Communities of Practice: Building Resilient Organizations in Times of Change with Chris Elleman, Chief Engineer, Military Product Engineering at Moog [Speaker Spotlight]

Could you begin with a brief introduction about yourself, and an overview of your responsibilities as Chief Engineer, Military Product Engineering at Moog?

I’m Chris Elleman, Military Product Engineering Chief Engineer at Moog Inc. providing technical leadership and product‑integrity oversight for legacy military actuation systems (primarily flight‑control actuators) across global sites. I drive process governance, lead Communities of Practice to share standards and lessons learned, support NPI and manufacturing readiness, mentor PE staff, and collaborate on technology roadmaps and cross‑functional improvement activities.

Drawing on experience that spans both automotive and aerospace industries, I bring a deep appreciation for how engineering organizations evolve and the importance of robust knowledge sharing across teams. I particularly enjoy working directly with sites to improve processes, enhance manufacturability, and strengthen technical alignment across Product Engineering functions.

What do Communities of Practice mean in an engineering and defense context, and why are they becoming increasingly important during periods of change? 

In an engineering and defense environment, Communities of Practice are networks of technical professionals who share expertise, lessons learned, and best practices around a specific discipline or domain. These communities often form across organizational boundaries and bring together engineers who may work on different programs but face similar technical challenges.

Within organizations like Moog Inc., they create a structured way for specialists to exchange knowledge that might otherwise remain isolated within individual teams or legacy programs. They are becoming increasingly important because the defense sector is experiencing significant change—whether through workforce transitions, evolving technologies, or the growing complexity of modern systems.

Many defense products also have exceptionally long lifecycles, which means critical knowledge can easily become fragmented as experienced engineers retire or move between programs. Communities of Practice help address this challenge by creating a living network of expertise that spans generations of engineers and enables practical insights to be shared more effectively across the organization.

"Many defense products also have exceptionally long lifecycles, which means critical knowledge can easily become fragmented as experienced engineers retire or move between programs.

Communities of Practice help address this challenge by creating a living network of expertise that spans generations of engineers and enables practical insights to be shared more effectively across the organization."

How can Communities of Practice help organizations retain critical technical knowledge and maintain continuity amid workforce shifts or organizational transformation?

Communities of Practice play a critical role in preserving technical knowledge that might otherwise be lost as experienced engineers retire or move between programs. In many engineering organizations, particularly within defense, a significant amount of expertise exists as tacit knowledge—lessons learned through years of hands-on problem-solving rather than formal documentation.

Communities of Practice create an environment where that knowledge can be shared more naturally through discussion, collaboration, and mentorship. They also provide a mechanism for capturing and spreading best practices across the organization.

Whether it involves approaches to complex problem-solving, the development of standard engineering processes, or the introduction of new tools and technologies, these communities allow teams to learn from one another rather than reinvent solutions independently. As organizations adopt new digital tools, automation, and emerging capabilities such as artificial intelligence, Communities of Practice provide a forum where early successes and lessons learned can be shared broadly across the engineering community.

From your experience, what practical steps are needed to successfully establish and sustain Communities of Practice across engineering teams?

In my experience, the most successful Communities of Practice tend to be a hybrid of grassroots participation and leadership support. Engineers are naturally motivated to share knowledge when the topics are directly relevant to their work, but leadership plays an important role in providing the structure, visibility, and support needed to sustain the community over time.

Establishing a regular forum for interaction is an important first step. For example, monthly community meetings can provide a consistent opportunity for engineers across programs and sites to share lessons learned, discuss technical challenges, and highlight emerging tools or methods.

However, the highest levels of engagement often occur within smaller practice groups that focus on specific technical topics. When engineers collaborate on clearly defined areas—such as fastening technologies or the development of automated inspection capabilities—the discussions become more hands-on and directly applicable to ongoing work.

Sustaining these communities ultimately requires recognizing and reinforcing the value they provide. When teams see that shared insights lead to improved processes, better problem solving, and faster adoption of new technologies, participation becomes self‑reinforcing and the community continues to grow organically.

In large engineering organizations, knowledge is often distributed across programs and sites. How can Communities of Practice help break down these silos and accelerate problem-solving?

In large engineering organizations, expertise often develops within individual programs or locations. While that depth of knowledge is valuable, it can also create silos where teams solve similar problems independently without benefiting from lessons already learned elsewhere in the organization.

Communities of Practice help bridge those gaps by creating a forum where engineers across programs, sites, and disciplines can share experiences and collaborate on common technical challenges. When engineers come together around shared technical interests, they begin to recognize patterns in the problems they encounter.

What might initially appear to be a unique issue on one program often turns out to have been solved previously by another team. Communities of Practice provide the network that allows those insights to surface more quickly, enabling engineers to learn from one another rather than starting from scratch.

Practice groups focused on specific areas—such as fastening technologies or automated inspection development—often generate the most meaningful engagement because participants are working through real engineering challenges together. Ultimately, Communities of Practice transform isolated expertise into shared capability, accelerating problem-solving and strengthening the technical foundation of the organization.

"What might initially appear to be a unique issue on one program often turns out to have been solved previously by another team.

Communities of Practice provide the network that allows those insights to surface more quickly, enabling engineers to learn from one another rather than starting from scratch."

What role does leadership play in enabling collaboration, trust, and knowledge-sharing within and across Communities of Practice?

Leadership plays an important role in creating the conditions where Communities of Practice can succeed, but it’s important that leaders enable these communities rather than try to control them. Engineers are most motivated to participate when discussions are driven by real technical challenges and when they feel comfortable sharing both successes and lessons learned.

One of the most important contributions leaders can make is establishing an environment of trust where knowledge sharing is encouraged and valued. This includes recognizing the time engineers invest in these communities and reinforcing that collaboration across programs and sites is a priority for the organization.

Leaders also help by providing the structure that allows Communities of Practice to sustain themselves over time. That might include supporting regular forums for discussion, encouraging participation across sites, and ensuring that insights generated within the community are visible and accessible to the broader engineering organization. When leadership actively supports these efforts, Communities of Practice become an important mechanism for strengthening both technical capability and organizational connectivity.

Looking ahead, how do you see Communities of Practice evolving as defense organizations face accelerating technological change and increasing system complexity?

As defense systems continue to grow in complexity, the need for strong technical communities will only increase. Modern aerospace and defense programs require expertise that spans multiple engineering disciplines, advanced manufacturing methods, and increasingly sophisticated digital tools. Communities of Practice provide a mechanism for bringing those perspectives together in a way that traditional program structures often cannot.

Looking forward, I expect these communities will become even more important as organizations adopt digital engineering practices, automation, and new analytical capabilities. Engineers will need forums where they can share experiences with emerging tools, compare approaches, and collectively develop best practices for applying these technologies effectively.

I also believe Communities of Practice will play a key role in accelerating learning across the engineering workforce. As new engineers enter the field and experienced engineers transition into different roles or retire, these communities provide a natural environment for mentorship and knowledge transfer. In many ways, they represent a bridge between the experience of the past and the innovations that will define the future of defense engineering.