Organization Development at Work: Conversations on the Values, Applications, and Future of OD (J-B O

Organization development at work: conversations on the values, applications, and future of OD / Margaret Wheatley.. et al.]. p. cm.—(The Vision/Goals; F = First steps; O = role of Others [everyone around the boundary] can ensure.
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What speaks to you as a learning leader. Special Event in Italy: Jackie is perhaps most celebrated for her creation of SOAR, a strengths-based strategy framework, grounded in Appreciative Inquiry. For that reason, she really needs no, or, very little introduction. Jackie happily talks with me about her AI back story — how both her dad and first boss asked generative questions to have her consider how she might be the author of her own life from a very early age.

That early influence, being asked great questions, primed her to embrace AI with great ease when she was more formally introduced to it as a graduate student. Next, I invite Jackie to talk about the SOAR framework, and the impact of that strategic planning framework around the world. Finally, we talk about her newest book sneak preview here , and the joys of co-authoring. Jackie, is a full-time professor for the College of Management at Lawrence Technological University, and has been there for 17 years. Through his kind and attentive nurturing, she was able to find solutions to her own inquiries.

One example resulted in getting a job at 15, teaching kids to swim because at that time swimming was one of her strengths. Her first boss, who gave her that job also asked truly generative questions. Between these two caring influencers in her early life, she was able to earn money at a young age to get her to college until she earned a scholarship. When Jackie finally met Professors David Cooperrider and Ron Fry to begin her doctoral studies, learning about AI and its focus on generative questions, it felt so natural.

Jackie talks about the power of Appreciative Inquiry in her personal life, especially as a wife and mother. She shares one beautiful story that illustrates the strength and stickability of Appreciative inquiry. A potentially hard conversation with her daughter opened up a whole new inquiry framed in Appreciative Inquiry that served the situation really well. Some days later, she overhead her daughter use the exact same approach with her younger brother to produce the same positive, expansive outcomes.

It was conceived around her kitchen table with a client, the Senior VP in the automobile industry. As SOAR is a whole systems approach, all stakeholders are invited to participate in planning the strategy.

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The experience serves also to build collaborative teams who co-create actions to bring about results people care about. What is clear throughout this conversation with Jackie is her living in the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry. As Jackie shares her stories, she very frequently refers to certain principles to illustrate how they are so integrated into the being of an AI practitioner.

The principles live through us in how we think, act and feel. Towards the end of the espisode, when Jackie excitedly talks about her new book, Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement , she illustrates so perfectly why she prefers to co-author in her writing. She's living the Principle of Social Construction — we generate meaning together through language and our social relationships. When I asked about the value of co-authoring, Jackie's response:.

We socially construct everything. Being in conversation with my co-authors you just create something you never even imagined. Jackie talked with great energy about valuing the diversity and inclusive nature of co-creating anything. I'm so excited about the new co-creation — their new book coming out in May! Organization development and the strengths revolution. Sullivan, Practicing organization development: Leading transformation and change 4th ed. John Wiley and Sons. In this episode, my esteemed guest, organizational designer and systems thinker, Sallie Lee walks us through six new literacies that in the 21st century everyone needs.

Some think that these literacies are most appropriate for leaders of organizations, but they will work in any set of circumstances in our complex world. These new literacies were published in a chapter of the book, Lawyers as Changemakers: Integrative Law Movement , by J. Solution and System Stalking. Sallie Lee has spent her career in organizational design, serving as a thinking partner, facilitator, coach and strategist for a global client base ranging from 5-person to ,person organizations. As an internationally acclaimed Appreciative Inquiry practitioner and trainer, Sally helps leaders stalk solutions to questions such as.

How do we design our work together with a focus on our relationships? As a child, Sallie remembers that she found herself facilitating her family members and identifying the patterns in their family dynamics. She admired her uncle who traveled the world as an international banker, and followed his example to creating her own opportunities to experience different cultures around the world. When she discovered Appreciative Inquiry over 20 years ago, she described it as an answer to a prayer.

Her facilitation took on a whole new career… lifted her out of the lethargy… it was life changing. The paper Sallie references in this episode is littered with alliterations, as you quickly learn from the names of the six literacies. In a nutshell, the solutions we seek are already within our systems and we have to ferret them out. I love this quote from her paper: As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the 21st century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies.

These literacies are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities, and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Literacies change with time. Each generation develops sets of skills, competencies and tools that are central to our survival in our respective times.

The literacy to see wholeness, to appreciate our world is teeming with diversity. To get to the best we can be, we need to embrace multiple perspectives and dance with diversity. The literacy to invite others into dialogue and have processes to tap into all the voices that can contribute experience and wisdom to promote cooperation and collaboration.

The literacy to be able to imagine and design what the future is calling for and to anticipate and project ourselves into novelty and possible futures. The literacy to be able to bring out the best in our humanity and all living systems to include those who may be outside the culture so they can contribute, innovate and celebrate. Please listen to Sallie describe, give examples and share stories about each of these highly relevant 21st century literacies. We have these skills and literacies to be of service to others. We are trained in designing the types of conversations that bring out the co-creative capacities of togetherness, interdependency and collaboration.

We recognize our world is socially constructed through our language and our relational processes. We need to step up and step into these literacies to model what good leadership and citizenship can accomplish together.


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The above life literacies are founded on a set of positive assumptions about humankind, and with such a solid foundation, we know what we can do together. How Appreciative Inquiry Works. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to have this conversation, with Wick van der Vaart. He is an inspiration to all of us in our Appreciative Inquiry community and beyond.

At the time we were having fun doing this interview, Wick was on vacation in France. He didn't let me know, but I learnt very soon after that Wick was experiencing severe headaches. This recording went live at the end of July. It saddens me deeply to say that Wick passed away from a brain tumor on October 15th His story is beautiful. You will be inspired. Wick founded a learning institute in Amsterdam.

These two major contributions he makes to the world came about because, as Wick tells us in this interview he has a habit to say yes to everything. Wick's first story about his predisposition to say yes to everything came out when I asked him if he found Appreciative Inquiry, or if Appreciative Inquiry found him. He had signed up for the Organization Development Program only to find that course had been cancelled. As a replacement, he was offered a place in the Appreciative Inquiry Program which was taking place next door. As a lover of learning, and researcher at heart, Wick also went on to do the traditional Organization Development Program and when I asked about the difference between the two, he shared that Appreciative Inquiry was more fun and the relationships he established in that course have become some of his dearest colleagues and partners today.

The lens of Appreciative Inquiry reflected a worldview his parents impressed on him — to do well in the world and for the world.

Organization Development: A Data-Driven Approach to Organizational Change

Wick discovered that the approach of Appreciative Inquiry accomplishes all the expected goals of the traditional organization development approach — productivity, profit, and specific strategic imperatives — and so much more. Over and above the traditional worldview that traditional organization development offers, where the dominant discourse is money and power, the Appreciative Inquiry worldview focuses on doing good by doing well.

Profits are made as businesses need, but from a culture nurtured by a flourishing mindset where leadership is holistic, the workforce is thriving and the environment is respected. In such workplaces, the whole self is valued, and the relational space between people enables deliverables and productivity and profits to happen alongside the positive connections between people. Appreciative Inquiry produces high quality relationships very quickly.

Anne Radford had founded in London about 20 years ago. Through Anne's leadership and shepherding, it remains the leading journal on current research and applications of Appreciative Inquiry in the world. AIP is a peer-reviewed journal. Nearly people from around the world have contributed as guest editors and authors to AIP in recent years.

I like to ask my guests which of the AI Principles is their favorite. After thinking long and hard, Wick offered, the Anticipatory Principle , and you'll hear that it took my breath away as it also happens to be mine. Wick has participated in two ironman events. Training and participating are not easy. He has to work hard to continue the training. He applies the Anticipatory Principle to help him continue. As he trains, and during the event, he holds the image of crossing the finishing line. This is what propels him forward.

This image of the future empowers him to keep going. This image of crossing the finishing line gives him the ability to find the will and strength within to help him achieve his dream. In support of this Anticipatory Principle that inspires Wick and me, I quote these beautiful lines that I found on Wick's website:. Institute for Intervention Studies. When did you last come away from an experience that had such an impact on you that you were filled with a joy and a hope that transformed you?

You witnessed human flourishing and unity with others. You felt inspired by the conversations and connections. You felt alive and energized.


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You experienced a sense of wholeness, oneness and community cursing through your body and a peace and infinite hope for what else is possible. I am filled with gratitude that I just came away from such an experience. Over people were tasked to Discover Flourishing Enterprise: The Key to Great Performance. We came from 29 different countries by invitation, from free will, to contribute our minds, our hearts, our skills, our knowledge.

We were curious and open and hopeful. We shared stories, dreams, and aspirations. We were a hugely diverse gathering of people: We honored our diversity and our shared common belief: We shared our stories, listened and asked questions. We dreamed together about what we can bring to life. We co-created designs and prototypes of possible futures, and we rolled up our sleeves to develop deployment plans to turn our dreams and their prototypes into action.

For this event, I volunteered as an Appreciative Inquiry facilitator. This is a very generous gift from the owner, Wick van der Vaart, who co-edited this edition with David Cooperrider. They have worked on an AIM2Flourish curriculum for university professors to link their students to enterprises that are not only doing well in the conventional business sense but also doing good for their employees, their customers, the communities in which they operate, committed to human flourishing for all, including the planet. The business students — the leaders of tomorrow — move beyond learning in the classroom into the field of real business.

Imagine the impact on them and the enterprises they interact with. The working group was brilliant and energized and committed to growing the AIM2Flourish mission by modeling leadership for the 21st century and strengthening flourishing relationships across the plant.

We felt connected, united and impassioned by our shared commitment to amplifying human flourishing across the world. Jon Berghoff was the masterful lead facilitator with his brilliant group of associates who made it such an outstanding event. And, I got to meet the charming Chuck Fowler , whose generosity and vision for a flourishing world started this all off. Please, if you get the opportunity to attend the Fifth Global Forum in , treat yourself to an experience that will fill you up and sustain you at many levels.

There's also a podcast episode where you can hear the voices of participants at the the Fourth Global Forum: Employees have the solutions to most problems. What we focus on grows is the principle addressed in this post. There are examples from the corporate world to improve communications and build cultures of ownership, as well as examples from elsewhere.

There is a key principle in the organization change methodology, Appreciative Inquiry that posits powerfully, what we focus on grows. So when your organization offers communication skills training, what does the trainer focus on, or what is the trainer asked to focus on? As a big generalization, it's most likely the focus is on the need to fix poor communications across the organization.


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When that kind of climate infiltrates the organization, productivity is impacted, customer retention and innovation decrease, and creativity and vitality start on a downward spiral. I contrast that with my dear grandmother's favorite saying: Let me share a few stories to illustrate how communications and more broadly organizational culture is impacted by understanding this Appreciate Inquiry principle of what you focus on grows.

The CEO of a multimillion dollar, international company was in the office building elevator one day to go down to lunch from his executive suite on level Several floors down three employees stepped into the same elevator all very engaged in a conversation. They paid no attention to him — the CEO — standing in the dark at the back of the elevator. As the elevator door closed with its three new occupants, he quickly became aware, their conversation was a series of complaints and grievances about the company of which he was CEO and founder.

This company had become a global company through a number of recent mergers, and the three employees in the elevator were complaining about impossible workloads, their unavailable bosses, slow systems, volumes of work and unhappy customers. They were focusing on their grievances and airing them in a public place without paying attention to who else might be in the elevator with them, and possibly listening.

When the elevator reached the the ground floor, the CEO stepped out from the dark into the light, expressing concern about their conversation. It was extremely upsetting to him to hear his employees speak this way. He wanted to hear more about their experiences. He asked them to reach out to his assistant and get on his calendar that afternoon.

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They enter his office a few hours later. He welcomes them to his office and serves tea. He personally serves them tea. It was time to re-focus and align the corporate culture.

John Izzo: Organizational Development Expert, Author and Keynote Speaker

He called in the HR Manager, requesting that communication skills training focusing on professional behaviors be sourced and made mandatory for every member of the organization at every level, from C Suite executives to mail room clerks. I was fortunate to be hired as the change consultant by the CEO and the HR Manager to design a day long communication skills training focusing on professional behaviors and lead a team of facilitators to deliver the workshops in every department across the entire organization both nationally and internationally.

What was different about this communication skills training from conventional training is that it was designed with the principles of Appreciative Inquiry. They identified what good communications and professional behaviors look like, sound like, feel like, smell like. By focusing on what works, the employees were able to co-create a new narrative around communications for high performance that came from their own world. They did not fall into the narrative of trying to dissect the causes of poor communications and who's to blame.

It certainly wasn't training where the trainer stands at the front of the room presenting to a deck of slides, talking abstractly and theoretically about communications, contrasting bad and good communications, showing checklists of does and don'ts, and facilitating role plays. After the employees had discovered best communication experiences through paired interviews, they formed small groups to share all their different stories of communications at their best, thereby identifying collective strengths, best practices and helpful resources. Next, with all this new found data, they used their imaginations to envision their organization in the near future when all their collective strengths, capabilities and assets would be put into practice.

They were animated and excited about what they knew to be real and possible. They came up with specific projects and identified strategies, and goals, resources, timeframes, and resources that would result in improved communications throughout the company.

What happened in that day long process and was repeated across the entire organization went beyond communication skills training. In a nutshell, this collaborative way of communication skills training enables employees to find resources within themselves to bring to the situation. Furthermore, when they feel supported by others, including coworkers and bosses, it leads to creating a nurturing and inviting environment where they feel safe at work resulting in greater quantity and quality of service. Teamwork is enhanced, communication is improved, as people truly listen to one another and respect each other.

They experience moments of care from others. As a result, the focus shifts to more open conversation, where shared values get brought into the open and developing individual and organizational strengths becomes a focus which ultimately moves the organization towards resilience and a more empowered workplace. One of my areas of specialization to is build custom training programs framed with the Appreciative Inquiry worldview. Are you aware of what you enjoy focusing on?

Life Partners and Business Partners

What are the pleasures and treasures you experience when you invest your full energy — your emotions, your thoughts and actions on activities and with people that matter to you that bring you happiness AND meaning. You are in the flow state that is a luscious state of feeling at one with the activity. In fact, we all know it. If it were too hard, you'd be stressed out and you'd feel de-energized. How would it be if we could get into that zone more consciously? Imagine being able to communicate with greater consciousness because you know to focus on what you want Vs what you don't want.

What if you could create that sense of heightened and engaged performance in the workplace a high percentage of the time? Your ability to focus also builds your resilience muscle. This post will give you more insights: Eleven Helpful Posts on Being Resilient. A side story to further illustrate what you focus on grows: I use it in my Appreciative Inquiry trainings.

The entire video speaks to this topic of what you focus on grows among other fabulous messages. On one particular photo shoot, he bookmarks a scene he wants to come back to to photograph. They are so densely packed it looks like a yellow blanket. When he finally returns to it a few days later, all the yellow flowers have gone. It now looks like a drab green field of weeds. Dewitt chooses not to focus on the loss of the yellow flowers. He focuses on the new image nature has provided him. His vision of the photo he had in mind was gone.

Did he get annoyed with the scene, himself or nature? He focused on what he now had. Glorious puff balls that when the sun rays shone through them they offered him beautiful images to photograph that he had previously could not not have imagined. He focussed on what was to be celebrated in this new situation, not on what he had lost. Another memorable scene took place in a tiny Irish village — Dewitt was on assignment to photograph an elderly woman who was a legendary weaver.

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He was in awe of her craft and her generosity in allowing him to wander around and take as many photos as he wanted on whatever subjects took his fancy. She looked at him, and, in a very humble way replied: When I weave, I weave. Talking about a field of yellow flowers, I am reminded of traveling in Tuscany in Italy and being awestruck by fields of Sunflowers.

You feel like jumping for joy. Their big, bright yellow heads all face the same direction to form a bright yellow blanket of sunny faces. They follow the sun from dawn to dusk. As sunflowers turn to the sun for light and energy, so too, do we humans grow and light up with great energy in a field of abundant, sunny appreciation and positivity. Church is director of organization and management development at PepsiCo, Inc. He specializes in designing customized multisource feedback systems and large-scale diagnostic surveys for organization development and change.

Request permission to reuse content from this site. Added to Your Shopping Cart. Description This hands-on guide--for planning, diagnosing, implementing, and evaluating organization development interventions--gives scientifically based information, tools, suggestions, and guidelines for those who must manage the human side of change. In Organization Development, leading experts and pioneers: Plus, you'll get a wealth of charts, materials, and checklists, as well as useful practice tips.

About the Author Janine Waclawski is a principal consultant in the management consulting services line of business at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she specializes in using data-driven methods for organizational change and executive development. She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She specializes in using surveys and multisource feedback for organizational change and executive development.