Subscribe to our email list
Each month, the Organizational Development Network shares with its members articles from a number of journals to support the advancement of our members' OD practice.
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
 
Chair
Matt Minahan, Ed.D.
Vice Chair
Sherry Duda
Treasurer
Magdy Mansour
Secretary
Yasmeen Burns
  
Jaya Bohlmann
Marco Cassone
Loretta Hobbs
Kris Lea
Martha Kesler
Norm Jones, Ph.D.
Zoe MacLeod
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
November 2015
BUILD YOUR TEAM
7 Strategies for Regaining Focus in a Hectic Workplace
Elizabeth Grace Saunders, Fast Company
We talk a lot about time management, but for all our efforts to set aside time to tackle important projects, we miss overlooking one key thing: being able to focus on actually completing them.
The reason concentration can be such a struggle even after you clear space in your schedule is that your brain gets accustomed to operating in a rapid-fire, reactive mode. Intentionally or otherwise, many of our workplaces and working habits encourage that high-octane cognitive state. And unless you deliberately shift mental gears beforehand, you'll be fighting against it the whole time you're trying to focus on that one big project. These seven strategies can help you slow your mind down in order to focus on important work.

Read More
New Managers: How to Create Your Department's Tactical Plan
Lisa Quast, Forbes
As a new department manager, now that you've completed the initial six critical steps and established your rhythm of business model, next up is creating your department's tactical plan. This is a document that lists all your department's key projects/initiatives that will support the company's achievement of its overall strategic plan.

Read More
The Best Leaders Are Constant Learners
Kenneth Mikkelsen and Harold Jarche, Harvard Business Review
Leaders must scan the world for signals of change, and be able to react instantaneously. We live in a world that increasingly requires what pyschologist Howard Gardner calls searchlight intelligence. That is, the ability to connect the dots between people and ideas, where others see no possible connection. An informed perspective is more important than ever in order to anticipate what comes next and succeed in emerging futures.
As the saying goes, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." But how can business leaders make meaning of a playing field that is constantly changing shape?

Read More
How to Navigate the Ups and Downs of Startup Life
Amanda Schneiders, Forbes
The loneliness, and somtimes isolation, of entrepreneurship is a subject that is tucked tightly under the rug. But why? What's wrong with a leader who knows when he or she is having a hard time or realizes they need help? Managing director of the Foundry Group and co-founder of Feld Technologies, Brad Feld, advises entrepreneurs to be up front about their challenges.
The reality is that starting a company is really hard work. It's stressful, and with that comes the emotional ups and downs of being an entrepreneur. But there are ways to navigate throught these struggles in a healthy way - for botht he entrepreneur and the business.

Read More
DIVERSITY AND CULTURE
OD is Diversity: Differences are at the Heart of the Field
Robert D. Greene and Heather Berthoud, OD Practitioner
The impact of historical national policies and the impact of internalized bias are receving increase coverage in everything from criminal justice to unemployment, housing, healthcare, and technology. It is vital to recognize these dynamics in our OD work also. In the past, most clients may have called for a brief diversity training or suggestions on how to build a culture of inclusion; now many are asking how they can build organizations that address unconscious bias and structural racism. These clients understand they are asking for longer term work that will examin deep-seated issues in their internal and external practices.

Read More
6 Communication Tips That Promote Workplace Diversity
Judith Humphrey, Fast Company
Professional women haven't been at a loss for advice in recent years. There are countless articles about the ways women can advance their careers, despite an array of institutional and cultural barriers, whether it's by better navigating the corporate "labyrinth," cracking the "confidence code," or "leaning in."
And while it's undoubtedly important to show women how to be better self-advocates, that's only half the solution. When women do assert themselves, many often feel that no one hears them or takes their input as seriously as they should.
Men in leadership roles have an important role to play in creating an inclusive envronment for their female colleagues. When male and female leaders can share the stage, their organizations and industies benefit. And it all starts with communication. Here are six steps all leaders can take towards this goal.

Read More
How Can You Ensure That Diversity Starts at the Top?
Erin Mac McKelvy, Entreprenuer
A Catalyst Research Center report on women in the Fortune 1000 issue earlier this year certainly caught many readers' attention: While women occupy over 51 percent of professional and management jobs in these companies, the report said, only 14 percent reach the chief experience officer (CXO) level, and only 17 percent serve on boards. And this is just in the Fortune 1000.
What do these numbers say about the diversity of perspective and experience that American busines leadership is providing? 

Read More
Why Having Diversity on Your Board Matters
H.O. Maycotte, Forbes
Choosing a board of directors may be one of the most important steps a startup's CEO will ever take. You may wake up at night wondering, "Will I end up being led astray and selling my $60 million company for $500,000 like Kevin Rose at Digg? Will the board turn on me and force me out of my own company like Rob Kalin at Etsy?" While both of these entrepreneurs still ended up extremely successful, it's hard not to become a bit nervous over curating the perfect group of board members.

Read More
TECH TIME OUT
The Triumphant Return of the Email Newsletter
Morra Aarons-Mele, Harvard Business Review
"No one cares about traffic anymore," says Stacey Ferguson, founder of the social media community and conference Blogalicious. "Everything is so divided up - you've got your blog, then Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest."
What matters instead is influence, and one way to build it is by guiding audiences through the chaos of so much content. Today there's no better way to do that - and demonstrate influence - than producing an email peopel will actually open.

Read More
How Indie Developers Can Survive in a Big-Budget World
Elad Natanson, Forbes
In 2015, the mobile economy is booming and app marketing is feeding the beast. With millions of apps now on offer on both Apple and Google platforms, it is harder and harder to build awareness for a new app. Large app developers, particularly mobile game companies, are spending enormous sums of money on marketing. Supercell, the developer of the popular Clash of the Clans and Boom Beach spent $440 million USD on marketing and advertising in 2015. King, maker of Candy Crush Saga, spent $455 million. How can small startups and indie developers with no marketing budget compete in this landscape? It may seem impossible, yet there are many apps that have grown tremendously while spending little to no money on advertising.

Read More
The Online Ad Scams Every Marketer Should Watch Out For
Benjamin Edelman, Harvard Business Review
Imagine you run a retail store and hire a leafleteer to distribute handbills to attract new customers. You might assess her effectiveness by counting the number of customers who arrived carrying her handbill and, perhaps, presenting it for a discount. But suppose you realized the leafleteer was standing just outside your store's front door, giving handbills to everyone on their way in. The measured "effectiveness" would be a ruse, merely counting customers who would have come in anyway. You'd be furious and would fire her in an instant. Fortunately, that wouldn't actually be needed: anticipating being found out, few leafleteers would attempt such a scheme.
In online advertising, a variety of equally brazen ruses drain advertisers' budgets - but usually it's more difficult for advertisers to notice them.

Read More
OD IN THE WORLD
These Are the Top 25 Jobs with the Best Work-Life Balance
Lydia Dishman, Fast Comany
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a challenge, even when you have a job you love and understanding boss.
According to its most recent survey of employee feedback from about 60,000 company reviews, Glassdoor found that work-life balance has actually been creeping downward in recent years, as employees reported an average work-life balance satisfaction rating of 3.5 in 2009, 3.4 in 2012, and holding at 3.2 since 2013, based on a five-point scale with 1.0 = very disatisfied, 3.0 = okay, and 5.0 = very satisfied.
U.S. workers trying to balance their personal and professional lives are torn most often between working those additional hours and handling more responsibilities, and getting enough sleep in addition to finding time for self-care and spending time with family and friends.

Read More
The Key to Oprah Winfrey's Success: Radical Focus
J.J. McCorvey, Fast Comany
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most powerful and influential people in the world, as well as one of the busiest. With a net worth of $3 billion, she is one of just two black billionaries in North America (the other is Michael Jordan). Her 25-year run as host and producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show - which, in a brilliant business move, she solely owns through her production company, Harpo Studios - changed the TV business and has left a void since its final episode in 2011.
As the chairman and CEO of OWN, she oversees an expanding channel that's now available in 82 million homes. Winfrey is also the founder, publisher, and monthly cover subject of O, The Oprah Magazine (which boasts a circulation of 2.5 million), as well as an Oscar-nominated actress (The Color Purple) and film producer (Selma). She is the creator of a hugely influential book club, has nearly 30 million Twitter followers, and in general holds such sway over public sentiment that her influence has a name: The Oprah Effect.
powered by emma