Bay Area Organization Development Network

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.

Best in the West Huge Success

The first day of the Best in the West conference was a tremendous success. The sessions and presentations were packed with eager-to-learn practitioners from the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, the nation, and Europe.

Today's keynote speaker was Mary O'Hara Devereaux who delivered her presentation, Economy in Upheaval--What's Next! and Strategies to Make the Crossing to the Future.

Click here to see a short clip of Mary sharing a few words of advice with the session's attending practitioners/consultants.

We'll be posting other videos May 2 from various conference sessions. Check back here to catch up with what's happening at the Best in the West 2009 Conference at the Clark Conference Center at UC Berkeley.

Walk-ins are welcome!

daperez

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.

Thank You, JFK University

The Bay Area Organization Development Network (BAodn) and this year's Best in the West planning committee would like to recognize JFK University for its support of this year's OD conference.

JFK offers several organization studies/business programs. Those interested in continuing their education should visit their site.

We look forward to seeing JFK staff, faculty, and students--as well as many other members of the Bay Area/Silicon Valley OD community--this Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, for Best in the West 2009 Conference at UC Berkeley.

Registration is still open.

daperez

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

Guest Blogger: Heather R. Ishikawa

Put the Power of Critical Thinking to Work

We all know very busy people who rush from one meeting to the next, BlackBerry buzzing away, producing an endless stream of emails. Yet too often they’re not working on the right things. They don’t ask the right questions. They don’t make good decisions. It’s not just the big decisions that require critical thinking. In every area of business: IT, operations, supply chain, product development, finance, marketing, sales or human resources, the biggest challenge at all levels is dealing with complexity. We are bombarded with flawed information that looks good on the surface. It’s easy to miss assumptions and draw the wrong conclusions. Figuring out what’s relevant and trustworthy can be a real challenge.

Come by Pearson’s booth on Friday May 1st to see its soon-to-be-released Watson-Glaser II Critical Thinking Assessment® and learn how critical thinking is a skill that can be developed.
For more about Pearson’s talent solutions, visit www.TalentLens.com.

Heather Ishikawa

Senior Business Development Manager
Talent Assessment
Pearson
Field Office
Danville, CA
P: 925-837-2264
C: 925-683-3705
Heather.Ishikawa@Pearson.com
www.talentlens.com

Guest Blogger: Jeremy S. Lurey

BOOM! The roof just fell in on your plans for 2009. Last summer when you were planning for the “return to growth” in 2009, you undoubtedly did not expect that before the year even started those plans would be obsolete or that they would be supplanted by what some are now calling the worst global economic crisis since the invention of the telephone 140 years ago.

And it’s not over! Millions of workers around the world and across all industry sectors are still losing their jobs, and organizations everywhere are hunkering down with traditional approaches for cost-cutting simply to keep their businesses afloat.

At Plus Delta Consulting, we have developed a more effective approach for dealing with today’s turbulent times. Strategic Organization Renewal^SM (SOR) enables business leaders to manage the complexity their businesses face to produce better business results TODAY. SOR unlocks value in your business by optimizing organizational performance and protecting customer loyalty. Through this process, business leaders align near-term business strategies necessitated by today’s unprecedented economic challenges with the desire – and the ability – to prosper in tomorrow’s inevitable recovery.

It's time to change the game and take the offensive, so click here to download a FREE copy of Strategic Organization Renewal^SM: Producing Better Business Results TODAY While Renewing Your Organization for Tomorrow.  Put this powerful approach into action today before it’s too late…

Jeremy S. Lurey, Ph.D.
Plus Delta Consulting, LLC
Improving performance through Positive Change®
p  310.589.4600 x4612 (*NOTE: New numbers)
f  310.589.4696
e  jslurey@plusdelta.net
www.plusdelta.net

Laura Mello on Golden Gate University

Guest blogger Laura Mello, an alumna of Golden Gate University, writes about her experiences at her alma mater.

As I began my graduate career at Golden Gate University, I had a different idea in mind about the degree that I would obtain.

My original goal was to become a counselor, working one on one with clients in a therapeutic setting.

It wasn't until I began my program that I realized the incredible potential that awaited me should I pursue a career in Organization Development.

The Industrial and Organizational Psychology program at GGU provided me the opportunity to learn by constant interaction with both my professors and colleagues.

It was this type of hands-on learning environment that provided me such a unique learning experience.

It was also due to the flexibility at GGU that I was able to pursue both of my passions and obtain a dual emphasis in Counseling and Organizational Psychology.

As a recent graduate, I look forward to establishing myself within the Organizational Development community and applying the valuable knowledge and skills gained from this program.

I will be forever grateful for both the personal and professional development that I will take with me from Golden Gate University.

Luara Mello

Thank You, Golden Gate University

The members of Bay Area Organization Development Network (BAodn) and the 2009 Best in the West planning committee would like to a moment to offer our thanks to Kit Yarrow and her colleagues at Golden Gate University for their support of this year's conference.

We encourage one and all to visit GGU's website to sample their outstanding master's and doctoral programs.

We also look forward to seeing GGU staff and faculty and many other members of the Bay Area/Silicon Valley organization development community this Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, for Best in the West at UC Berkeley.

Registration is still open.

daperez