This post is inspired by two days at the University
of Minnesota – College of Continuing and Professional Studies, packed with curious people who brought a rich diversity of work and life experiences to our Organization
Development Course. Stephanie and I greatly enjoyed and appreciated working
with you all!
When it comes to Organization Development (OD) work,
there is so much to discuss. This post focuses solely on some of the psychology
behind OD work. Lets
start with things you don’t need in
OD work (or any other work):
1. You don’t need to own the client’s
problem.
2. You don’t always need to be the
smartest in the room.
3. You don’t always need to be right.
Equally
important of course is what you do
need in order to be effective in any kind of OD work, such as the ability to:
- Observe astutely
- Ask powerful questions
- Reflect regularly and thoroughly
- Listen just a little longer than you may want to
- Understand the influence of self (strength, weaknesses, experiences)
- Think and help think in alternatives and solicit and utilize multiple perspectives
These six
ingredients form the foundation of any success in OD work yet they are only the
beginning of course. There are a myriad of other OD competencies, to mention
just a few: knowledge of the business / industry / organization, research
methods, management / organization theory, teamwork / collaboration, dealing
with ambiguity, organization behavior, resource management, and project
management. Enough to work on I’d say.
Returning
to the psychology of OD work, I think there are six crucial C’s in any OD role
in addition to understanding the system and the technicalities of your field:
✓ Curiosity
✓ Candor
✓ Courage
✓ Creativity
✓ Confidence
✓ Communication
You want
to apply all of the above with the right intention, timing, strength and focus
in order to be effective. Ask yourself, which one of these comes natural to me
and which ones do not? Which C’s may I be overusing in challenging situations, since an over-used strength easily turns into a liability? And which
ones may I be neglecting or even shying away from and for what reasons?
Much of OD work is people-work so we discussed tempting, human pitfalls. They are nothing to be embarrassed or
afraid about, yet you want to recognize and handle these tendencies to move from awareness and acknowledgement to accountability
and action – my 4 A’s of professional effectiveness. Example tendencies are:
- Getting sucked into personal drama
- Communicating by verbal ping pong
- Focusing in who is wrong and who
is right
- Being oblivious to the box you are
in
- Complaining, blaming or wanting to
fix others
- Getting in your own/your
client’s way by not managing your hot buttons
There's much more to say about the psychology of OD work yet I’ll leave you with some of the many helpful questions to ask yourself and to
ask others:
What may
I/they be missing?
What may
I/they be misinterpreting?
What may
I/they be repeating from some other context?
What may
I/they be really needing right now or protecting?
What can
be truly different lenses to look at this situation?
What
may we confuse as a problem to be solved where it's a polarity to
be managed?
