Experienced professionals rarely have a knowledge problem

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Rutger Bruins

Bijgewerkt op 05 Jun 2026

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When I start talking about our Community in conversations, I regularly get the same reaction.

“I have been doing this role for years and have quite a bit of experience by now; what could a Community still offer me?”

In a way, I understand that reaction. Many people associate communities with professional development—acquiring knowledge via (often) recorded webinars, where the focus is primarily on theory. A focus on development. As if communities are mainly interesting for people at the start of their careers.

Yet, in practice, I often see the opposite. It is precisely the most experienced business professionals who often derive the most value from a Community. Why? Because experience does not automatically mean you have all the answers. In fact, I would venture to put it even more strongly: the more experience someone has, the more complex the issues they face become. The complex issues I regularly hear from Community Members include:

A Scrum Master guiding multiple teams.
A Product Manager who must make choices regarding investments.
A Change Lead trying to guide an organization through change.
A manager responsible for a department, budget, and results.

These are roles in which the issues often become less black-and-white.

The difference between knowledge and decision-making

Many experienced professionals do not have a knowledge problem at all. They primarily face decision-making challenges.

Frameworks and theories are often presented in very black-and-white terms. They are correct, but always from an ideal situation. But how often do you find yourself in an ideal situation? For me, far too rarely. Because every organization and every context is different. Every stakeholder reacts differently or has different expectations. This creates doubt and uncertainty. Is it because the business professional does not understand their craft? No, it is because all roads lead to Rome, and you often only get one chance to make the right decision.

And that is exactly where the need arises for a conversation with peers who are in, or have been in, similar situations. Should you expect the right answer from them? No, but you do gain perspective. The opportunity to hear how they handled it, which decisions worked for them, and which ones definitely did not.

How do other organizations actually do this?

This is perhaps the question we hear most often within Connected Movement, both within the community and during our training sessions.

“How do other organisations actually approach this?”

That question is regularly asked out of curiosity, sometimes out of uncertainty, but usually because professionals want to understand if they are overlooking something. That is what makes a professional community interesting. Comparing the experiences of other organizations often yields more than comparing theory. Theory tells you what is possible; a practical story shows how it can actually be done and exactly what the result was.

You don't have to reinvent everything yourself

What also strikes me is that many professionals experience the same challenges but are hardly aware of it. They only find out when they engage in conversation with others. Issues surrounding stakeholder management, organizational change, prioritization, resistance, or leadership. These are all issues from different situations that, in practice, often share a striking number of similarities.

And yet, many professionals try to solve these issues independently, while somewhere else, someone is walking around who faced the exact same thing last month. Simply hearing how someone else handled it can provide new insights. It might not be the right solution immediately, but it helps you view your own situation more clearly.

That is why we believe in a Community

For us, a Community is not a collection of webinars, articles, or events. There are plenty of those already. I believe the most value is created when business professionals can test their own practice against the experiences of others. When an issue can be discussed before a decision is made. When someone discovers they are not the only one facing a certain challenge. And when insights from training, books, or frameworks are translated into daily practice.

That is precisely why our Business Professional Community is built around meetings, case studies, and peer-to-peer conversations. Because we believe that better choices often arise when different perspectives come together.

Experience doesn't mean you have to do it alone

This is perhaps the biggest misconception I encounter: that experienced professionals would not need a Community because they already have the knowledge in-house.

Experienced professionals, in particular, know how much context influences a decision. They know that there is rarely a single right solution. And they also know that a good conversation sometimes yields more than yet another model or framework.

That is why we see our Community not as a place where people come to gather knowledge, but as a place where professionals help each other make better choices and learn from one another in the process.

And yes, there are also very experienced business professionals who have encountered these types of situations many times at various organizations. These professionals are especially valuable for sharing their knowledge and experiences. That is the power of a community: not just taking, but also being able to mean something to someone else.