Overview
The era of “design, implement, redesign” is over. In today’s world of perpetual change and disruption, organizations must transform in motion, learning and adapting as they perform. They must continuously and fluidly evolve in response to constantly shifting pressures.
At this conference, we’ll explore ways to build organizations with resilience, renewal, and reflexes at their core. We will share new thinking, practical tools, and the capabilities needed to design and implement dynamic, responsive systems where change is less a threat and more a source of momentum. If you believe that organizations should – and can – evolve while they work, this conference is for you.
Registration
Frequently Asked Questions
Visit our FAQs page to answer the most common questions
$1895 $1495
$400 savings for Early Registration thru 2/15/26
Ticket Options
| CONFERENCE $1895 *Discounted $400 thru 2/15/26 |
| STUDENT $695 |
| INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICE OF ORG DESIGN Pre-Conference Workshop $349 |
| DESIGNING YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION DESIGN BIZ Pre-Conference Workshop $449 |
| INTRO TO THE PRACTICE OF ORG DESIGN Pre-Conference Workshop – Student Rate $149 |
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Polarities as Engines: Designing Organizations That Evolve While They Perform
Barry Johnson – Polarity Partnerships
Organizations designed for continuous evolution must hold stability and adaptability simultaneously. This interactive keynote reframes polarities from problems to manage into the creative tension that fuels adaptation. Explore how your design preferences influence your work, and learn to map the tensions that define this transformative moment.
Democratizing Design Thinking: Scaling and Enabling Adaptability at Every Level
Jeanne Liedtka – University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business
Delivering on the strategic intent of organization design requires aligning all relevant organizational systems and attributes, including employee and managerial capabilities. This session will examine the skills employees and managers need to continuously adapt and explore the aspects of today’s organizations that get in the way, requiring us to think creatively about how to design to remove or minimize them.
Structures for Motion: Org Design for Continuous Change
Evan Leybourn – Business Agility Institute
Companies are not stable systems, but the demand for constant adaptation carries a real human cost. Drawing on research from 2500+ companies, Evan argues that modern organizational design must create dynamic structures and systems that actively carry this burden of continuous change.
Adaptive Systems Design: Strategies That Thrive On Change
Ken Thompson – AlignOrg
Discover how to design organizations that evolve in real time. Learn practical tools to foster agility, align strategy, and drive impactful change in your organization including a compelling case study of a global transformation.
ORGANIZATION DESIGN IN PRACTICE – Peer-led Concurrent Sessions
Reinventor Organization: What It Is, and What Organizations Need to Do to Become a Reinventor
Kent McMillan & Todd Christian – Accenture’s Operating Model and Organization Design Practice
In the face of ever accelerating disruption, the buzz around reimagining traditional organizational constructs and practices is louder than ever. Join a conversation around innovative, yet practical, operating model shifts and the Seven Features of the Reinventor Organization.
Designing Movements, Not Mandates: How to Get Beyond Compliance and Into Commitment
Amy Wilson – Culture Shift Studio
What if culture change felt less like a rollout and more like something people actually want to participate in? Design a minimum viable movement: a 30-day participatory experiment you can take back tomorrow, built for shared ownership, learning loops, and real traction.
From Startup to System: How a New State Program Built for Continuous Evolution
Rachael McCombs – CO Dept of Labor and Employment + Sara Watson – Accenture
How do you build systems capable of adapting as they operate? Discover how Accenture and Colorado’s FAMLI Division turned start-up chaos into continuous evolution, designing an adaptive operating model that kept strategy, structure, and culture in dynamic alignment.
Stop! Shift the Energy at Work: A New Lens for Organization Design
Donna Pearce, Julia Urbanchuk, Chris Young, & Awilda Borres
Explore a new, provocative, and unique ways to interact, through managing energy, reflection, insight, and learnings to activate creative solutions; to create an energy shift that inspires people to solve challenges. By tapping into the wisdom of human energy, our intention is to make the Shift the Energy at Work approach accessible and bring humanity back to organizations.
Your Organization on Display: A Museum-Inspired Method for Breaking Assumptions and Prototyping Change
Isabella Bruno – Lab for Radical Museum Futures
Museums have been continuously evolving while preserving what matters for centuries—your clients are trying to do the same thing. This hands-on workshop translates museum practice into organization design methodology, culminating in a collective “Museum of Obsolete Practices” that shows, not just tells, stories about organizational change
Living and Leading Through Uncertainty: The Inner Work of Thriving in a Complex World
Kevin Anderson – Dr. Organizational Design
How we can move beyond merely coping with life and organization design complexity to truly thriving within it? By tapping into our innate “complexity genius”—the natural capacity we all possess to navigate uncertainty with creativity, calm, and confidence. Through experiential learning and reflection, you’ll gain practical tools to transform anxiety into creativity, strengthen collaboration, and build the adaptive capacity needed to continuously evolve in today’s ever-changing world.
We are continuing to work on finalizing the details for additional sessions.
More to come soon!
Where are we meeting?
Join us at the historic
Omni William Penn Hotel
Conference Room rate $189/nt (+tax)
Register online (as available thru 3/26/26)
530 William Penn Place
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15219
412-281-7100
(approx 20 miles from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT))
– Public Transit via 28X Airport Flyer for $2.75 ea way, takes approx 50 minutes
Valet parking for $45 per night/vehicle
Self-parking available at nearby Mellon Square
Adjacent to the “T” or Pittsburgh Metro System
(links all points of downtown Pittsburgh and Station Square)
Pre-Conference Workshops
We devote the day before the conference to workshops that build knowledge, skills, and competence for practitioners at different stages in their career.
Introduction to the
Practice of Org Design
Monday, April 27, 2026 | 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
$349 ($149 Student)
Are you new to the field of organization design? Do you want to better understand and be conversant in foundational organization design models and processes? If so, this engaging, interactive program will build your awareness, understanding, and knowledge as an emerging practitioner of organization design. You will be introduced to a growing, inclusive, learning community and connect what you already know to the vital practice of organization design!
Facilitated by:
- Jodie Goulden, an ODF Board Member and Consultant/Founder, Orgdesign Works LLC
- Brandon Curry, ODF Community Engagement Volunteer and Managing Advisor/Founder, Work Arts LLC
Designing Your Own
Org Design Business
Monday, April 27, 2026 | 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
$449
Ready to Scale Your Organization Design Practice?
A Master Class for independent & boutique consultants who want to win better clients and more projects, all at higher fees
Are you an independent or boutique organization design or similar consultant looking to level up your practice? In today’s rapidly evolving market, where major firms are consolidating through acquisition, there’s never been a better time for us smaller consultancies to capture high-value opportunities — if you know how to position yourself effectively.
Facilitated by:
- Kate Dixon, ODF Advisory Board member and Principal/Founder of Dixon Consulting
- Julian Chender, ODF Advisory Board Liaison and Founder of 11A Collaborative
