Minds at Work

The only sustainable advantage in our hypercompetitive marketplace is the ability to learn and adapt faster than everyone else. Companies that cling to management practices of a bygone era continue to fade away. They desperately need managers who empower people to seek out learning at a moment’s notice.

Minds at Work can help you be that manager. This book captures the role managers play in the knowledge economy―where uninhibited, on-demand learning inspires employees to achieve higher levels of performance. Authors David Grebow and Stephen J. Gill describe how managers can move from a traditional “command and control” position to become advocates of communication and collaboration. They share what happens when managers help their direct reports grow as people and use technology to pull the learning they need when they need it.

Minds at Work illustrates this shift to a learning community with success stories from forward-looking companies. With this better way to manage, these companies have unearthed those “aha!” moments as the dots connect after continuous problem solving, trial and error, and innovation. Each has redefined norms, made knowledge sharing flat, and created a workplace culture built to last.

Use this book to embrace learning anytime, anywhere. Nurture the minds at work, and you’ll win the hearts of your organization.

David Grebow is CEO of KnowledgeStar, and an author, popular speaker, and workshop leader. KnowledgeStar is a consulting firm founded in 2006 to provide insight about the intersection of digital technology and education. Its clients include Fortune 500 corporations, startups, NGOs, and leading analyst firms Bersin & Associates and the Brandon Hall Group. KnowledgeStar is currently involved in launching an interactive performance support system that automatically delivers just-in-time knowledge to people working in manufacturing environments. For 25 years prior to starting KnowledgeStar, David held senior development and management positions with leading technology and education companies, including IBM, where he co-founded the Institute for Advanced Learning; PeopleSoft; Cisco; and McGraw-Hill. David is a co-author of Creating a Learning Culture with Marcia Conner and James Clawson and served on the editorial review board for Information Age Publishing, working to produce a series of books on technology and learning. David's most recent book, Gamification, Games and Learning is part of the eLearning Guild's new Insight series. He has authored numerous research papers and articles for publications in the corporate education industry. He lives in San Francisco.

Stephen J. Gill is the co-owner of www.learningtobegreat.com, a marketplace for organizational learning tools, and also owner and principal of Stephen J. Gill Consulting. Steve's expertise is in creating learning cultures in organizations and measuring the impact of learning and performance improvement interventions. He has done this work for more than 25 years, since leaving the faculty of the University of Michigan, School of Education. He has written extensively about these topics. His most recent books are Getting More From Your Investment in Training: The 5As Framework, published by RealTime Performance in 2009, Developing a Learning Culture in Nonprofit Organizations, published by Sage Publications in 2010, and Communication in High Performance Organizations: Principles and Best Practices, published as Kindle ebook in 2011. Steve also posts regularly on the Performance Improvement Blog. He serves his community as an elected trustee of Washtenaw Community College. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.