A global media company underwent a transformation from a group of small regional teams to a newly-formed, large organization with +12,000 employees.

The organization required an acceleration of how to connect in order to bring more resources, expertise and effective practices to the business.

Innovisor was asked – among other things – to help build communities of expertise in the strategically essential areas of this newly-formed organization. The employees were asked to nominate their peers.

The peer-nominated experts were energizing and sought for help & advice mostly.

They scored significantly higher compared to those who were better known by management – the high performers.

The peer-nominated experts were 57% more energizing than the high performers.

The peer-nominated experts were 34% more sought for help and advice than the high performers.

The peer-nominated experts were not the usual suspects. Only 51% of the top 10 peer-nominated experts for each of the areas were marked as potential in their HR system.

The decision was taken to “work with” the vibe of the organization – not “against it” for five out of nine communities.

The original intent of a centralized Center of Excellence structure was changed to a decentralized virtual community set up for the five communities:

• First, the expertise level of the peer-nominated experts was secured through capability building;
• Second, virtual communities were set up to facilitate knowledge generation and transfer;
• Third, the peer-nominated experts were promoted to the entire organization.