Questions and Answers

When is it indicated to build up a new CoP? What steps are helpful when building up a CoP? How many CoPs are useful?

• Concentrate on less in number but more in intensive interaction! Check whether the domain is of strategic importance to your organisation or your branch.
   
• At the personal level: Select your CoP. If you feel somehow "addict" by the domain of the CoP, it might be the right CoP for you to be an active member. Take profit of other CoPs by lurking.

How does a CoP integrate new professionals, JPOs for instance?

• Does the CoP formally welcome and invite new staff to participate?
   
• Does the CoP offer a mentoring system for newcomers and young professionals?

What work sharing between the owner and the facilitator of a CoP is efficient and effective? What is the ideal size of a core group?

• Check the CoP flyer! There are a lot of useful hints.

English is a language barrier for many. How can French or Spanish speaking CoPs cope with the language barrier? How can they be connected with CoPs with the same domain communicating in English?

• Of course, there are CoPs in other languages (F, S) facing the language barrier. Many people feel shy to contribute in a discussion if their written expression is weak.
   
• A solution can be to have an interpreter who translates key findings; another solution may be English speaking members connecting themselves with other CoPs of the same domain.

What is a CoP and how does a CoP differ from other groups?

• Not in every packet with a CoP label there is actually a CoP. In many cases it is more appropriate to speak of a Community of Interest, a Q&A-service, an information service, a task force or simply a team.
   
• Check the state of the art paper or the CoP flyer.

Who is going to take a profit?

• The benefit for individuals adhering to a CoP and for the organisations supporting the CoP is crucial. Without benefit, individuals will stay back and organisations will hold back with money.
   
• There are third parties interested in results of the CoP; make important results accessible to others! Produce good results and make them known!

What is a reasonable proportion between sharing via web platform and face to face meetings?

• The experience shows a need of regular face to face events, once every one to two years. With a lower rhythm, CoPs slow down their interaction to a sleeping mode.

How much contact outside the own organisation is needed?

• For most CoPs it is a permanent challenge to keep contact far beyond the own organisation. A good soup needs various ingredients and cannot be made of one vegetable only.

How to activate passive members? How to re-launch a dormant CoP? What are the signs of a CoP about to phase out?

• A CoP that has fulfilled its goal may be dissolved and vanish. There is no use to cure old patients.
    
• Signs of phasing out a CoP are diminishing enthusiasm of the core group, few contributions from the members or a (strategic) disinterest of the key organisations.

What experience exists about passing the responsibility for a CoP from one generation to the next?

• Neuchâtel Initiative and Aguasan are good examples to study this phenomenon.

What steps are needed to "anchor" the CoPs as a standard learning form within the own organisation?

• The experience shows, that a strong integration of a CoP into the structure of an organisation transforms the CoP rather fast in a task force and thus kills many motivating features existing within a CoP.

How to make CoPs interact with one another? Is there a need for a CoP for CoP owners?

• There might be no need for a formal CoP for CoP owners. The informal way of sharing experience covers the needs of most CoP owners and core group members.