PHIN Communities of Practice

Resource Kit

Sustain a PHIN CoP

Build Membership
The value of using social and business networks for recruiting members cannot be underestimated; leaders should remember to ask new members to help recruitment efforts by contacting potential members within their own networks. Establishing membership criteria may help community leadership ascertain a general profile of the membership base.12 It may also be helpful to develop a process for prospective member identification as well as an invitation based upon the Resources below (all are located in the Resources Once CoP leaders and an initial set of documents defining the interest and mission of your community have been determined, it is time to begin the search for CoP members. It is imperative to start the process of solidly connecting members and to foster relationship building during the kickoff of your CoP while creating the energy needed for the community to successfully launch. Community leaders must share their knowledge and vision for the community with potential members. Leaders will need to invest time, networking skills, and technical knowledge to launch the Community of Practice. The value of using social and business networks for recruiting members cannot be underestimated; leaders should remember to ask new members to help recruitment efforts by contacting potential members within their own networks. Establishing membership criteria may help community leadership ascertain a general profile of the membership base.12 It may also be helpful to develop a process for prospective member identification as well as an invitation based upon the Resources below (all are located in the Resources section)

• CoP Formation Announcement Template
• Invitation Approach with Script
• Meeting E-Mail Invitation Template
• Membership Tracking Template

Whatever the resources you choose to utilize, you should emphasize the benefits and value of participating in a CoP.

Interview Potential Members

A useful approach in recruiting members to participate in your Community of Practice is to “interview” them. This process is not one that is used to screen out potential members, but an opportunity to discuss the community’s potential value to the individuals and to their organizations. The interview approach is afirst discussion aimed at digging deeper into the potential member’s areas of interest and what he or she feels should be the priorities for the CoP.Additionally, an interview is an excellent way to identify and recruit future leaders as it may unveil skills you may not have otherwise recognized. Interviews are important in relationship building and may foster one-on-one bonds between members creating trust--a critical precursor to knowledge sharing and collaboration. The “Invitation Approach” document located in the Resources Section may generate additional ideas around this topic.

Invite Experts
While the desire to participate and contribute peer-to-peer is sufficient motivation for some members, involving key thought leaders and Subject Matter Experts in the CoP will lend value to your CoP and encourage participation of new membership.1 Some members of a CoP will participate simply because they want to hear its primary thought leaders speak, or they are intrigued by the prospect of interacting and associating with experts on a collegial level. Of course, thought leaders and Subject Matter Experts who move from occasional presenters to fully engaged community members will contribute greatly to the practice of your community. When convinced of your CoP’s ability to contribute to the community, these experts can serve as community champions in circles outside the PHIN Community.

The Kickoff Meeting
When community members and a focused area of interest have been identified, it is now time to hold a meeting. The kickoff meeting should be the start of regularly scheduled meetings, which help to anchor the community. To create a sense of community and familiarity it is helpful to have the group meet in the same space for each meeting—both in person and electronically.

If you are not hosting a face-to-face meeting, or if others might participate remotely, be sure to coordinate technology needs and user access well in advance.

The kickoff meeting should be used to solidify the direction of the group. Your CoP membership willbe comprised of diverse colleagues and peers with a desire to work more effectively, solve problems, invent solutions, and learn. It will be important to review the high-level goals and objectives of the CoP at the kickoff meeting.

During subsequent meetings, your CoP can begin to explore the issues of the domain. In order to kick off these conversations, you may find it helpful to do one or more of the following:

• Present your work in the CoP or ask one of your initial members to share some challenges in a domain area, with time for Q&A;
• Distribute discussion material such as related articles or papers in advance;
• Identify a particular community-related topic / issue and ask members to come prepared to discuss;
• Send questions pertaining to the topic to attendees in advance; and,
• Base discussion around goals outlined in your charter.

Your facilitator plays a vital support role for your kickoff and subsequent meetings. Ensure that you have engaged a facilitator who can adequately encourage productive inquiry, manage tension, and work toward the development of a solution. See the “Facilitation Tip Sheet” in the Resources Section for more information.

Self Promotion Once established, the community will want to share initial work and plans with others. CoPs may want to:

• Present challenges and accomplishments at the PHIN CoPC meetings;
• Create a CoP-focused newsletter for your CoP and share broadly (see “Newsletter Template” in the Resources Section);
• Develop a white paper or “issue brief” on a challenge and potential solution;
• Submit abstracts to conferences;
• Send articles to professional journals detailing the work of the community;
• Highlight activities and accomplishments via articles in journals and newsletters managed by national organizations and other public health partners; and,
• Post articles about your accomplishments on your organization’s intranet or website.

The following table provides an overview of Resource, located in the Resources section that may be helpful as you learn more about CoPs.

Related Resource	Description	Audience
Formation Announcement Template	Your CoP has formed and now it’s time to spread the word. This template offers some boilerplate text for your use.	Leaders of new PHIN Communities of Practice (CoPs)
Invitation Approach	After identifying people who might be interested in joining your CoP, you may want to reach out to them personally. This template offers dialogue and text ideas to get you started.	Leaders of new and existing PHIN Communities of Practice (CoPs)
E-mail Invitations	If you’d like to reach out to potential members by sending them an email invitation to join your CoP, this template offers some general text as a starting point.	Leaders of new and existing PHIN Communities of Practice (CoPs)
Membership Tracking Template	You’ll want to track both the people you’ve invited to join your CoP as well as those who have joined. This template makes it easy to log all that information in one central location.	Leaders of new and existing PHIN Communities of Practice (CoPs)
Newsletter Template	As your CoP begins maturing, you may want to develop a CoP newsletter for your domain. This template, in Microsoft Word, gives you a great start.	Leaders of new and existing PHIN Communities of Practice (CoPs)

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