We are currently hard at work on creating a new blog for BAodn, which will be integrated with our website.
When the new blog is launched, you can find details about it at http://baodn.org.
best regards,
The Bay Area Organization Development Network
December 18, 2009
May 13, 2009
Guest Blogger: Tarra Christoff
In times of uncertainty, it's challenging to know how we can stay connected to our heart's deepest longings and make our contribution.
These days, my coaching clients are talking about fear of the unknown. For some, it's a career change. For others it's a fear of economic insecurity, or a sense that they are here to make a difference in the world, but haven't quite discovered how to harness their gifts and passions.
Five Ways to Creatively Navigate the Unknown
1. Dare to dance in your (dis)comfort zone. As we move outside our
comfort zone, we must learn to tolerate and even embrace the discomfort
that is essential to our growth. As organizations evolve to adapt to
our postmodern realities, it calls us to cultivate the capacities that
keep us in the creative chasm of the unknown.
2. Deepen the practices that center you. Take a few minutes to think
about the anchors in your life. Do you have a spiritual practice that
feeds you? A way of managing your energy? Whatever helps you find your
center in our ever-shifting world must be cultivated daily.
3. Acknowledge the present moment. One of my spiritual teachers,
Thich Nhat Hanh, said, "Present moment, wonderful moment." He suggests
finding a phrase that helps you breathe and come back to the present
moment. Our lives are restricted when our breathing is restricted. What
brings you into the present moment?
4. Engage your imagination. As Rilke said, "We must give birth to
our images for they are the future waiting to be born." I invite you to
carve out some time to imagine what is possible for your leadership
and the future of your organization.
5. Culture shift. We are all being called to create new cultures. Joanna
Macy speaks of "The Great Turning." We are in the midst of a major
paradigm shift and each one of us can make our creative contribution
towards birthing the world that we would like to live in. Think of
yourself as a "culture shifter" in each interaction. What is the
culture you would like to see for your organization a hundred years
from now?
Move though the fear, doubt, limiting beliefs (from ourselves and the world) and ways of being that keep you small. It's time to befriend the unknown and creatively dance in the mystery of what's possible for our lives in the chasm between where we are and where our soul is guiding us to go. This is true for our personal lives and the organizations we work in.
I warmly invite you to connect with me and creatively imagine your future in my upcoming free teleclass, Creatively Navigating the Unknown on Monday, May 25th at 6:30 PM. If you would like to join, please send a confirmation email to tarra@tarrachristoff.com. To join the call, simply dial 712-429-0690 and enter the code 832791. Check out my website at www.tarrachristoff.com.
May 02, 2009
April 29, 2009
E&J Gallo Sponsors Wine Reception
It's not as if there isn't reason enough already to register for BAodn's Best in the West 2009 Conference.
After all, we have an outstanding lineup of top-rank speakers and presenters and an extraordinary community of OD practitioners ready to engage in lively discussions of today's challenges and tomorrow's solutions.
However, in the unlikely event that there are some who haven't registered, the following thought should be considered:
E&J Gallo is sponsoring Best in the West's Wine Networking Reception. The winery will be serving a range of libations to help conference attendees unwind, renew relationships and establish new partnerships.
If you happen to be an individual (or know one) who, by some misfortune, hasn't heard about or had the time to register, do so now and mix with the best at the Best in the West networking reception.
The 2009 Best in the West Conference will be held May 1-2 at the Clark Kerr Conference Center at the University of California at Berkeley.
Spend an Evening with Dr. Otto Scharmer
Our world is changing. That's certain. But managing change is nothing new to OD practitioners. Many of us earn our living by helping others manage the change process.
Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is the founding chair of the Presencing Institute. Presencing is a combination of presence and sensing--the ability to sense and bring into the present one’s highest future potential as an individual or as a group.
Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, the founding chair of
the Presencing Institute, and a founding member of the MIT Green Hub. He and his colleagues use presencing to facilitate profound innovation and change processes within companies and across societal systems.
He has consulted global companies, international institutions and governments in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, and has co-designed and delivered award-winning business leadership programs for Daimler, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fujitsu and Google. He also facilitates cross-sector programs for leaders in business, government and civil society that focus on building people’s collective capacity to achieve profound innovation and change.
Scharmer holds a PhD in economics and management from Witten-Herdecke University in Germany. He introduced the theoretical framework and practice of presencing in his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (2007), and in Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005), co-authored with Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers.
Spend an evening with Dr. Scharmer and learn more about presencing Thursday, May 7, 2009, from 6pm to 9pm at the Jazz Heritage Center, 1320 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115.
Appetizers and wine will be served. Parking is available at the Jazz Heritage Center and a secondary garage across the street.
Online registration for BAodn members is $40 through May 6, then $45 at the door. Online guest registration is $45 through May 6, then $50 at the door.
daperez
USF Sponsors Best in the West
We'd like to thank the University of San Francisco for their sponsorship of Best in the West 2009, the Bay Area Organization Development Network's (BAodn) premier, annual organization development conference.
Putting a conference together in the midst of a global recession is difficult at best. But it would be virtually impossible to do without the generous support of organizations such as USF, and its wonderful staff and faculty including Richard Stackman, Frank Gigliotti, Richard Beer, Jennifer Palarmis and Lee Edwards--who doubles as a BAodn board member.
Thank you, one and all!
The University of San Francisco offers three programs in organization studies: the Bachelor's degree in Organizational Behavior and Leadership, the professional Master of Science in Organization Development (MSOD), and the Doctor of Education in Organization and Leadership (EdD).
The Best in the West conference will be held May 1-2, 2009 at the Clark Kerr Conference Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Registration is still open.
daperez
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