Greater Cincinnati Organization Development Network

Here are some notes from Ken Wessel’s group from our last meeting.  Good stuff here!  Thanks Ken.  More items will be posted as received.

CHALLENGES TO THE OD PROFESSION

I studied the Copenhagen Consensus as background for responding to the 9/9/08 meeting request to identify challenges we face as OD professionals.

My reaction to information provided by the Copenhagen group was that they used terms whose meaning did not match their usage and that structure of their work was not logical.  So I went about revising the structure of their work, without changing their words, beginning with an operational definition of “challenge.”

   “A call to engage in a test of ones abilities or resources in a demanding, stimulating, and worthwhile undertaking.”   (A summons to action.)

Next, I developed a framework to place challenge in relationship with other elements of Copenhagen material.

Strategies that reconcile
Challenge and issues

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V

        Decision to engage the challenge    Issues that restrain progress
———————————————>  <—————————————–
In their own words the Copenhagen challenge is; “What would be the best way of advancing global welfare and particularly the welfare of developing countries, given $75B in available resources for an initial 4 year period?”

They identified and force ranked a number of issues including; disease, global warming and air pollution.

A sample strategy to resolve issue of disease included; micronutrient supplements and fortification and school nutrition programs.

Using this approach I drafted:

A CHALLENGE TO OD

“To employ our intellectual powers of logic, reason and objective observation as activating force for change.”

ISSUES WE FACE IN ACCEPTING THIS CHALLENGE

•    Imprecise use of language and automatic use of terms that are in vogue
•    Stereotypes of OD profession as “detached from real world, bound to academia, hypersensitive to feelings, HR based, passive…”
•    Low level of understanding how the mind works, generation of thought, process of thinking.”
•    Unsustainable efforts toward development in situations that lack coherent design
•    Partnering with others based on mutual comfort vs. challenging potential leaders to step up

POSSIBLE STRATEGIES

•    Increase functional skill in use of functional frameworks to improve quality of thinking
•    Focus on quality of thinking as critical success factor in any undertaking

This is intended as a draft to be further developed by the network.

Ken Wessel:  9/11/08

Greater Cincinnati ASTD - Dedicated to workplace learning and performance

GCASTD 2008 Fall Conference: A Kaleidoscope of Possibilities

Patterns, Thinking, and Approaches

We’ve packed the 2008 GCASTD Fall Conference with a dazzling array of ideas to stimulate your thinking as well as concrete tools to use on Monday morning. And kept last year’s prices!

Through the changing lens of the kaleidoscope, we’ll move among the many trends, realities, breakthroughs, and challenges employers address.

Join us October 24 to learn and grow in our chosen field, allowing us to return energized to make a difference to those we serve.

Susan Smyth, 2008 Conference Chair

Where:

Sharonville Convention Center
11355 Chester Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45246

Registration Information:

Early Bird Registration (By September 26, 2008)
GCASTD Member: $129
Non-Member: $149 (includes one year membership)

After September 26
GCASTD Member: $149
Non-Member: $199 (includes one year membership)

Group Rate:
5 or more members, $120 per member.

To review the conference schedule and to register, click here:

http://gcastd2008fallconference.eventbrite.com/

-Submitted by Tony Cipollone

What are your biggest challenges as an Organizational Development professional? Your organization’s? Your client’s? Our profession’s?

Have you identified and ranked them?

Earlier this spring, the Copenhagen Consensus, a group of over fifty economists, gathered to force rank the world’s greatest challenges in a recommended order in which to solve them, then provided realistic solutions.

Do we owe it to ourselves, our organizations, our clients, our profession, to identify, force rank, and provide recommended solutions to OD’s greatest challenges for the future?

Peter Senge’s new book, The Necessary Revolution, describes how organizational learning is being used to increase our sustainability by building shared vision, challenging mental models, forging new partnerships and thinking systemically about the future.

We cordially invite you to join us Tuesday, September 9, 2008, as we apply Senge’s principles via shared vision of mental models in a Cincinnati Consensus: Identifying, Prioritizing and Providing Solutions for the future of OD. Experts will share some insight, but mostly we want to hear what you think about critical priorities for the success of our profession in the world around us.

Date: Tuesday September 9th, 2008

Time: 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Location: DeVry University off Fields-Ertel (see directions below)

Admission: Members $15, Non-Member $20, $25 at the door includes dinner. A discounted meeting rate applies to all attendees who join ODN as a member in the same evening. Membership is $50 for professionals and $25 for students.

Please RSVP using the reservation box at the top of this page.

DIRECTIONS TO THE MEETING AT DEVRY UNIVERSITY OFF FIELDS-ERTEL ROAD:

DeVry University
8800 Governors Hill Dr
Suite 100
Cincinnati, OH 45249-1367

From the North

Interstate 71 South to Exit 19 Take a LEFT onto Mason Montgomery Rd.

Take a RIGHT onto Governor’s Hill Rd.

DeVry is on the RIGHT

From the South

Interstate 71 North to Exit 19

Take a RIGHT onto Mason Montgomery Rd.

Take a RIGHT onto Governor’s Hill Rd.

DeVry is on the RIGHT

From the East

Take Interstate 275 West to Interstate 71 North

Take a RIGHT onto Mason Montgomery Rd.

Take a RIGHT onto Governor’s Hill Rd.

DeVry is on the RIGHT

From the West

Take Interstate 275 East to Interstate 71 North

Take a RIGHT onto Mason Montgomery Rd.

Take a RIGHT onto Governor’s Hill Rd.