BCODN Spring 2021 Newsletter

Juliet’s Message
President, BCODN Board of Directors

Hello, OD colleagues!

We’re ready for Spring and welcoming longer days! We’re excited to continue to bring you virtual networking, development, volunteer opportunities and more. We’re also looking forward to working closely with members of our OD network on presentations and round tables while forging new partnerships and welcoming new BCODN Board of Director members.

Thank you to those who completed our OD Community Survey last Fall. We heard you! A summary of the results can be found here. We’re proud to be a supportive and diverse learning network and a positive impact on our community is essential. We continue to evolve with your contributions and feedback.

COVID-19 has brought us many changes and challenges. The OD community has demonstrated resilience and resourcefulness by quickly shifting to virtual events and services. Be sure to read Catherine North’s article below on facilitating in a virtual context, for tips and ideas.

Want to get involved? There are a number of Board members’ terms ending in June which creates opportunities for other exceptional OD leaders. I will be stepping down as President after several rewarding years volunteering with the BCODN. It’s been a great opportunity to really get to know and grow the many facets of what we offer through the Building Community Organizations mentoring program, the Programs portfolio and in my current Officer position.

Board of Director vacancies include: VP, Communications; VP, Community Engagement; Building Community Organizations Liaison and President. See Become a Director for details on how to get involved. If you’re interested or curious to find out more, reach out! info@bcodn.org

The Board is feeling optimistic and looking forward to making a positive impact throughout 2021. We in the OD field are fortunate to work in a profession whose values are about bringing out the best in people in their organizations! As we put our individual and collective efforts forward, I trust we will also bring the best of ourselves to our work, our profession, our network, and the world!

Stay tuned for more great events throughout the year. Invite your colleagues and friends that may be interested, from across the country and beyond! Event participants don’t need to be working in OD to join us. We are a community inspired to share the power of organization development.

Hold the Date: AGM

Annual General Meeting – June 16

AGM begins at 6:00pm. We welcome Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, PhD as our guest speaker. Yabome is an OD Professional with a mission to inspire the development of people and groups through transformative learning. A Leader, Consultant, Executive Coach, Facilitator and Scholar, Yabome is also the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Organization Development Network.

Facilitating in a Virtual Context: From Presentation to Participation

By Catherine North ~ Catherine North Consulting & Coaching

With nearly all of our engagement experiences being online these days, many of us are feeling “Zoomed out.” Sitting in one spot, sometimes for hours at a time, while trying to remain fully present with our clients and colleagues, is hard to do!

Online tools that facilitate involvement and engagement of our online participants isn’t just nice to do, it’s become a must-do, to maintain our audience’s attention and involvement.

Digital workspaces, canvases and whiteboards are a fantastic way to engage a virtual audience. They can be shared in lieu of a PowerPoint slide deck, and allow the presenter to involve the audience to a much greater extent – beyond emoji responses, chats boxes and audience polls.

Different features are available depending on the platform you choose to use. Ten digital whiteboard solutions are reviewed and rated here.

My first experience of a virtual whiteboard was with Google Jamboard. The presenters shared their screen over Zoom, and at first, I thought they were simply sharing a PowerPoint Presentation. After the introductory slides, there was zero transition from Presentation to Participation. It was the click of a page. At one point, the facilitator realized he forgot to add a page/question, so he added a new page to the Jamboard in real time and carried on. It was brilliant!

The activity pages were pre-loaded with tables & headings. Zoom break-out groups were created, and each group found their assigned page and captured ideas on their assigned virtual page. Nothing was lost in transition. My fellow participants and I captured our ideas on virtual sticky notes, moved the notes around, resized them, and re-coloured them. I was fully engaged and fully involved.

When we reconvened, the activity pages were shared by the Zoom host and reviewed collectively, with each breakout group speaking to their virtual workspace. The final product was then saved and a link was shared.

For your next Zoom meeting, facilitate engagement, presence, insight and learning by switching from Presentation to Participation!

Seven reasons to use an interactive whiteboard or digital canvas:

1. 1. The presenter can easily switch from “presentation” to “participation”… It’s the click of a page.
   2. Presenters can pre-load activity pages with questions, tables, headings, etc.
   3. Participants can capture ideas on different activity pages with virtual sticky notes when they are assigned into break out / discussion groups
   4. Activity pages can be reviewed collectively (shared by Zoom host), and each breakout group can then speak to the visuals on their page
   5. In-the-moment adaptive action processes can be captured & shared in real time – facilitating transparency and accountability
   6. The final version can be shared with others through a digital link
   7. Digital workspaces eliminate the additional step of creating a report to summarize discussions. Simply tidy-up the canvas or whiteboard and share!

We’re on LinkedIn – 1000 Members and Growing!

Our mission is to provide a supportive learning community for OD Professionals to network with their peers and to engage in activities to enhance their professional development.

• To have an impact on individuals, their workplace and community
• To create awareness of the value of OD within the various communities in the province of BC.

Join us today on LinkedIn and be sure to join as a member for great member benefits.

Volunteer Opportunities