BCODN News – BC Organization Development Network

Lead an OD Roundtable

Posted on February 4, 2019 by mchaudhary

Overview

Roundtables provide an opportunity for groups of OD practitioners to come together around a topic of interest to discuss and learn from each other. Roundtables are not intended to replace other professional development workshops hosted by BCODN or other member offerings. The focus is on peer-to-peer learning and as such, any presentation made must not be longer than 20 minutes in length and the remaining time is participants working/learning together in facilitated discussion.

Benefits of Leading a Roundtable

As a member of the BCODN, you could fill a leadership role for an existing roundtable or create a new one based on an identified need. You will have the opportunity to:

Exhibit leadership in your OD community
Increase your exposure as an OD professional
Learn and connect with other OD professionals on topics that are of interest to you and the OD community

Sample Types of Roundtables

News of the day or “hot topics”: How current events and research impact OD practices in organizations
Guest facilitator: In this case, someone with a specific area of expertise or unique experience is brought in to either provide a short presentation or answer questions, engaging other people’s thoughts/opinions/experiences

General Format

To provide roundtable member or perhaps a not-for-profit facing a current OD challenge with the opportunity to present their challenge and innovation to a room of practitioners who will work together to provide a potential solution. The person with the challenge would:

Provide background information about their organization (15-20 min.)
- Present the OD challenge
- Respond to questions from the roundtable regarding the challenge (10 min.)
Discuss potential solutions to the challenge as a group. If the group is large, this could also be done by breaking the group into smaller groups and having each group present their solution to the overall group at the end of the roundtable. (45 min.)
Debrief and summary (10 min.)

Benefits for Participants

Open up to a paradigm shift and work with new perspectives on the dilemma
Get practical advice with designing an approach
Experience and learn new techniques that can be applied immediately
Network with other OD professionals

Frequency

This will depend on the facilitator topic and availability of the participants. This may be a regular meeting or a one-time peer learning event.

Who Should Attend

Internal/external consultants, Facilitators, Community managers, Leaders and Managers – all who are called to facilitate community building, learning, meetings, communication, groups, and change.

How to Apply

We’re looking for facilitators for roundtables starting in March and April and our Professional Development team can provide logistical support. If interested, please submit a roundtable proposal form to the team at info@bcodn.org.

Hurry, the deadline to submit a proposal for a roundtable is February 15 and there are limited spots available for roundtable leaders!

The Social Impact of OD

Posted on November 18, 2018November 18, 2018 by mchaudhary

Written By: Kim Braidwood

The OD network annual conference had its first ever Social Impact day (SID), a pre-conference event that brought together and created value for OD consultants and Not for Profits (NFPs). I had the privilege of being an advisor on the pro bono team to develop and organize SID. It was a rewarding experience as the impact of OD was fully felt by all participants and continues to ripple through the community.

As I reflect on the process of planning SID and how the day emerged, the value of embracing collaboration and emergence stands out. The spirit of collaboration started in the pre-feasibility phase as Cindy Miller (OD board member) reached out to Faye White (President of BCODN) for information regarding the building community organizations (BCO), a core program of BCODN. Faye shared the BCO process and materials with Cindy. The OD network pro bono team was able to refer to these materials as well as draw on the skills and experiences of the team to develop SID. Prior to SID most of the volunteers, consultants, and Non-profits had never met. For Social Impact day they converged, collaborated, embraced the emergent challenges and opportunities, and created value for one another; a value that continues to ripple through the community.

The event brought together and created value for 48 OD member consultants. They were able to gain experience, increase their network, have access to mentors, and apply their skills with NFPs. The nine NFPs brought forth their challenges, collaborated on emergent issues with consultants, and left with recommendations generated from the day. The Mentors were able to network and give back to social good, and the OD network fulfilled its strategic goal of increasing the value and awareness of OD.

The pro bono team continues to receive positive feedback from SID and plans to build on the impact and momentum created. The NFPs expressed Social Impact Day exceeded expectations, as one NFP, Aubrey Farrar of Flight C.L.U.B. said, “We accomplished more in one day than we would have in six months.” The Pro bono planning team consisted of Kim Stevens, Team Lead and Team Members: Kim Braidwood, Lee Burroughs, Kim Dixon, Erin Garland, Cindy Miller, Zach Sumner and Christine Thomas.

The inspiration for SID was to fulfill part of OD Network’s 5-year strategic plan that includes the aspiration: “The OD Network impacts the world by sponsoring pro-bono activities that provide OD practitioners to those who might otherwise be unable to access our skills and abilities.” The OD network pro bono team plan to build on Social Impact Day and carry the learning, energy, and value forward to next year’s conference as well as to the various OD chapters.

To learn more, please visit www.odnetwork.org.

The Art of Leadership – Learning and Reflections

Posted on May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 by mchaudhary

Written by Milla Zaenker

The morning of October 26 was beautiful, the sun was shining, and the air was crisp and clear. I was very excited to be going to the Art of Leadership conference for the first time. This is what I learned from each leader and would like to share with you:

Welby Altidor on Creativity and Collaboration

A leader’s role is to create the most fertile soil where people can grow
Successful leaders set one “beautiful and impossible” objective per quarter and strive to achieve it
Great leaders map out people’s ‘superpowers’ before engaging in a project
Don’t confuse authority and influence
To practice creative courage – face the unknown and accept that you don’t know
Seven stages to transforming our work:
1. Care first
2. Secure safety
3. Foster trust
4. Play with danger and limitations
5. Dream
6. Discover breakthrough
7. Grow

Vince Molinaro on Engagement and Accountability

Leadership is a decision – You must rise to new standards of behaviour, and be the role model
If you want to be liked you need to rethink what it means to be a true leader
Don’t be a bystander and wait for things to improve, do what is necessary for your organization to succeed
The culture of a company is stronger than any individual and it’s hard to change
Build a sense of community with your colleague leaders

Dr. Tasha Eurich on Self-Awareness and Performance

Understand internal and external self-awareness
- Internal – seeing yourself clearly
- External – knowing how others see you
Ask What, not Why: Instead of “why can’t I get along with my boss?” ask “what can I do differently to have a productive, healthy working relationship with my boss?”
Make a daily commitment to receive feedback from your “loving critics”: those who will give you honest and objective feedback, and have your best interests at heart
Ask two powerful questions:
- What am I doing that makes me successful/respectful in your eyes?
- What are the most annoying things that I am doing?
Don’t defend, but listen and ask questions to understand

Amanda Lang on Innovation and Change

An environment for innovation answers the questions “why” and “why not”
Something has to change for it to be innovative; otherwise, it’s a good idea that dies
How you think is who you are
When brainstorming, find people who are slightly irritating – it will lead to great ideas
Practice gratitude, share one good thing that happened to you today. If we focus on the good we won’t notice the bad
You cannot buy passion, creativity, and trust – we do it only when we are engaged

Joe Biden on Leadership

Leadership is about putting yourself in other’s shoes, thinking about what their challenges and barriers could be, sharing loses and not just successes
Surround yourself with people who are smarter then you are, use their strengths and talents.
Never confuse academic credentials with sound judgement
Leaders don’t always have all the facts, but they use good judgement, experience, and understand the risks when making a decision
Leaders attribute success to their team when things go well and own the blame for the not so successful consequences
Leadership means putting principles before career
Real leaders are happy and successful — For Joe Biden happiness means three things:
1. Having something to do
2. Having someone to love
3. Having something to look forward to

Liberating Structures

Posted on May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 by mchaudhary

Liberating Structures

In honour of our most recent BCODN event, we explore liberating structures and how they can improve your organization.

What are liberating structures?

Developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless, Liberating Structures are facilitation, meeting, and conversation techniques that open a dialogue and distributes the sharing of information from a more traditional, top down flow of information to a more inclusive, broad selection of information sources, as well as more involvement and inclusivity from all levels of the organization in designing solutions. “Liberating structures…put the innovative power once reserved for experts only in the hands of everyone” (Lipmanowicz & McCandless, 2014). This improves collaboration (how we work together), engagement, ownership and trust.

Liberating Structures shift the normal order of the ‘way things get done around here’ in the organization – from traditional modes of information sharing such as presentations, meetings, weekly “check-ins” (too rigid, inhibiting), brainstorming sessions (too loose) ; to an open sharing of information and solutions (liberating), but that minimallystructures the waywe interact (structures).

“Unwittingly, the conventional structures used to organize how people routinely work together stifle inclusion and engagement” – Lipmanowicz & McCandless, 2014

So, how do I get started?

A defining feature of Liberating Structures lies in their simplicity. The techniques are simple as well as easy to understand. Walking through an example clarifies what a liberating structure technique looks and feels like.

The authors recommend starting with the simplest ones and building your practice from there. Here are some examples of liberating structures to get you started:

1-2-4-All (12 minutes): Engage everyone in generating questions, ideas, and suggestions

Present an organizational issue or challenge to the group and ask “How would you handle this challenge?”; “What ideas or actions would you recommend”

Materials needed: Paper and pen for participants to record observations and insights

Each participant reflects alone and writes down thoughts (1 min)
In pairs, participants generate and share ideas together, building on previous self-reflection (2 mins)
Participants share and build on ideas generated in pairs in foursomes; noticing similarities and differences (4 mins)
Each group of 4 shares one idea with the entire group “What is one idea that stood out in your conversation?” (5 mins)

Impromptu networking (20 minutes): Rapidly share challenges and expectations, build new connections

Ask the group “ What big challenge do you bring to this gathering? What do you hope to get from and hope to give to this group or community?”

As with regular networking, participants will engage in conversation with one key difference: they will be directly sharing with each other a challenge they are facing (and hoping to solve), and what they are hoping to get from or give to the group. Encourage participants to spend 4-5 minutes discussing in pairs with their networking partner, and then finding a new partner to share their challenges and hopes with (for approximately 3 rounds).

Impromptu networking helps participants establish new connections by sharing their stories, hopes, and challenges, while also helping them to deepen and clarify solutions.

There are a total of 33 Liberating Structures, hand-picked by Lipmanowicz & McCandless, you can view them all here: http://www.liberatingstructures.com/ls/

Conference Recap | The Art of Leadership 2017

Posted on May 15, 2018May 24, 2018 by mchaudhary

Written By: Brian Lam

The Art of Leadership descended on Vancouver on October 26, 2017. Five thought and leadership practitioners shared their views and perspectives on leadership. I came away with three key concepts.

One – leaders need to be fully committed to the rigors and responsibilities of leadership. Through his research and study on effective leaders, Vince Molinaro highlighted this point with the question: “Are you all in as a leader?” His query reflected his observation that many leaders become leaders by way of their technical knowledge and experience (engineer, doctor) or by way of their seniority (tenure). The need to be fully committed was argued further by Vice President (VP) Joe Biden. He referred to his possible run for the presidency of the United States in 2016. VP Biden believed he needed to be fully committed to taking on the office of the President. Due to the death of his son in 2016, he didn’t feel prepared to do so. He added that the capacity to decline the role of leadership requires courage.

This leads us to the second of the three leadership observations: leaders need to be courageous. The underlying concept was the need for leaders to have the courage and conviction to do the right thing for their teams and their organization for the long term. Courageous leaders recognize that their choices are likely to be unpopular over the short term. Dr. Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist, added to this concept of courage by suggesting that leaders need to have the courage to routinely seek constructive criticism. By seeking these critical/disparate viewpoints, a courageous leader is better able to improve their practice of being a committed and courageous leader.

Finally, the one common leadership element that appeared to be shared amongst the speakers of the day was this: leader’s care. All the speakers referred to this notion of a caring leader in their own way. It was speaker Welby Altidor, however, who provided an apt analogy of what it means and looks like to be a caring leader. According to Welby, leadership is akin to being a master gardener. A master gardener cultivates his crop with attention, care, devotion, and patience with the ultimate hope that it will flourish, grow and produce. Similarly, a committed, courageous and caring leader can enable his or her team or organization to grow, flourish and produce.

If a leader is seeking to masterfully tend to their team of followers, he or she needs an assembly of skills and tools. The speakers at the Art of Leadership believed that leadership skills could be learned and developed. Having heard from each speaker, I believe they were espousing the need for leaders to be committed, courageous and above all caring.

Workshop Recap | Who Do You Choose to Be? Facing Reality-Claiming Leadership-Restoring Sanity with Meg Wheatley

Posted on April 4, 2018May 3, 2018 by eDIanjuN

Reconstitute: Chocolate chip cookies and choosing who we are as leaders

I had the pleasure of attending a weekend workshop with Meg Wheatley entitled “Who Do You Choose to Be? Facing Reality-Claiming Leadership-Restoring Sanity” at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. The lush old campus was an ideal setting for this session. I came into the workshop without any knowledge or history of Meg’s previous works including “Leadership and the New Science.”

I understand that this new book marks a departure from the conclusions in that previous work. These new conclusions for leadership and our society that might not be satisfying for leaders, practitioners, or organizational development specialists. They formed the basis of many of our discussions throughout the two days. I appreciate that I may not have a full understanding her theory, but I will attempt to summarize:

Our current civilization is in decline and that it is not possible to fix large systems in society. We instead, must watch them fall and start anew.

It’s a tough idea, particularly for those who have committed their lives or built their careers on being fixers. It also begs the question, what do we do? Meg suggests that instead of trying to fix large-scale problems, we look to the local and community levels and create “islands of sanity” with the understanding that these sane, productive, and proactive solutions will likely indeed remain at the local level.

It is an interesting concept for all of us involved in change and organizational development to consider and perhaps try to change our expectations as well as the expectations of our colleagues and clients.

Even at this small scale, true leadership in these times is challenging. Meg offered the group ideas and more thought-provoking questions about how we wish to lead in these troubled times. It is through these questions that we may come to know and share our true leadership.

From the simple:

Can you always sit up straight and sit in your dignity?
Can you use the power of silence in times of difficulty?

To the more contemplative:

What is the difference between hope and aspiration?
What am I faithful to?
What is my most basic belief?
What do I want to keep paying attention to?

As for the chocolate chip cookie, this was my big takeaway from the weekend. Yes, a chocolate cookie.

Like an organization is made up of different ingredients. Once those ingredients come together to form the cookie, they are no longer in their original state but have taken on this new form – the cookie. You need all these particular ingredients to form the cookie, and without one, you will get something different. At the same time, if the cookie fails, there is no way to extract the original ingredients out and restore them to their original form. The flour is forever changed. And thus, if the cookie fails, you must throw out the batch and start fresh.

Sarah Muff is a creative engagement practitioner. Her current project focuses on engagement in labour relations with the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff at UBC.