The Workplace Community

The Workplace Community offers a structured, practical guide to developing collaborative knowledge-based communities in the workplace, from introducing employees and managers to new ways of working, to measuring effectiveness and providing corrective interventions for those who haven't achieved the desired results.

"If you are interested in creating vibrant platforms for innovation, problem solving and leadership development and at the same time strengthening your organization's culture, mission and shared values, then this is a book you should read. The Workplace Community is a new way of encouraging creative thinking across organizational departmental boundaries and it allows engagement at every level and with every stakeholder. Highly readable and very practical I have already shared it with my senior management team."

-Mark McGreevy, Group CEO, Depaul International, London

'There has never been a time when work and the workplace are transforming so completely. In this important and timely book, the authors bring their deep technical insight and profound understanding of organisations to show how the communities of work are changing. Through insightful diagnostic tools and fascinating models they show how increasingly corporations will be defined by the communities that exist within them and what it takes to ensure they are as productive, purposeful and collaborative as possible.'

-Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School; Founder of the Hot Spots Movement

"In today's evolving organizations, employees increasingly seek opportunities to bring external social collaboration experiences 'inside'. The ability to collaborate with peers and management on how to make the organization they work for better regardless of silos or geographic constraints, to be a voice in the decision-making process is critical to sustaining employee engagement. The Workplace Community provides practical, experienced techniques on how to do just that regardless of where you or your organization might be on the collaboration spectrum."

-Liam Cleaver, Vice President, Social Insight and Collaborative Innovation, IBM, Washington, USA

'A compelling and practical guide to unleashing the community potential in the 21st century workplace'

-Richard Olivier, Artistic Director, Olivier Mythodrama, London UK

"The Workplace Community is a must read for HR Business Partners, Managers and Leaders in order for them to thrive in bringing back the concept of 'making work matter again'. Leaders who suspend judgment and open their minds to this new way of working will be triumphant in activating and engaging employees. Ian and Matt's practical approach is not only refreshing but required in approaching contemporary workplace organizational models."

-Lauren Klein, Social Business Strategist, Nevada, USA

Ian Gee is a leading thinker and practitioner on workplace change and OD. Ian's work has included many global change projects with a focus on systemic change as well as organization effectiveness This includes the use of Web2.0, social medias as well as an exploration of the use of avatars and virtual worlds in organization change and transformation. He is the Owner of Edgelands Consultancy and prior to this was Director of OD and Change at Nokia Corp and Senior OD consultant for Shell International. From 1989 to 1996 he was Senior Fellow for Organizational Development for the UK Office for Public Management. Ian is a regular conference and event speaker.

Matthew Hanwell has over 20 years of experience in the area of people-centric information technology in high-tech industries, where he has been responsible for developing and driving HR systems and technology, web based services, analytics, new ways of working focusing on community, collaboration and social media. Matthew worked at Nokia from 1997 – 2012, where he held various positions within HR and IT with global responsibility including HR Director Community and Social Media. His time at Nokia was spent developing and driving forward HR and people centric technology in support of business needs; from implementing a global ERP (SAP), through developing a portfolio of web-based solutions and services, Corporate intranet development and a portfolio of social media and collaboration capabilities. Prior to Nokia,Matthew spent 11 years at Digital Equipment Corporation, in various Project Management, and HRIT roles, finally having the role of European HRIS manager. Matthew has been a speaker and panelist at many international events and conferences, and has presented on HR Technology, HR analytics and Collaboration and Social Media.