Chris Collison

I work with a wide variety of organisations, helping them to improve their performance by sharing what they know. See www.chriscollison.com for more details!

I am in my fifth year now, working as an independent consultant and advisor, with clients in the private and public sector. Before becoming a consultant, I enjoyed many years working in large organisations too - I know what it's like in the real world! Here's a brief career history:

I joined BP in 1989, occupying a series of positions in Research, IT and Organisational Development.

In the late '90's I worked as part of BP's acclaimed knowledge management team; they were great years! The team was accredited with generating over $200m of value through pioneering knowledge management.

I then worked with Geoff Parcell on a major "operational excellence" initiative in BP, which combined knowledge-sharing with performance improvement. The approach we developed has now been applied all around the world.

It was during our time at BP that that we wrote the book "Learning to Fly" which has now become a standard work in the field of knowledge management. We have just completed our second book together: "No More Consultants", which looks at how organisations can do more to learn from their own employees, before they press the big "consultant button".

Putting it another way, it's the book which helps you to reclaim your watch from the consultants who borrowed it to tell you the time!

Check out: www.nomoreconsultants.org

As part of BP's Organisational Capability team, I also led the company's efforts on "knowledge-enabling systems", and carried out in-depth research into Innovation.

In 2001, I joined Centrica, taking up the role of "Director of Finance Strategy and Change Management" leading the roll-out of a new functional strategy across all of Centrica's businesses. Moving from Finance to Human Resources, I became Director of Change and Knowledge Management, putting in place a knowledge-sharing strategy for the Group. I also led the implementation of a people-centred approach to change management throughout the company. I believe that Managing Change is such an important topic for business, it's all about vision, communication, engagement and leadership.

I am a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, certified practitioner and trainer in the ChangeFirst methodology, and a visiting lecturer at Henley and Cranfield Business Schools, and Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Ireland.

At Henley, I am working on a research project exploring the connections between Project Management and Knowledge Management.

I am a regular contributor to journals and professional publications, and am a member of the editorial boards of "Inside Knowledge", "KM Review" and "Journal of Knowledge Management".

Outside of work, I am happily married to Louise (a Primary Teacher) with two

young daughters (Martha and Hannah) who keep me fully occupied, and teach

me more than I care to admit! In my spare time... What spare time?

I have two children! ...I'm involved with my local Church, and we regularly drive from Berkshire to the Westcountry to get back to our Devonshire roots and spend time with friends and family.