Greater Cincinnati Organization Development Network

Future Shock and OD - Are We Adapting as Fast as the World Around Us? 

January Program Topic:

   Future Shock:  I.T. Tools and Practices to Support the Change Agent

Date:  Tuesday January 8^th, 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

2008’s program theme

In 1970 Alvin Toffler, literally created an all-new discipline around the study of change and its impact on business and culture, with the publication of his seminal work, Future Shock. His writings as a futurist professed that ‘Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life’… but he also warned us of the ever-increasing scope and pace of change that we would be facing.

Toffler believed that human beings have ‚a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock. Future Shock was defined as the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time. Sound familiar?

Whether it’s through strategic planning, talent acquisition, training and development, performance management, succession planning, or executive coaching, as OD professionals our role is to help our organizations and/or our clients deal with CHANGE. Many would say our role is to minimize Future Shock or at least ensure organizational resilience in dealing with it.

But as we focus on the changes our companies/clients face, we need to ask ourselves… Are we keeping aware of the scope and pace of changes that our profession faces? Could we find ourselves suffering from Future Shock?

Our series of ODN meetings this year will focus on key issues that could have an impact on our ability and resilience to be effective agents of change. We will discuss such topics as: the application of technology in managing change, the changing definition of diversity, and managing emotional upheaval in the workplace. 

Our January meeting topic:  
Future Shock:  I.T. Tools and Practices to Support the Change Agent

Some of us recently read two books on the use of I.T. tools that support the change process. Two texts were especially insightful: Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground by Jennifer J. Deal, and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. We found both books helped us understand the changes in consulting practices required by the latest technologies.

Our presenter for January is Dale Browning of TechCollaboration.com.  Since 1982 Dale has served as an international  lecturer on technology infrastructure and strategy for IBM, Microsoft, and many other firms. In more recent years Dale has led consulting projects using the latest collaborative technologies with businesses and universities. From this he has identified several practices for O.D. change agents to use to advantage.

At our January 8th meeting Dale will present case studies and demonstrations showing how the latest collaborative tools change the processes of strategic planning, training and development, performance management, and executive coaching for today’s internal and external O.D.consultants.

If you work with anyone who uses the Internet in your consulting practice or job, you will find this presentation useful.