Thank you for your interest in the Building Community Organizations (BCO) Program. BCO is a mentorship program for emerging practitioners of Organizational Development (OD) sponsored by British Columbia Organization Development Network (BCODN). Under this program, teams of emerging OD practitioners volunteer to work on organizational issues with community organizations.
Project teams’ work is shadowed and led by a senior consultant who provides coaching and mentoring as they work collaboratively with the client. The projects are 4-5 months in duration and the time commitment is on average 5-7 hours per week.
The program is available to members of the BC Organization Development Network (BC ODN) – a provincial professional organization. Volunteer consultants’ backgrounds range from students and recent graduates of OD programs to professionals in related fields who are making a career change or developing their skills further while giving back to the community.
Project Mentors have at least 10- 15 years of Organization Development experience.
How does it work?
The consulting teams of emerging OD practitioners receive an orientation and team building process in advance of their projects. Using a defined consulting process under the support and mentorship of the Project Mentor, the team assesses the needs of the community organization, develops and implements a plan to address the client needs. The team creates a final project report, and their key learnings are shared with the BCO Program and BCODN.
The program provides you with the following value:
- Enhanced OD skills by applying OD principles, tools, strategies and techniques to real work experiences
- OD experience that will enhance your resume
- Team-building skills and experience in developing a team charter
- Quality mentoring from an experienced OD practitioner for the duration of the project
- Opportunity to learn and apply an OD consulting methodology supported by resources and materials
- An expanded network of colleagues
- A test environment for trying out new skills and exploring OD interventions.
If you have any questions, please email: bco@bcodn.org
You must be a member of BCODN to apply as a Volunteer Consultant.
Apply by August 31st, 2024 to become a Volunteer Consultant
After completing the application, a BCO Representative will be in contact with you once the cohort schedule is planned.
Please Note: This is a VERY popular program, and only a limited number of projects can be supported by the BCO each year. Your application does not guarantee acceptance.