Oh we’ve got trouble! Right here in OD city! With a capital T, that rhymes with C, that stands for complexity! Oh we’ve got trouble! We’ve got terrible terrible trouble! We’ve got to find a way to make OD relevant despite VUCA! I’m talking about VUCA, don’t you understand? That’s Volatility , Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (Oh my!) Today’s problem’s are different don’t you know You can’t rely on the OD methods of the past There’s AI Generations X, Y and Z And above all else, complexity! Friend, either you’re closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge Or you ar ..read more

Coaching has become an enormous industry. Almost all coaching occurs in one on one conversations. Out hypothesis, based on more than a combined century of work, is that development of leadership skills and habits best occurs in the context of the leader’s systemic relationships. Coaching that only occurs separate from actual work relationships are more prone to people who need help the most gaming the development system. Our process includes coaching the participant while they interact with their direct reports, the application of learning by the participate to a real work case study, facilita ..read more

I wrote this in response to a post on LinkedIn about a 25 page report explaining how to retain young people. While times of course are changing I cant help but notice during my 64 years on this planet that adults throughout my lifetime have been lamenting the declining work ethic and morals of each next generation. This lament has been turned to a quasi-science in recent years, with experts studying and consulting on how to manage generation Z. The answer my friend is blowing in the leadership model of Kurt Lewin (and the wind). The leader must provide enough structure (“Here’s what we are try ..read more

12 podcasts casting, 11 fields unfreezing, 10 groups brainstorming, 9 Lewinians leaping, 8 groups a forming, 7 groups a storming, 6 groups a norming, 5 groups performing, 4 measurable goals, 3 OD professionals screwing in a lightbulb, 2 leaders self-differentiating, and an increase in morale and productivity! Happy Holidays! Podcast #12! https://ascienceofchange.libsyn.com/a-conversation-with-kurt-lewins-grandson-michael-papanek ..read more

My latest podcast! Everything you need to know about change! https://ascienceofchange.libsyn.com/lewin-in-a-nutshell-a-scientific-method-of-change ..read more

An excerpt from Spiritualty and Emotional Intelligence, 2021, by Gilmore Crosby …Defensiveness has been so demonized in the modern corporation that most people put a lot of effort into trying to pretend they are not feeling or being defensive, and “You’re being defensive” has become an easy way to attack someone else. Now they are trapped. If they deny or defend you have them right where you want them, like a bug squirming and thrashing as you pin them to your collection. This aspect of corporate culture may relieve some boredom, but it is obviously destructive. It’s far better to admit to one ..read more

As part of an upcoming podcast, I just revisited…and continue learning from…the quotes leading into my latest book, Diversity without Dogma: “The burden of being black and the burden of being white is so heavy that it is rare in our society to experience oneself as a human being. It may be, I don’t know, that to experience oneself as a human being is one with experiencing one’s fellows as human beings. It means that the individual must have a sense of kinship to life that transcends and goes beyond the immediate kinship of family or the organic kinship that binds him (or her) ethnically or ‘r ..read more

The post-pandemic world is awash with hybrid and remote work, and the use of virtual meetings. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but just as is true of in person interaction, quality is up to us. The following are tips on getting the most out of your on-line interactions (many of which apply in person as well). Don’t under-communicate. This is a plague in most organizations. The people that depend on you are the best source of feedback on whether they are getting the information they believe they need in order to get their jobs done. Feedback. Ask for it regularly about whether the ..read more

I’m not going to post all my podcasts here…follow them if you want to hear the latest…but this one is important! https://ascienceofchange.libsyn.com/life-during-wartime-a-conversation-with-ukrainian-social-scientist-kanykei-tursunbaeva ..read more

The following are responses to a valued colleague , Joseph George Anjilvelil, of the Tata Institute of Social Science. Joseph posted this query to our on-line OD group: Dear Members I write to check if you have any documents you use as a reference aid in the design of OD interventions. Is there a book / article / compendium that point ODers to such a resource, wherein intervention types are qualified? E.g. When to use a task or role design intervention, vis-a-vis an interpersonal intervention at the level of individuals? What factors may one qualify a client for affinity to Open Systems ..read more