Organizational Development

OrganizationalDevelopment.com

Our Services

OrganizationalDevelopment.com provides organizational development assessment, training, and consulting services to public and private organizations in all industries. Areas of expertise include OD Consulting (diagnosis and analysis), Change Management, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture, and Performance Improvement.

We help you navigate the often-turbulent road to success. We do this by collaborating with you to bring out the best in your people and to align goals, people, technology, processes, and policies, so that everyone and everything are working in sync. As a result, you achieve your business goals faster.

How may we assist you?

Not sure which services you need? Start by exploring our Organizational Development Consulting services. Maybe you know which business results your organization wants to achieve, but you're unsure about the best way to help the people in your organization get there; especially where to focus first. Or maybe you would like another perspective on key issues.

What is Organizational Development (OD)?
Organizational Development Consulting
Some of Our OD Projects
Typical OD Project

Already know which service(s) you need? Start by exploring one or more of our other four areas of expertise: Change Management, Leadership & Executive Development, Corporate Culture, and Performance Improvement. The scenarios below provide insight into the services we can provide, though we offer much more. Click on a link below, or on one of the "signposts" on the roadmap to the left, to learn about that area.

Change Management Maybe your organization is restructuring or introducing new technology and you want guidance with the change management process. Or you need change leaders trained to carry out the change.

Leadership & Executive Development Perhaps your executive team needs leadership skills training, or a few executives could benefit from personalized coaching. Or you want to document and communicate leadership competencies.

Organizational Culture Maybe your organization needs to assess which aspects of its culture foster high performance and change and which aspects inhibit them. Or your culture must change in order for your organization to stay competitive, and you're wondering how to make that happen.

Performance Improvement Perhaps you have a specific goal in mind, and you want to clarify which behaviors are needed from people in order to achieve the goal, how they currently are performing, what causes them to perform or not perform, and solutions that will lead to the desired performance. Maybe you want all employees to improve a particular skill that is core to your business, like innovation. Or you have a team that needs to enhance its productivity.

Just need an Assessment tool or service? Explore our Assessments

Just need Training related services? Explore our Training services.

What is Organizational Development (OD)?

Simply put...

Organizational Development involves groups of people in an organization helping themselves and each other to do their best work, through planned change to their behavior and their environment. This leads to short and long-term results for the organization.

Historical definitions

The historical definition of Organizational Development (OD) is attributed to Richard Beckhard, an OD pioneer. He asserts that OD is an organization-wide effort that is managed from the top, which increases organization health and effectiveness through planned interventions in the organization's processes, using behavioral science knowledge (knowledge of human behavior--our actions and reactions).

Leadership expert Warren Bennis says that OD is a complex strategy that changes the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organizations, allowing them to better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges.

Our perspective

We at Organizational Development Partners agree with both definitions. We also assert that in all attempts to accomplish results in an organization, there is the process part of it, and there is the people part of it. The process part is easy; it's usually logical, thorough, and sensible. It's the people part that's more challenging. When a company pays attention to how people behave with processes, policies, and technology, and plans changes based on this knowledge, organizational development is much more likely to occur.

Organizational Development Consulting

Our Approach to Organizational Development (OD)

Organizational Development Partners involves all levels of employees in planning, developing, and implementing solutions to organizational issues; we use an action research, values-based model.

We use this model because we believe: 1) that successful organizational development and change happen when people are permitted to influence the systems that influence them, and 2) that people commit to what they create. All of our work is based on proven behavioral science theory (human behavior theory).

This is a flexible approach; we tailor it to your needs and your organizational culture. Please contact us to learn more.

Some of Our Organizational Development (OD) Projects

We have worked with a variety of clients; some representative projects include:

OD Consulting

Performed organization analysis for a company with problematic symptoms and undefined issues; the outcome allowed new management to identify issues and develop programs to help the organization be more effective and the employees to be more satisfied
Consulted on a county-wide endeavor that resulted in a planning group that shares health-related initiatives and assures that the county's health needs are well-covered

Performance Improvement

Developed and implemented a performance management process
Created multiple executive team development workshops that improved team interaction and effectiveness
Trained people to conduct group problem-solving more effectively
Trained people on the process for defining and implementing innovation

Change Management

Trained people on best practices for managing change

Organizational Culture

Assisted in the implementation of the people and culture portions of a large government agency contract; trained all managers in employee retention
Trained people to define and articulate company vision, mission, values, and strategic objectives

Leadership and Executive Development

Conducted one-on-one coaching sessions with senior leaders
Helped design and build a leadership development program

A Typical Organizational Development (OD) Project

The typical phases in an Organizational Development project include:

Contracting

We start by identifying your initial needs and how we can help. We ensure that you understand and are comfortable with the consulting process we will use.

Diagnosis/Analysis

We gather information about the situation and how it is viewed from the people who have a stake in the organization's success. This research can be problem-focused ("What's not working, and why?"), or it can be appreciative ("What is working and how can this be expanded to meet our goal?"). You might choose to use one of our assessments during this process.

Once analysis is complete, often the presenting problem evolves, as the differing perspectives clarify it or shift the focus. You end up understanding the true issues or opportunities and their root causes.

Planning and Design

Next, we help you plan and design solutions. These can include one or more of the following: Change Management, Leadership & Executive Development, Organizational Culture, Performance Improvement; and others.

The project team states the project's intended outcome, designs the process, designs the implementation and change management plans (communication, training, reward/recognition), and specifies the measurements that will demonstrate that the outcomes have been met.

Implementation

Once plans are in place, they are executed. Communications, training, recognition and reward practices, and measurement take place according to plan. As implementation moves forward, the team monitors its progress, and provides support as necessary.

Evaluation and Follow-up

After implementation has started, evaluation takes place per the plan. Interim results are assessed, lessons learned are communicated, and celebration ensues. Further down the road, a follow-up assessment occurs, to assure that the intended results are still occurring, and to see what else is needed.

Our Products

We offer a variety of ready-to-use and custom assessment and survey tools that let you diagnose problems, manage change, improve performance, and motivate your employees. The results reveal a rich assortment of qualitative and quantitative data that you can use to create actionable strategies to improve the effectiveness of your organization.

You will identify the intervention opportunities with the highest leverage and value, and gain an objective understanding of the primary structures and forces inside your organization, including:

People
Culture
Behaviors
Limits to performance
Learning patterns
Decision making processes
Focus of accountability
Clarity of roles
Creation of customer value