Organization Development Network Conference: #ODN17 Reflections
“The Call of our Time… OD Innovating for Impact”
“The Call of our Time… OD Innovating for Impact” is a great title for the Organization Development Network conference theme this year. I think that it called to people on different levels. To me measuring impact of OD interventions is of paramount importance. I saw innovative sessions, met some fantastic people, and felt inspired by the conference.
I started out the conference this year with a half day pre-conference workshop on Saturday. That may well be a blog to itself down the road maybe. There was a separate one on Social Network Analysis which I unfortunately did not sign up for.
Sunday I went to 3/4 of the Organization Development Education Association (ODEA) meeting which was really interesting. The reason I missed 1/4 of the meeting was to have lunch with Natalie Carlson, (the Chair of he Minnesota OD Network). Luckily here is a nice write up from Dr. Deborah A. O’Neil.
Although there were several key areas discussed in the meeting, one of the primary focus was on bridging the gap between scholars and practitioners. I am glad to see continued action plans are in development.
The opening keynote on teams in high performance organizations was pretty good. I liked hat the consultant had their client with them which made it have much more impact. I really wish we had more of that kind of collaboration at conferences. I know It can be difficult to get all the needed authorizations and logistical concerns. But it is such a great way of sharing information.
I planned on going to a session on how ADD made the presenter (Jim Maddox, PhD) a better consultant. He had some medical problems and could not make it to the conference. This was very disappointing for me and I did not stay for the other two speakers in that session. My plan B was to attend a session on using AI for better goal setting. This meant though that I missed out on seeing this TED Talk-style Presentation by Irv Rubin, PhD:
The annual membership meeting was kind of standard stuff. Although it is sad to see the ODN has low membership rates. The organization seems to deliver on a good value proposition, maybe we should see what we can do to help them out.
Another Key note — this one was on the World Café. STEPHanie Brown captured via her amazing visual facilitation:
I went to a great session on measuring outcomes, or more specifically on using 360s. “Workplace Performance Analytics — Next Generation Performance Improvement Technology” by Timothy R. Brock, and Enderson P.C. Miranda. I was so glad to find other evidence-based practitioners at the conference!
I was fortunate to get to share a meal with Tim later. Although I missed his other session (ISPI), based on the one I saw I am sure it was very good. Enderson and I have connected on social media and I look forward to learning more going forward. I would also encourage him to submit his proposals to SIOP in 2018 for the 2019 conference in Maryland.
I went to a short lunch where John Vogelsang provided information on how to get published in the OD Practitioner. It was very informative as he discussed how they can help coach good ideas out of an initial submission that needs help. Each table had a knowledgeable person from the journal. I asked if we could submit a revised version of a piece initially written as a blog post too . . .
The awards ceremony was pretty cool as Steve Cady won for helping spread knowledge, David Cooperrider and Peter Sorenson won for lifetime achievement. Both had awesome speeches. Steven Cady provided a very touching acceptance speech.
There were other awards, but one not to be missed was Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, winning the Emerging Organization Development Practitioner Award! Very cool, and definitely a practitioner to keep our eyes on:
I did miss a few sessions due to talking to other attendees as well as taking care of some pressing email. That was unfortunate but a bit par for the course. There were many new attendees at the conference this year. That bodes well for the field. One of my new friends (Amy Nachman) even brought two direct reports with her from Omaha, so that was an extra bonus!
The last day I was more relaxed as my own session was over! I did a session on Evidence Based Practice for OD which (I think) was well received. Happy to cite sources from Science For Work & Center for Evidence-Based Management along the way with a super short case study and brief practice with the ASK Manager app. Whew, I was happy to present and relieved.
I went to a really good session on a leadership competency model that is being developed for the VA. It was a session which spent a little too long explaining what the VA is before they got into the main substance of their session. .
The final keynote was awesome. “The 21st Century Growth Culture: If Not This, What?” by Andy Fleming, (CEO and Founder of Way to Grow, Inc.) was based on his work with Kegan and Lahey on deliberately developmental organizations (DDO). This session was likely the high point of the conference.
All in all, I am glad I went. Being a speaker of course added extra pressure but it was all good. I will definitely try to go next year again. And maybe propose something again too…..
In the meantime, if you want more details on some of these sessions, other sessions, student presentations, and more then join us on December 7th! The local Minnesota Organization Development Network (MNODN) is hosting the “Showcase of National OD Conference”
There is no way for a handful of people to cover all the sessions at a conference like this. But, we can share an overview, and deep dive on a few. Plus, there may be prizes! Also, to read a few quick reflections from others who were at the event, please see this link from ODN. Finally, you can see more tweets collected in this moment:
P.S I also got to try out the beta version of the practitioner self assessment. I hope it continues to evolve and become a useful tool for OD practitioners.
