1. Organisational development conversations
Working towards shared a understanding

3. Collective leadership
Collective leadership means everyone taking
responsibility for the success of the organisation as a
whole – not just for their own jobs or area.

4. Aims of today Aims The Organisational Development Forum’s aims are:
To introduce and develop different ways of developing services through conversational and socially related approaches that supports change and development in practice in our workplaces
To develop a greater understanding of the underlying positive practice models and approaches to OD, improvement and development in service delivery and clinical practice

5. Motivational Video Clips
Margaret Heffernan
Professor Heather-Tierney Moore

6. History of OD
Evolved from theory into an interdisciplinary field drawn from psychology, business, social sciences, engineering and human resources.
More recently evolving areas of thinking about organisational development as relational grounded in conversation using positive psychology, conversational approaches and positive organisational behaviour
OD is rooted in humanist values and first associated with the social and behavioural work of Kurt Lewin and Tavistock in the 1950's onwards

7. Defining Organisational development
(Cheung – Judge & Holbeche, 2012);
A field of knowledge to guide the development of organisation effectiveness, especially during change'

8. Underpinning values Democracy and participation
Openness to life long learning and experimentation
Equity and fairness – the value of every individual in the process
Utilising valid information and data that shines a light on our understanding of what is happening
Curiosity and inquiry
Enduring respect for the human side of enterprise

9. So why OD?
Staff are increasingly expecting more than just fair wage for their work. They want recognition, a sense of achievement, fulfilling assignments and meaningful relationships with their managers and colleagues
Another reason why OD is increasingly valued is that work issues are now much more complex, making it highly unlikely that one single approach will work. Workplaces that engage employees and develop an positive enabling climate are crucial factors for a high-performing organisation.
This is however, easier said than done. An organisation is essentially a social system — not a machine. When a machine becomes out-dated, the approach is to locate the obsolete component(s) in the mechanical system, then replace them. Such a simplistic approach would not work in an organisation, because social systems are inherently complex, due to the numerous inter-personal relationships present within. In social systems, the relationship between cause and effect can often only be perceived in retrospect, but not in advance.1 As such, facilitating organisational change which requires employees to change the way they do their work or make decisions, is a challenging endeavour — one that is much more complex than simply changing an obsolete machine part.

10. Dialogic OD Asset based thinking Deficit based thinking
What's the problem
Why is this not working
What's the root cause
What went wrong
Asset based thinking
What's working well
What are the strengths in what we are doing?
What do we want more of
What can we improve on

11. Dialogic change
Dialogic change engages the diverse people of a system in focused yet open interactions to catalyse unexpected and lasting shifts in perspective and behaviour. The basic assumption is that change occurs through changing the conversations in the system (Holman, 2013)

12. Dialogic OD Linearity to complexity Organisational to system
'Machine metaphor' to 'living human systems'
Problems to strengths
Solutions to inquiry
Slow to rapid

13. Words create worlds – the language and metaphors we use don't just describe our reality, they also create it
Inquiry creates change - change begins when we inquire into something. There are no neutral questions. Inquiry and change are simultaneous events

14. Appreciative inquiry
“Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discover of what gives a system ‘life’ when it is most effective and capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential. It mobilizes inquiry through crafting an “unconditional positive question’ often involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people.”
Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D., “Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change.” In P. Holman & T. Devane (eds.), The Change Handbook, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., pages