OD in Hard-to-Change Organizations

Panel Featuring: Tom Bigda-Peyton, Ernest Byers, and Mark Braun
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012, 5:30-8:00pm

Location: Lesley University's Brattle Campus, 10 Phillips Place, Washburn Hall, Washburn Lounge, Cambridge, MA 

5:30 - 6:00 pm - Networking, 6:00 - 8:00 pm - Event 

Let's face it, changing an organization is hard, but some kinds of organizations are especially difficult.  Organizations in professional services, law, government, higher education, and healthcare are hard-to-change because expertise is siloed and structured as craft work.   

This workshop will explore OD in hard-to-change organizations using case examples from healthcare, with implications for other hard-to-change organizations. 

You will learn:  

• How underlying structures, such as the craft model and metaphors of organizations, impact change efforts

• The most important phase of change you need to know that is usually omitted from models of change

• The organizational levels that need to be engaged for change to happen

• The importance of marketing, promotion, campaigning, and engagement in achieving change

• The hottest change methodologies being used in healthcare today -- Lean, Adaptive Design, Thedacare, and Second Curve.

About the presenters:  

Dr. Tom Bigda-Peyton helps leaders in Canada and the US improve the performance of their healthcare systems. He is president of the Center for Adaptive Solutions and Action Learning Systems and studied with organizational learning pioneers Chris Argyris and Don Schon. More 

Mark Braun is a member of the Faculty Development Committee, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Susan Vogt Leadership Fellows Program More 

Ernest Byers is System Process Improvement Specialist, Center for Innovation and Transformational Change, UMass Medical Center, Worcester, MA  More   

Annual Holiday Party!

Presented by: Your MassBayODLG Team
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011, 5:30-8:00pm
Location: Elephant & Castle, 161 Devonshire St, Boston, MA 02110 

Don't miss the the third annual OD Learning Group Holiday Party - back by popular demand! 

Networking, food and member recognition!  New this year - OD intervention role plays that will start your holiday season on the right foot!

Building Systemic Theories of Change

Presented by: David Peter Stroh
October 20, 6:00-8:00pm
Location: Mass Professional School of Psychology, 
1208 VFW Parkway, 3rd building, 3rd floor, room V302B 

Systems thinking is commonly applied retrospectively, i.e. to clarify the root causes of chronic problems and identify high leverage interventions. The purpose of this workshop is to learn how to use systems thinking prospectively, i.e. to articulate theories of change that explain how leverage points are best integrated into compelling and sustainable strategies. You will practice applying the approach to business modeling, which typically begins with a desired core engine of success and then anticipates how to overcome natural limits to growth. You will also apply systems thinking to develop theories of social change, which are commonly based on a core corrective process that must be subsequently reinforced.  

In this session, you will: 

• Distinguish retrospective from prospective applications of systems thinking

• Understand two different basic kinds of change theories

  • The first defines a core engine of success and goes on to anticipate limits to growth and ways to overcome the limits by shifting to a new engine of growth. This is the typical structure of a business model.

  • The second begins by defining a core goal-seeking or problem-correcting process and goes on to identify ways of reinforcing and sustaining improvement over time. This is the typical structure of a theory of social change.

• Gain experience in developing your own business (or organizational) growth model

• Practice articulating a theory of social (or organizational) change

Presented by: Rob Kanzer
September 13, Cambridge, MA

In this highly interactive workshop, you will be provided with an opportunity to “try on for size” a model that not only engages people in a collaborate way, but also improves the bottom line.

Sharing our stories and reactions to Lisa Bloom's teleseminar

May 25, Worcester, MA - 5:30-8:30

Did you ever attend an inspirational meeting only to find the thoughts wane as your schedule consumes your time. 

Ever notice that the “true learning” from training comes often comes from the side discussions around the water cooler?

 Our self-facilitated gatherings allow room for each voice, promote deeper connections amongst participants, and are springboards to new resources and growth opportunities. This format is a wonderful space to try out new concepts or ideas with peer support and feedback. For each session, we share a focus and the discussion evolves in an organic way. There is room for your ideas, your questions, your works-in-progress, and your challenges of the day.

Conference Call With Lisa Bloom

May 17, 2011

Free Event sponsored by the Boston Chapter of the Organization Development Network

Don’t miss this special time and discover how storytelling can grow your business, delight your clients and engage your workforce.

These are dynamic tools to help us discover and focus our passion.   As networking is increasingly connecting around passion and uniting around justice / injustice concerns this is a timely and wonderful resource.   Personally, I wish I had experienced this years ago and highly recommend this program.   

Register for May 17^th call 3:30 – 5:00 EST

Career Paths in Organization Development 

April 28, 2011 - Boston, MA

Interested in the field of Organizational Development?  Join us Thursday April 28th to learn about career paths, credentials, training, and ways to enter this field from OD professionals at all stages of their careers--early career, mid career, mid career transition to OD, and senior OD.

Panelists will share their stories about the formal and informal paths to OD and OD-related roles including:

• Career Paths to OD
• Skills Needed in OD roles
• Do You Need an OD Job to Play a Significant OD role?
• Training Needed to do OD Work
• Where to Develop Skills Transferable to OD
• How Do I Know if OD is For Me?

In addition to a facilitated panel there will be break-out conversations and dialog on transferable skills, and different industry and knowledge applications of OD.

Don't Miss out!  Register Now!

New Developments in Leadership Agility

March 16, Boston, MA

Bill Joiner’s award-winning book, Leadership Agility, vividly describes the new mind-sets and skill-sets leaders need to be successful over the longer term in today’s highly complex, rapidly changing business environment.  Bill’s presentation on this topic several years ago sparked a great deal of interest.  In our March 2011, Bill came back to update us on new ways we can use this unique developmental framework to help our clients grow into new levels of effectiveness.

The Leadership Agility framework is based on extensive research, which shows that leaders – and their teams and organizations – have the potential to grow through a series of developmental stages, which Bill calls “levels of agility.” 

Drawing on his own client work and his experience training leadership coaches and OD practitioners in the use of this framework, Bill presented a new methodology for assessing leadership agility and discuss the practical implications of his recent article, “Creating a Culture of Agile Leaders.”

More information and relevant applications of his work can be found on his website.

How does the organizational culture impact employee engagement?

February 23, Worcester, MA

How does the organizational culture impact employee engagement? Our self-facilitated gatherings allow room for each voice, promote deeper connections amongst participants, and are springboards to new resources and growth opportunities.

New Paths for Growth and Relationships

February 10, Boston MA

Relationships: a powerful word that evokes thoughts, memories, and experiences. It is also a living word, experienced moment to moment in all aspects of our lives. In 2010 Otto Scharmer challenged us with a perspective that our North American independent/stakeholder mindset failed to consciously acknowledge: relational significance and interdependence. Can we answer: Where are you in your life? I know that is a big question. In our ODLG session, we attempted to do so drawing from two significant perspectives:

• from David Whyte’s work on the “three marriages” of your individual self, your work and your relationships with others
• from Otto Scharmer’s “Theory U”

Leadership Implications of the Evolving Web

January 19, Boston MA

Grady McGonagill summarized key findings from his recently completed study on how the Web is changing society and organizations in all sectors, and the implications of these changes for leaders.

The report makes the case that a new leadership paradigm is emerging. The old paradigm focused on the relationship between leaders and followers. A new paradigm, which has not yet crystallized, highlights the values of openness and transparency and recognizes the importance of leadership that is collective, collaborative, and self-organizing.

Check out the slides from Grady's presentation:

Difficult Conversations

January 13, Worcester MA

Six lucky members of MBODLG honed their Difficult Conversation tools with Michael Halpernin. For those unable to participate, we've posted Michael's handout here.

MassBayODLG Holiday Party

December 9, Boston MA

Thanks for another great evening of networking, snacks, drinks, and holiday cheer!

Will the Real Diversity Please Stand Up?

November 16, Boston MA

Dealing with diversity issues is often messy!   Conflation between cultural diversity and diversity justice can make a messy situation even worse.  Whether you are working on issues of diversity within or as a consultant, your own social position is your most powerful tool.  Becoming critically aware of the unspoken dynamics based on social position provides the key to help others address diversity concerns within and across their organizations.

At this event, we examined our social positions and their impact on others and how these social positions can lead to misunderstanding about the real issues of diversity. 

The Art of Profitable Relationships Learning Network:

Call #1 in a 3-part series
November 5

How Courageous Followers Transform Hierarchical Relationships into Partnerships

October 27, Boston

Ira Chaleff explored the leader-follower dynamic from the follower end of the telescope. When you are not THE leader, how can you help the leader use power wisely and not squander or abuse it? Courage is needed. But also skill and tact. When you are in the leader role, how do you create a culture in which constructive candor does not require courage, because it is the expected norm? This unique seminar will examine what is involved in creating true partnership that supports larger organization development efforts.

Full Program Description

Ira Chaleff bio

Developments in Theory U and Presencing

October 5, 2010

Otto Scharmer shared his latest work.

Strengthen Your Web Presence

October 8, 2010

Blog/social media guru and "serial entrepreneur", Rob Walling, shared his strategies and insights around strengthening your personal and professional web prescence.

Check out the blog capturing the presentation.

Future Trends in Training (and Learning)

September 29, Worcester

Facilitated by Herb Collins

Many forces are creating the need for change in the way we all learn, including:

• Technology and the resulting increases in connectivity and the reliance on shorter bursts of information.

• The large increases in the number of people working in home offices isolated from physical interaction with colleagues.

• Economic upheavals that are causing mid-career workers to re-evaluate their skills and pursue new career paths.

The Art of Profitable Relationships: Uncovering and Claiming Your Value To Attract Clients

September 23, Boston MA 

This workshop was a response to needs expressed by ODLG members through You Define 2010 and the recent World Café to increase their clientele, and develop opportunities for mentoring and collaboration with ODLG members. The focus was on discovering and sharing our best practices, learning systematic methods for attracting and qualifying clients, and closing sales for internal and external consultants in a way that will benefit both new and experienced consultants.

he Art of Profitable Relationships: 

Uncovering and Claiming Your Value To Attract Clients

Visionary Leadership For Breakthrough Performance

August 17, Waltham MA

Our August event was an experimental program on visionary leadership. Jim Ritscher presented 20 advanced leadership strategies to improve performance in businesses and organizations. The 20 strategies encompassed four core areas: Strategies for Top Leaders, Strategies for All Leaders, Strategies for Change and Strategies to Improve Employee Productivity.

World Cafe

July 21, Boston

MassBayODLG used the World Café Forum to conduct an experiential learning experience for our membership. The goal was to hold a café conversation to learn more about who we are as a group, why we are members and what we want out of the experience.

What did we learn? Check out the outcomes of our discussion.

Topic: Time

July 14, Worcester

Time Bind, time crunch, time management, beat the clock, first to market, deadline, work-life balance, time for my family, time is money....the list goes on. The common denominator? Time - or at least our notion of time. In privileging our western notion of time, we are automatically marginalizing other concepts and values.

In what instances do we, as OD consultants, decide to tacitly conform to the notions of time incorporated in the standard business model? In what instances do we decide to engage our clients in questioning the values they practice and the choices they make with regard to time? As with most questions, it may help us to start the exploration by reflecting on our personal relationship with time.

Positive Deviance

June 17, Boston

Randa Wilkinson shared the theoretical foundations and practical implications of Positive Deviance.

The Business Case for OD: ROI and Communicating Your Value

May 19, Boston

"The Business Case for OD: ROI and Communicating Your Value"

On Wednesday May19th, from 5:30-8:30pm, ODLG is facilitating an interactive session with our own Julia Geisman. 

 ROI is a hotly debated topic amongst OD practitioners and one that has become increasingly important during the economic downturn.  Amidst a cautious upswing, projecting ROI prior to developing a solution justifies the investment; measuring ROI post-implementation justifies future budgets.
 
There are important questions we need to ask ourselves as OD professionals: How do we re-position our activities as a valuable investment rather than an expense? How do we quantify our contribution to the bottom line? How can we protect our budget in cost-cutting times? 
 
Join us as we explore such topics as intangible vs. tangible benefits and the balance between cost savings and revenue-producing results; combining theory with hands-on exercises. At the end of the program participants will have a working familiarity with the methodology.

How to Launch and Manage Your Social Media Identity

March 25, Boston

Toby Elwin of A Major Consulting shared best practices on launching and managing your social media identity. Toby blogs about the presentation and offers additional insights on the A Major blog.