs method-free?

Rebekka Schmidt: This is a good impulse, because it is exactly these methods that take us away from the so-called popcorn attitude. We need such methods to bring not only entertainers, monologues, speakers in these meetings. We ve already tried a few things, such as the "Golden Circles" with the three simple questions "Why", "How" and "What". The CoPs use different methods. Which ones and with which goal I can't say exactly, because I'm not in all CoPs. But in principle, as a participant, you get to know different methods and can apply them in your everyday work with different questions. That is a clear added value.

You are curious and would like to learn more?

Our ZD.B theme platform Working World 4.0 will further deepen the topic "Double Transformation" in the coming months. As a highlight, the Conference "Future of Work - Shaping Transformation Processes Together" from 13 to 15. January 2023 together with the Protestant Academy in Tutzing Castle, called.


The interview was conducted by Dr. Petra Blumenroth, Project Manager Technology I Frugal Innovation at Bayern Innovativ GmbH..

Listen to the full interview as a podcast:

Community of Practice: shaping transformation as a team

Dr. Petra Blumenroth talks with Rebekka Schmidt (Research & Customer Insights department at DATEV eG) about how so-called CoPs (Communities of Practice) are lived at DATEV to proactively shape the transformation process. Listen in now!

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Dr. Thomas Helfer
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Transformation and Change, Head of Working World 4.0 and Academy, Bayern Innovativ GmbH, Augsburg

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