Learning to walk the community of practice tightrope

Background: The Community of Practice Research was established as a new local health district service initiative. The community comprises novice and experienced multidisciplinary health researchers. Aims: This paper reects our experience of being Community of Practice Research members and aims to explore the practice development principles aligned to the purpose, progress and outcomes of this community. Conclusions: The journey is compared to walking a tightrope from the beginning to the end. Success in moving forward is attributed to positive leadership and group dynamics enabling a supportive environment. This environment allowed for dierent types of learning: new research skills and new understandings about oneself. Competing demands such as uctuating membership and leadership, and the selection of a large initial project were identied as barriers to the Community of Practice Research.