ODF 2025 Encore Session – we’ll revisit the most powerful moments of The Evolution of Organization Design: Connected, Adaptive, and Human-Centered

In addition to the 2025 Conference webpage, you can enjoy the Graphic Storybook

As an attendee continue to use the Whova Mobile App or Desktop for more resources.

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Unlocking AI’s Potential: Strategies that Align People, Platforms, and Performance

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Accelerating Operating Model Activation

Luis isn’t pitching himself as the expert with all the answers; the aim was to trigger an engaging debate that challenges and advances our current thinking.

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Regenerative Business by Design:  Practitioner Tools & Tips

How can organization design practitioners help businesses move beyond ‘doing less harm’ towards creating net positive impact – in a way that generates business success?

Bernard Mohr and Jodie Goulden led this session, providing practical ways to apply organization design services to regenerative business including common challenges – such as unclear strategy, fragmented efforts, and misaligned incentives.  They shared tools and approaches that practitioners can use to drive meaningful change.

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Economics of Design

Marissa Karasz led a discussion to explore the intersection of economic strategy and organization design, focusing on the role of the operating model in driving financial sustainability and growth.

By incorporating principles of risk and resource management, we discussed how to create a framework for assessing both productivity and profitability trade-offs when evaluating proposed operating model changes. Rather than solely focusing on immediate cost-cutting measures, we will delve into the process (and challenges) of defining the long-term profitability outcomes of various design choices, such as integrating cross-functional teams or deciding between centralization and decentralization. Applying an economic lens empowers us to not only design, but engineer organizations to align structure with strategy while supporting financial sustainability.

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Establishing an Internal Org Design & Effectiveness Capability

Michele DiMartino and Dan Lamp will draw on their experiences working inside corporations and consulting to global Human Resource Functions to bring you time-tested and pragmatic approaches for developing a fit-for-purpose Organization Design & Effectiveness (OD/E) center of expertise (COE). They will explore common pitfalls when establishing this new capability inside a company and best practices for avoiding them – sharing OD/E COE design decision making frameworks, design examples, and templates throughout the webinar that you can then use to develop and successfully activate your own (or a client’s) internal OD/E practice.

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Stand Out to Win for ‘Indies’

We explored how to claim your niche in the crowded field of Org Design!  How to define your unique value proposition, position yourself as a specialized expert to your ideal clients and other practitioners, and avoid the common trap of trying to be everything to everyone.

ODF Advisory Board member, Kate Dixon, along with community members Rich Thayer and Julian Chender introduced the topic.

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A New Old Org Design Approach: Capabilities + Adaptive Leadership + AI

Jim Dowling has emerging HR Executives who have sponsored their teams to bring AI into the field of vision of their companies to three levels of leadership using “off the shelf” AI tools. In the session, Jim shared how he:

• connected the dots among human-centered organization design principles
• coached execs to make it possible to connect the dots among Purpose, Values, Vision, Mission, Goals, Policies…
• took internal leader’s use of some form of AI at least twice a week from less than 1% to more than 40%

Jim provided a tour of the origins of the concepts and principles these teams were experiementing with and implementing.

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What is the Role of Inspiration in Org Design? Introducing Either/Org Project

Have you ever wished you could inspire a team to think more creatively and embrace bold solutions to organization design challenges? Together with the Either/Org Project community, we’re offering a community conversation about how org design practitioners stay inspired and, in turn, inspire stakeholders.

Our guest, Stephanie Gioia, Director of the Either/Org Project, will share the story behind the Either/Org Inspiration Library including a demonstration of the Either/Org Inspiration Library, where you can access hundreds of ideas and examples for org design inspiration.

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‘Tech Talks’ for Org Design Practitioners (featuring Agentnoon)

In this Tech Talk, CEO and Co-Founder Ali Nawab will share real-world use cases showing how Agentnoon supports faster and better decisions across finance, HR, and leadership teams. Built to streamline decision cycles and connect data across teams, Agentnoon helps leaders to visualize organizational structures, create ‘what-if’ scenarios, and analyze financial impacts in real-time—driving smarter and data-driven outcomes.

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Driving Dynamic Org Design with Next-gen Workforce Planning Tools (featuring Nakisa)

In this Tech Talk, Philip Hofton and Sebastiaan Bos with Nakisa demonstrated how data-driven software integrates Org Design activities with Workforce Planning, including:

• Practical tools and techniques for seamlessly integrating OD and WFP in your organization
• Insights into measuring success in these pivotal processes, including key success indicators
• Innovative ways to leverage people data to enhance OD and WFP activities
• How to use business outcomes as the driver for these processes

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Realities & Remedies for Loss in Org Design Interventions

Organization Design is planned change that surfaces loss and feelings of loss at the organization, team, and individual level. In our session we will explore various types of loss, and the steps we might take as organization designers to address these losses.

Community members Mike McGovern, Molly Breazeale, and Jardena London have raised their hands to lead a deeper dive into the topic, which was the focus of a recent Coffee (to Cocktails) Club . . .

In both whole group conversation and smaller working breakouts, we will:

• identify various losses that might be experienced by stakeholders during an Org Design Intervention
• develop descriptions of those losses, how they come about, threats they might pose to achieving desired organizational outcomes
• develop how these losses might be remedied through the design itself and/or change management actions

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Staffing Your Project for Success as an ‘Indie’

Our hosts, Kate Dixon, Julian Chender, and Rich Thayer, share their experience, tips, and tricks on how to enter the process, what to cover in your conversations, and what to include in the final document.

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‘Tech Talks’ with Orgvue

Jill Dobbe, Orgvue’s Director, Account Management North America, shared insights for enhancing your organization’s design and delivery using cutting-edge tools and methodologies. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how Orgvue’s innovative technology can support your organization’s design and delivery.

ODF’s Tech Talks is a new series we are offering to introduce technology tools and concepts that enhance and streamline organization design and delivery. Our technology partners will use real world scenarios to demonstrate how to solve problems, improve the design team experience and project effectiveness.

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Organization Design with a Systems-thinking Lens

Community members Juselly French and Julia Urbanchuk shared the work and research they have gathered on this topic. . .

Exloring three key themes:

1. How we use diagnosis to do truly systemic organization design
2. Going beyond the formal organization and seeing the system in flow through the informal organization design – networks and system dynamics
3. Paying attention to the other system elements beyond structure when we do org design

This session offers case examples that elevate our practice as org design professionals to boldly support leaders to think systemically.  

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Contracting:  Processes & Docs for ‘Indies’

In this session we discussed contracting, both the process (a series of important conversations) and the result (a signed document).

Our hosts, Kate Dixon, Julian Chender, and Rich Thayer, share their experience, tips, and tricks on how to enter the process, what to cover in your conversations, and what to include in the final document.

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Unconscious Bias and Its Impact on Org Design

Community members Bonnie Toland and Arnold Levin with Gensler shared their exploration into how unconscious bias guides and impacts the decision process within organizational design, our relationship with work, and our organizational models, ultimately privileging and promoting our own worldview, values, and patterns of interaction.  They shared a framework of eight types of organizational and temporal unconscious biases.

We explored the American approach to work, heavily set within an American concept of productivity and efficiency, is America’s primary export. As multinational companies that set up offices globally, a single notion of work and work spaces homogenizes a vast tapestry of potential alternatives.

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The Influence of Diversity Architecture on Org Design

LaKisha C. Brooks, shares her expertise and insight on the strategic implementation of diversity within the OD process, including innovative approaches, best practices, and a course toward a future where diversity is not just celebrated but embedded into the very fabric of organizational culture.  Lakisha:

• defined diversity architecture and its significance in organizational design
• shared how to evaluated the impact of diversity architecture on organizational structures and processes
• shared how to develop strategies to integrate diversity architecture principles into organizational practices

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Can and Should Organization Designers Help Businesses Build a Better Society?

In addition to traditional concerns about cost, agility and quality, our clients [and us] are being challenged with their record on SDG’s, ESG, DEI+B in the world outside their organizations. While these challenges overlap significantly, the question they raise is how do we as design practitioners respond, if at all?

Guest presenter: Bernard Mohr
Moderator: Paul Tolchinsky

We explored:

1. What contributions to society do we want from our business enterprises
2. What role do we, as organization designers, want to play in helping our clients build a better society? What is our responsibility as a profession and as practitioners?
3. How, when and where can we, as designers, engage leaders in the conversation about the role of their businesses in creating a better society?
   
   • How do we help our clients integrate “profit” and “purpose”?
   • What capabilities will our client organizations need to succeed in this arena?
   • What will our “offer” to our clients look like? What skills, tools, capabilities, practices, etc., will we offer to our clients
     
     • What are we doing today? What could we do in the future?

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Business Structures & Financials for ‘Indies’

Ever wonder whether you should organize your independent consultancy as an LLC, sole proprietorship, S Corp, or C Corp? And how the heck should you set up your business finances?  Kate Dixon, ODF Advisory Board member, leads an exploration into considerations as you launch your consulting practice, or maybe more to think about if your practice has been successful and not sure you have all the boxes checked.

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Operating Models: The Frustrating Quest for Clarity

There are multiple definitions and interpretations of what is an operating model and what is included in it.  In this ODF Community Conversation led by Haris Ahmed, Pragmatium Consulting, we will attempt to share some market examples from a practitioner’s view and facilitate a conversation around a few key questions on the topic. We hope the collective wisdom will help provide learning and clarity for all.

Haris & Imran’s Presentation

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Getting Down to Business:  Top Tips

Have questions about how to set up your business, price your services, or take your practice to the next level?

ODF’s Advisory Board Member, Kate Dixon, with 12 years in private consulting & coaching practice, wrote the book on setting — and raising — your service pricing.

We started by asking participants what topic they’d like to tackle first (e.g. hourly rates, creating packages, writing proposals, or price increases/discounts) and then opened the floor for a few rounds of “ask me anything!” 

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Designing Adaptive Organizations: The Coming Paradigm Shift in Org Design

Engaging Community Conversation with Chuck Snow and Phanish Puranam on the use of AI in organization design. If you are curious about the role, efficacy, and application of AI in the field of organization design, join two experts in the field.

Dr. Charles Snow introduced the soon to be released , Designing Adaptive Organizations, a collaborative book, diving a deeper into “Organizing Intelligent Digital Actors”.

Dr. Phanish Puranam shared “Eunomicon” – a Large Language Model that has been trained to offer suggestions for organization design based on the microstructural approach developed by Phanish and his colleagues. Eunomicon can act as a design co-pilot- offering suggestions, explaining its reasons and also can critique your designs.

In this session we explored:

• The paradigm shift from orgs as nouns, to organizing as a verb
• How continuous self-organizing can become a reality with human actors and digital actors learning from each other
• How AI can support and augment design work
• The use of AI, applying the Eunomicon tool

Designing Adaptive Orgs Overview (Chuck Snow’s deck)

Good Outcomes? What Real Purposes Must Our Design Serve?

To continue an earlier conversation on the role of Strategy in Org Design, our community host, Bruce Mabee, wanted to pose the question . . . What good are we actually doing?

Let’s share examples of the kinds of performance, success, and results we each truly want to create in our work.

• Good? What outcomes have we seen? What are we really seeking? Who gains what? 

• Who Says? Should the client, the designers or others define the goals of the design?

• How? How can we embed outcome-setting and goals into our design process?

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What Are Good Outcomes? (Bruce’s deck including additional slides not shared in the discussion with additional context for consideration)

Democratizing Organization Design: A Conversation About Inclusive Engagement

Engaging Community Conversation with Donald Nagle and Mark Augusta who shared their approach to organization design for a global investment firm that differed from their typical process.

By using elements of Adaptive Leadership (Heifetz and Laurie), they began a series of extended listening sessions that engaged a cross-section of leaders at different levels which enriched their diagnostic assessment and empowered leaders along the way.  They shared lessons learned during their process and what’s next for their organization design journey.

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Democratizing OD (Mark & Donald’s deck)

Democratizing OD: A Conversation about Inclusive Engagement (chatbox content)

Does Strategy Still Have a Meaningful Role in Organization Design?

Most of us who’ve been in the field for more than a few years were trained to view strategy as central to the process of organization design. Just think about the models we use, e.g., the Star model or 7-S. Strategy, crafted on a 3 – 5 year horizon provided a relatively stable “north star” around which to conceive and design an organization. But in a world where volatility and unpredictability are the norm, 3 – 5 year strategies quickly lose relevance.

Our panel explored:

• Does strategy still have a meaningful role in organization design?
• If so, what is it?
• Does strategy itself need to be understood differently?

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2023 Festival of Organization Design Encore!

Let the festival continue!  The ODF conference is having an encore!

Whether you weren’t able to attend the ODF conference, or you loved it so much you want it again… come to the conference recap session.

This interactive session will spark sharing from:

• Conference attendees to share their favorite take aways
• Those who missed it to ask about sessions they are curious about

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Do Managers Matter Today?  A lively debate

This was a friendly debate co-hosted by ODF & European ODF.

Should we get rid of managers, or do they perform an important role in our organizations?

On social media, at conferences, and in books, managers are sometimes characterized as mere “costs” to be minimized or as hindrances for the autonomy and self-actualization of employees. 

(cf. Open Space Beta, Corporate Rebels, Humanocracy, etc.)

Recently, though, Klein & Foss argued in their book “Why Managers Matter” that such attempts are misguided.

Living in the polarity, Nicolay Worren and Paul  Tolchinsky each took one of the polarities and framed the arguments for and against the convention of managers.  

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Hidden Hazards: Organization Design’s Impact on Workplace Mental Health

ODF community volunteer, Allessandria Polizzi, PhD, SPHR, will review the global movement toward creating psychologically healthy workplaces and provide a deep dive into the unique role that organization design plays in this process. As a result, participants will be able to:

• Understand some of the recent progress in defining what is needed to create psychological safety
• Identify the specific areas of organizational design that impact mental health at work
• Determine next steps for their own organizations for addressing the hazards

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Designing a Purpose Driven Org focused on Equity, Climate Resiliency, and Public Health

ODF community volunteer, Julian Chender, shares an overview of a project where they, “designed a purpose-driven organization, and designed it around that purpose!”  

When Mark Levine won the Manhattan Borough Presidency in November 2021, Organization Design had one of its few opportunities to help develop a political office. Organization Design has a deep history in government agencies but is little used in political offices because structures, roles, and processes are deeply ingrained through legislation and chartering. However, Mark and his team wanted something different.

They had large goals centered around a strategy of equity, climate resiliency, and public health. And they needed to scale their previous office in the City Council to meet the needs of an entire borough.

Julian discussed the project, including the path taken and the unique challenges of designing a political office.

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It Just Ain’t What it Used to Be: The Impact of Remote and Hybrid Working on the Practice of Organization Consulting

Working remotely required us to alter how we consult. Becoming adept with the technology was one thing. But the bigger challenge may have been altering how we “use ourselves” as instruments in an all-remote consulting process.

When we are no longer physically present with each other, we miss data, subtle but important non-verbal cues like body posture, tonal inflections, how group members arrange themselves relative to each other and more. Lacking these inputs, our sensory, cognitive, and emotional processing –  what some call our use-of-self – was diminished. And yet, we carried on.

We explored this challenge and the changes consultants have made in how they “use themselves”; the adaptations, techniques, and tools members of our community have employed to continue their practices; how these adaptations might affect our practice and profession going forward.

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Putting Purpose into Practice:  The “Co-Creating Mutual Value” Strategy & Practice

ODF community members Bernard Mohr and Neil Samuels with the non-profit Co-Creating Mutual Value (CCMV) explore one strategy of putting the value of ‘Purpose’ into practice.

We had an interactive dialogue about how Bernard and Neil’s CCMV method focuses on:

• Businesses and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG’s) – The Problem and the Solution
• Research into the conditions that mobilize businesses around purpose focusing on the UN SDG’s
• Purpose and the Co-Creating Mutual Value Strategy and Practice

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Purpose & Org Design: Aligning Design with Your Organization’s Unique Purpose

By now we know that businesses that live up to a purpose beyond profit are outperforming those that are solely profit-driven. Living up to a purpose requires more than a purpose statement and good marketing, though.

ODF board member, Kiersten Rippeteau, unpacks the question, “How can organization design facilitate embedding an authentic purpose into the heart of the business?”

An interactive dialogue about:

• The trends, needs, and challenges you’re seeing in the business world around purpose, CSR, ESG, and positive impact
• Nine Purpose Archetypes that sit at the intersection of values and desired impact
• Using organization design choices to align a business to its purpose
• How current org design models support (or not) the move toward purpose- and impact-driven business

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Optimizing Human Potential for Organiational Growth

Senior leaders now fully recognize the essentials for sustainable organizational growth have dramatically changed over the past 24 months. Essential investments with a proven ROI in individuals to reach their full optimal performance (thriving life, resilient mind, engaging work) is the most pressing decision before them.

We held a lively “unplugged” dialogue with Dave Allman from Gallup Wellbeing at Work (W@W) and Sharon Butler from Magellan Health.

This is a follow up to of one of our 2022 Conference sessions, Wellbeing at Work:  Impact to Organization Performance.

Dave shares the latest point of view (POV) on best practices to enable leaders to rethink how they are approaching organizational design & development (OD&D).

Sharon highlighted how she is bringing these best practices to life as Magellan Health is going through active M&A.

Dave is an entrepreneurial executive who inspires optimal performance for organizations, leaders, and individuals through promoting wellbeing, tapping into individual’s strengths and the pursuit of finding purposeful work. With a 30+ year track record of empowering some of business’ most innovative minds, he maximizes the relationship between organizations and the people who build them.

Through an exclusive partnership with Gallup, Dave has spearheaded a joint mission partnering an individual’s growth with that of their organization. He launched Wellbeing at Work Live (www.wbatwork.com) to enable employers to align purpose, potential, and performance. Dave has been instrumental in Magellan Health’s reimagination of their EAP with the launch of their eMbrace platform. His education includes an EMBA from Emory University in 1990 with a thesis focused on organizational behavior and sales force effectiveness. Dave’s Top 5 Gallup Strengths are Maximizer, Learner, Futuristic, Strategic, and Achiever.

Org Design thru the Lens of Team Alignment

Research shows two things:

1. that people hear and see the same words yet interpret their meanings differently: hence, misalignment within groups is inevitable
2. that better alignment among team members, whether cognitively (how they understand the intent of the strategy) or behaviorally (how they interact to align), improves effectiveness

Lindsay Uittenbogard, explores the question, “What can the OD practitioner do to minimize misalignment / support better alignment among individuals and groups within the organization once the design is implemented?” 

• learn about the research behind team alignment
• learn about the 4 most common types of misalignment
• discuss the causes and symptoms of misalignment
• review data coming out of teams with an alignment diagnostic
• explore ways to design alignment into organizations

If you’d like to continue the conversation with Lindsay you can reach her at lindsay@mirrormirrorhub.com or Mirror Mirror

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Using Talent Assessments to Guide Placement of People

Placing the “right people in the right place at the right time” is a critical step in implementing your org design.  While as organization designers we may rely heavily on our HR business partners to drive the placement of people, we thought it would be helpful for you to understand a little bit more about the magic behind the curtain that helps leaders make better decisions in the placement of talent into critical roles. 

Join community member, Rebecca Feder, Founder of Princeton HR Insights, LLC, who will guide us through a learning experience on using talent assessments to guide your placement of people. 

• Rebecca walked us through an overview the different type of assessments available in the market, e.g. social style four box assessments (DISC, Myers Briggs, Insights, Predictive Index, Hogan, and Caliper)
• Facilitated our participation in a case study (in breakouts), using the Hogan Assessment, to bring key concepts to life and practical use.

If you’d like to continue the conversation with Rebecca you can reach her at rebecca@princetonhrinsight.com

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Low-tech Tools that Capture High-value Data

Community member, Dennis Hutchison with Chevron, shares processes and tools that can deliver valuable insights to an organization’s work alignment when time and budget are not your friend.

There are several powerful and insightful tools now available to you as an organization design practitioner if you have access to a budget and sufficient time to invest in acquiring and implementing them.  We will discuss how to use readily available tools like value chains, role maps and simple spreadsheets to capture and analyze organization data to reveal opportunities and make informed design decisions.

If you’d like to continue the conversation with Dennis you can reach out to him at dennishutchison@chevron.com

Demo/resources from Dennis:

• • Watch-point Analysis Using Excel Filters
  • Activity Analysis Using Excel Filters

ODF CC_Low-Tech Tools (.txt from chat)

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The Organizational Agility Community Continues… This month we’ll share tools! What kinds of tools? Anything from thinking tools/models to apps to frameworks!

We’ve asked for:

• a tool you love and can share in a 5 min timebox
• a tool you would like to know more about.
• A tool you are seeking

If you have something you would like to offer up as a tool or technique for the discussion, please our shared workspace to provide your thoughts.

Let’s swap and share across the community!

We used the collaborative workspace, Howspace, to engage behind the scenes.  Please visit https://odf-bai.in.howspace.com/welcome to see the chats and other shared resources.  You will have to enter your email and will then receive an email to access.

ODF_BAI – Tools & Techniques Zoom chat

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DE&I in Organizations – The Challenges of Designing Actionable Change

You’ll hear from Peter Lawrence of Ai Change Management, with the help of Abi and Jodie, outstanding interns from the University of Liverpool, about what they learned in a project with the City of Liverpool and how they are testing and applying what they discovered with several organisations.

We are delighted to invite you to a community conversation where you can share your ideas and experiences about this topic from an organisation design perspective. We’ll be exploring these challenges:

• How can organisations move from understanding that there is a problem, to making real change?
• How to accomplish deep structural inclusion?
• How are different perspectives incorporated at the very highest levels of influence?

The final 2 questions are inspired by Jessica Nordell’s “The End of Bias”.

As preparation for this event, review Abi and Jodie’s detailed report here. For a deeper dive, join Peter, Abi and Jodie in reading “The End of Bias” by Jessica Nordell, see the questions raised in Chapter 8.

DE&I – Challenges of Designing Actionable Change (.txt from chat)

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The Organizational Agility Community Continues…This month we’ll be comparing how we approach common business challenges through both an Organization Design and Business Agility lens.

Building on your real business challenges, we’ll discuss different approaches as a community.  How much do we have in common?  Come find out!

Topics covered in a virtual fishbowl include:

What is your starting point in approaching. . .

1. competing priorities across silos?
2. how can we scale and still remain nimble?
3. execution doesn’t meet strategy?

We used the collaborative workspace, Howspace, to engage behind the scenes.  Please visit https://odf-bai.in.howspace.com/welcome to see the chats and other shared resources.  You will have to enter your email and will then receive an email to access.

Download of Zoom chat content

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A Case Study: Organization Design
for Multi-Cultural Environments

Have you ever been involved in a global project that suddenly went awry, despite the skills and resources of the organizations involved? Come join us to explore how cultural values and related behaviors can impact the success of large-scale

This features the work of Patricia Meiring, an EODF member, who is researching the  dynamics of  power, risk, and communications in multi-cultural environments.

You will have the opportunity to work through a “messy” case study, and share  your ideas with members of our community while supporting Patricia’s ongoing research.

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WHY?

• Org Design is a key element for Business Agility.  
• Business Agility is a key element in Org Design.
• Both communities have skills and knowledge that can serve the other.

WHO? A community forming at the intersection of these two disciplines, sponsored by ODF and BAI.

WHAT?  A series of 1-hour sessions to launch the Org Design Agility community, with the goal of finding synergies.

We used the collaborative workspace, Howspace, to engage behind the scenes.  Please visit https://odf-bai.in.howspace.com/welcome to see the chats and other shared resources.  You will have to enter your email and will then receive an email to access.

WHY?

• Org Design is a key element for Business Agility.  
• Business Agility is a key element in Org Design.
• Both communities have skills and knowledge that can serve the other.

WHO? A community forming at the intersection of these two disciplines, sponsored by ODF and BAI.

WHAT?  A series of 1-hour sessions to launch the Org Design Agility community, with the goal of finding synergies.

Presenter Deck

We used the collaborative workspace, Howspace, to engage behind the scenes.  Please visit https://odf-bai.in.howspace.com/welcome to see the chats and other shared resources.  You will have to enter your email and will then receive an email to access.

Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare is committed to providing excellent care to children and families with complex medical needs. That is the core of Gillette’s mission. While essential to maintain the core of its compelling mission, Barbara knew it was also critical for Gillette to significantly strengthen its innovation capabilities to maintain their leading position while addressing performance shortfalls and gaps that would continue to burden and hold back Gillette over time.

It’s a rare opportunity to listen to and talk candidly with a CEO and EVP/General Counsel about their efforts to modernize an operating model. Joining Barbara and Paula will be Mark LaScola, Managing Principal of OTM and the lead Consultant for the Gillette project.

We used the collaborative platform, Howspace, for this conversation.  If you care to see the presenter deck and follow the various chats, you can sign up for access to our shared workspace

Organization design decisions are often made on the basis of scant data. As a result, the actual model that is selected and implemented does not always support the original intent. For example, it may lead to increased rather than decreased internal complexity.

This session looks at the challenges with traditional design practices and how to overcome them with a data-driven approach. The key element is the emergence of new analytical tools that will ease data collection as well as analysis of the data that are collected.

Reconfig is one such tool, and helps you document your current organization and align the formal structure with the work processes. Prof. Nicolay Worren, co-founder of Reconfig, will explain the underlying principles of the tool and demonstrate how it can be used for diagnosis and design.

The session will also address how internal and external consultants can gain acceptance among decision makers for data-driven organizational design method and integrate the use of data analytics in the various phases of the design process.

We used the collaborative platform, Howspace, for this conversation.  If you care to see the presenter deck and follow the various chats, you can sign up for access to our shared workspace

Amy Kates and her colleagues will highlight key concepts from the new book, Networked, Scaled, and Agile.

We’ll discuss the challenge of “can a company really be all three?”

Amy will share the insights that CEOs are responding to most in today’s environment. In addition, join us to hear what the KatesKesler team’s firsthand experience as they integrate their boutique advisory practice into a 500k employee firm with their acquisition by Accenture.

Chat Box Content (.txt file)

Has your work in Org Design been impacted by the recent trends toward Agile?

We’ve invited thought leaders from Business Agility community to join us to collaborate.  We’ll get the “lay of the land” on what Agility really means, and what it doesn’t.

And guess what?  They are eager to know more about Org Design, so we’ll get to share back.

• A brief look into the past, present, and future for each field of practice
• Panelists – “what I didn’t know …”
• Audience Q&A or Mythbusters
• Agile/Org Design journey together
• Feedback from community on what they need in this space
• How do we leverage the positives?

The session has been co-designed by Evan Leybourn, Co-Founder and CEO from Business Agility Institute with ODF Board Members, Jardena London & Jodie Goulden

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Chat Box Content (.txt file)

Does the Current Remote Work Environment Have a Shelf-life?

• How do we design organizational structures and practices to mitigate for the challenges of working in a remote or hybrid work environment?
• How do we leverage the positives?

When the pandemic hit, many of our organizations rushed to a work from home environment. We were amazed at the productivity employees had while managing kids, dogs and a lack of home office space. However, as many of us celebrate our first year anniversary working from home, what is the true cost to our organizations over the longer-term. Employee surveys indicate that while productivity may be high, employees are feeling fatigued and younger talent are concerned about their future development and career growth. With new variants emerging and vaccines rolling out slower than we had hoped, we do not know how long this pandemic will last. Some companies are saying that working remotely is the way of the future, others expect more of a hybrid model.

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Too Little, Too Late: Why Many Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Fall Short

Tom Falkowski, Managing Director at Kates Kesler/Accenture, shared the thought process after his blog post, Too Little, Too Late: Why many Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Fall Short, exploring how The Star Model provides a holistic view to look at the diversity opportunity and it starts with strategy.

Diversity in companies is an organization design issue and it needs to be addressed as such. The research is clear; diverse organizations and teams make better decisions and outperform those that are less diverse. Yet, why are Diversity and Inclusion programs and initiatives so ubiquitous?

• While many organizations are making strides in the right direction, too many fall short of their goals and aspirations.
• Perhaps the biggest obstacle is that too many people still think about the lack of diversity as a problem to be solved versus an opportunity to be seized.

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Human-Centered Org Design

Things to think about:

• How might a human-centered approach change the organization design approach or process?
• Would a human-centered design approach change the problem to solve or the job to be done?
• What would organizational change and transformation look like if human-centered design were applied?

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Shifting Value and Defining Outcomes in Managing Distant Work

Figuring out how to work going forward requires us to revisit what the value of work is and subsequently what we should measure. Traditionally the value of work has been based on productivity however this traditional measure is not directly connected to experience.

Another dimension is what has been called the ‘productivity paradox’, a number of studies have found that productivity has been dropping in spite of decades of technology investment. Efforts by leaders to focus on productivity by monitoring screen time and meeting attendance have backfired in many cases, causing lower satisfaction and higher stress, while still not improving results.

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Leading Virtual Teams – Staying Connected, Engaged and Productive in Complexity

A leader’s capacity to effectively connect and collaborate across time zones, business units, cultures, geography is becoming an essential skill. To successfully leverage technology and sustain this connection, leaders must link together critical success factors.

Listen to the Audio Only File (.m4a)

Insights from the community  (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Experimenting with Organization Design for Millennials

We engaged the Cultivate team from ON Semiconductor as they share some of their research and work on these topics. We will also hear from some of ODF’s organization designers as they share their thoughts on the implications to organization design and provide some thoughts on how you might design a more engaging organization for millennials and multi-generations.

Innovation & Organizations Pop-Up Conversation – Audio Only

Innovation & Organizations

On this pop up call a diverse group of practitioners specializing in innovation and organization design, development and change will (virtually) circle round for 45 minutes, beginning discussion with:

1. What is the most common mistake that you see in organizations around innovation?
2. What is a success story and to what do you attribute the success?

Innovation & Organizations Pop-Up Conversation – Audio Only

Feb 11th Pop-Up Conversation  (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Beyond “Strategic” Organization Design…Working at the Operating Model Level

During this community conversation, we discussed what is meant by “operating model” with practical examples and how is that the same or different than “strategic design. And of course, we’ll discuss and debate the results, impacts and consequences of working at the operating model level.

Listen to the Audio (.m4a) only

What is an Operating Model? (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

View Mark’s slide deck

Catalyzing More Powerful Meetings –A Focus on Design

OBJECTIVES: In this conversation we will:

• Share a simple framework for thinking about meetings holistically, with an emphasis on preparation and design.
• In virtual breakout groups, invite participants to share their own experiences – both the struggles and successes
• In the full group, share out common themes from those discussions
• Conclude with reflections on best opportunities to practice in our upcoming meetings

Download an Audio (.m4a) file 

View Wade’s slide deck

Organization Design Confessions of a Leader

Have you ever wondered what a c-suite leader really thinks of organization design? Have you struggled to influence a leaders’ thinking on organization design? Community members engage in a conversation with two business leaders who have agreed to share their wisdom and experience. Jeff Tritt and Terri Hill are anxious to hear what questions and challenges you have in engaging leaders in org design.

Our format will focus on your inquiries, so please come ready with questions and challenges you wish to discuss. This will be a great opportunity to get some coaching and ideas on how to talk organization design to a leader and build your ability to influence and coach leaders.

Download an Audio (.m4a) file

Questions and challenges engaging leaders in org design (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Technology in Service of People- The after-party “ah ha moments”

To continue our connections and thinking, please join us on Thursday, May 2nd at noon EDT for a Community Conversation where we will reflect on what was most valuable to us, what we will experiment with, and what is still resonating for us.  We’d also like to spend a few minutes getting feedback from you to make our 2020 conference in Nashville even better.

Download an Audio (.m4a) file

Emerging Organizations- Where Are the Lines?

Join ODF board member, Stuart Wigham PhD, in a conversation exploring his doctoral research around new and novel approaches to organization formation.

Stuart’s research focused on the case of a public sector organization creating a company to trade in the market place in order to raise revenue to support other public services.  In addition to the typical organization design conundrums this raises, it also raises the question of where are the lines (or not) between business and enterprise.

Download an Audio (.m4a) file

Is Honesty a Design Challenge?

Ron Carucci, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Navalent, and also a keynote speaker at ODF’s 2019 Annual Conference in a conversation exploring designing for integrity.

Ron has recently completed a 15-year longitudinal study revealing four systemic patterns that directly shape whether or not people will show up with integrity – fully themselves, with all of their best ideas, honest about what they see and think, and ready to contribute to the organization’s greater good.

In this session, Ron will preview the findings in advance of his keynote presentation at the conference in April on where and how honesty is, in fact, a design issue for organizations.

Download an Audio (.m4a) file

View Stuart’s slide deck

Can We as Org Designers Ever Reach Critical Mass In Our Work?

Are we feeling optimistic about the field of org design? (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Organization Redesign at Chevron Pipeline: Minding the Flow

An engaging conversation on a successful organization redesign at Chevron Pipeline Company (CPL). CPL used a phased, leader-led project approach to set direction, create design, and execute deployment over a 9-month period. Expect an energizing conversation sharing some of the contradictions and challenges, that led to overall successful outcomes.

Minding the Flow (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Kim’s Presentation Deck

Designing for Agility & Innovation

This Community Conversation will bridge the gap between our virtual sessions and our annual conference. Whether you attended the conference or not there will be something here for you.

Join us to discuss the themes of Agility and Innovation, which the conference centered around. We’ll share lessons learned during the diverse plenary presentations and peer workshops, and just as importantly . . . the cherry on top. . . all of the very engaging integration discussions sprinkled throughout.

Complexity of Consulting for Changing Organizations

Complexity of Consulting (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Exploring Organization Assessments

Jill’s presentation deck (.pdf)

Pathways to Digital Transformation

Join community member, Keith Warren, in a conversation about how Digital Transformation is driving enormous organization and culture change. An understanding of digital transformation will be essential knowledge for any organization design practitioner.

Keith’s presentation deck (.pdf)

Navigating Digital Transformation (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Working on Complex Collaborations

Complex Collaborations (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Anne’s presentation deck (.pdf)

Making Complexity Work in Organizations

Making Complexity Work (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Denise’s presentation deck (.pdf)

Engagement Dynamics

In this Community Conversation Janet du Preez, engagement researcher and protagonist, will facilitate an exploration of a complex topic which seems to pepper most org design conversations.

Engagement Dynamics (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

DE Framework – Janet’s slide deck

Socio-Technical Systems for Dynamic Organization Design

Join us as Dr. Marty Trevino, Technical Director of Mission Analytics for the U.S. Dept. of Defense, discusses how the fusion of business intelligence, decision science, and organization design & development is changing everything, and what an OD practitioner path to relevance in the new world may be.

STS for Dynamic Organization Design (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Achieving and Sustaining Design Outcomes

Join community member, Dan Ritter and his co-facilitator, Peter Ross, in an engaging dialogue on the considerations beyond establishment of an initial organization design to achieve and sustain desired results. Organization design work is not complete once an effective and efficient design has been established. Explore ways to be thoughtful about transitions, establish and track measures of success, and monitor future design needs.

Dan & Peter’s presentation deck (.pdf)

Achieving & Sustaining Design (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Accelerating Design Processes

Join ODF Board member, Bill Zybach, as he leads a discussion addressing the pace of change. . . The world is accelerating at a rapid pace, and our clients expect us to move beyond old linear approaches to design. What have you done to keep up with both the expectations and the pace of change?

Accelerating Design (.txt file from Chat Box dialogue)

Consulting in Adaptive Systems

Join community member, Mary Winby, in a conversation about how, as the environment becomes more complex, the concept and process for org design and consulting is changing. Explore ways consultants can be more adaptive to address client real-time needs.

Conversation Slide Deck (.pdf)

Power of Presence

Join community member, Anna McGrath and her co-facilitator, Julianna Christie, as they lead a conversation on the topic of personal mastery . . .