What is the minimal and maximal number of participants per Nucleus?

A Nucleus should have a

• Minimum of 12 participants and a

• Maximum of 20 participants.

This minimum and maximum number of participants refers to the efficiency of group work:

When the Nucleus has less than 12 members it is difficult for the counsellor to reach a sufficient auto dynamic in the group:

• Few contributions, experiences, know-how and ideas limit a positive outcome from the group work;

• Already one or two “disturbing” members can have a negative impact on the performance of the group;

• The probability that a member will dominate the group increases;

• Not all members will always participate in a meeting. It is not fun, neither for the entrepreneurs nor for the counsellor, to have a meeting with less than eight participants;

• Considering the costs of a Nucleus (counsellor, communication, administration, use of equipment, room, energy, etc.) the costs per participant are increasing high.

To start a new Nucleus with eight to ten entrepreneurs never proved to be a problem. But the number should be increased as fast as possible to 12 and more.

When the Nucleus has more than 20 members its efficiency decreases:

• It is more difficult to work with visualisation methods;

• More members do not have the opportunity to present their ideas and proposals. Therefore, the probability increases that they participate only passively and not actively what leads to a loss of the spirit of the Nucleus work;

• Scientific researchers confirmed that groups of up to 20 members work best because they understand themselves as a unit. With more members groups tend to fall apart in fractions what causes a decrease of the group efficiency;

• Bigger Nuclei may gain the idea to leave the chamber in order to create an own association. But associations with less than 100 members normally are not able to professionalize and they remain inefficient (few financial resources, no qualified staff). In all known cases from Brazil and Sri Lanka, when due to conflicts the Nucleus entrepreneurs quit the chamber and started their own association they failed. In the end, they had neither the services from an association nor from a chamber.

Follow-up question: what to do when a Nucleus is getting more than 20 members?

04/06/2008 - MueGlo / Jairo / Simone