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mission and expected outcomes for the community. Community members are
recruited for their expertise relevant to the practice or strategic services. They are there
to better share knowledge, know-how, and best practices to benefi t the business by
participating actively. They participate in discussions, raising issues and concerns
regarding common needs and requirements, alert other members to any changes in
conditions and requirements, are on the lookout for ways to enhance CoP effective-
ness (e.g., by recruiting high-value members), and, above all, they learn.
CoP facilitators have perhaps the most demanding role. They are responsible for
clarifying communications, making sure everyone participates, ensuring dissident
views are heard and understood. They are the chief organizers of events such as meet-
ings (face-to-face as well as virtual meetings). They administrate all communications
by drawing out reticent members, reconciling opposing points of view, posing ques-
tions to further discussion, and keeping discussions on topic. The practice leader is
the acknowledged leader of the CoP “ themes. ” The leader provides thought leadership
for the practice or strategic service, validates innovations and best practices, and
promotes adherence to them. He or she identifi es emerging patterns and trends in
CoP activities and knowledge base and in other areas that may impact the practice.
Leaders resolve confl icts, evaluate CoP performance with respect to expectations,
approve memberships, and lead the way in prioritizing issues and improvements to
be tackled. CoP practice leaders serve as model to coach other members or arrange to
provide coaching and they are always alert to the potential need for CoP changes (e.g.,
more members, different members, and different member composition).
CoP knowledge services are information/knowledge integrators who serve to
interface with all CoPs to ensure clarity and lack of duplication of the information
disseminated within and from the CoPs. They maintain information sharing relation-
ships with all CoPs, inform CoP members about relevant activities elsewhere, and
inform others about relevant CoP activities. The knowledge center coordinates infor-
mation from CoP members to avoid duplication, redundancies, and poor quality (e.g.,
in postings to CoP Web sites and forums), and they fi lter knowledge and requests for
help (e.g., yellow pages). Finally, all the members of the CoP share the responsibility
for marketing and promoting the CoP, generating interest in the CoP, generating
enthusiasm among current members, and demonstrating its value. Everyone must
ensure continued support and resources from sponsor(s), recruit high-potential pro-
spective members, and invite them to special CoP events. Members are expected to
better leverage the knowledge created and learning generated by the CoP, to write and
publish articles or results descriptions in company publications, and to publish articles
in external journals or magazines and then distribute them internally.