 |       | There are many ways to develop community, but not all of them help members to become more reflective practitioners. Communities organized for this purpose need to create a space where members willingly and enthusiastically share what it is they hold most dear their identities, their dreams and aspirations, their personal stories, their professional experiences, and most of all, what it is they know and know how to do. In making such a space, nothing is more important than care. Care may seem like a strange word to use, but the importance of a caring environment to knowledge-creating communities is backed up by hard research evidence. In Enabling Knowledge Creation, researchers Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka use the word care to describe the kind of relationships that are needed for knowledge creation relationships of mutual trust, active empathy, access to help, lenience to judgment, and courage. Reflections 1. How will members of the community be selected and oriented to the communitys work? 2. What biographical information will community members share with one another? 3. What symbols of shared identity might the community create? 4. What community practices or skills are required to support the communitys work? Actions In conversation, decide how members of your community will be selected (if they are not already selected), and determine what information will be most valuable to new members as they join the communitys work. Decide what biographical information each member will share for Creating Profiles in NewWorkSpaces. If it will support your communitys work, develop a name, a brief description, a theme, a logo, or other symbols of your communitys shared identity. Finally, considering the work your community is about to embark upon, choose and spend some time focusing on community practices such as Dialogue or Circle Processes, or skills such as Virtual Conversations and Sharing Documents that will help you work more effectively. A number of tools and resources are available to help you with these practices and skills as your community develops over time. Tools and Resources Engagement Practices Dialogue Circle Processes Creating Profiles Sharing Documents Virtual Conversations |  |