Students Accompany Dr. Marshall Goldsmith to the Organizational Development Summit in Chicago
 San Diego - June 20, 2006--Graduate students Kopitzee Parra-Thornton and Ashley Allen, both from the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management in San Diego, just returned from the 8th Annual Best of Organizational Development Summit in Chicago, Illinois May 2006. The summit is an accelerated development program for Organizational Development (OD) professionals; it combines focused skill building certification workshops, the latest research, tools and models from OD experts, with practical applications, best-practice case studies and effective and meaningful networking opportunities.
|
| | Left to Right: Kopitzee Parra-Thornton, Cal Wick, founder of Forthill Company and one of the Goldsmith School's esteemed Thought Leaders, Ashley Allen and Dr. Marshall Goldsmith |  | | Left to Right: Ashley Allen; Beverly Kaye, who presented on employee engagement, and Kopitzee Parra-Thornton. "She was the most welcoming and pleasant lady!" says Kopitzee. | Among the best of those opportunities was time spent with Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. Students also were able to hear directly from some of the great minds in the field including Peter Block, David Ulrich, Peter Senge, Beverly Kaye. The School's own Marshall Goldsmith also presented a session at the Summit. Ms. Parra Thornton and Ms. Allen said, "The appeal in attending is obvious and the experience by no means fell short of our highest expectations. We attended in support of Marshall and were present to assist him throughout the conference." "While there, Dr. Goldsmith asked us, 'What have you learned?" "We learned several things," says Ms. Parra Thornton. "First we gained some practical tools we could apply today through first hand experience and observation. For example, we learned a great deal about the professional world of OD; where the rubber meets the road. We also learned about the incredible variety in which internal OD positions are designed and how the work we’ve been studying is actually done. In addition to learning, we were inspired. The keynote speakers were all engaging presenters with exciting presentations and ideas. We were introduced to some new concepts and our current approach to this work as well as our gut instincts were validated." Questions for Learning During the Summit, luminaries in the OD field asked the students to consider a few exciting questions and quotes: - “Who am I going to be when I do the work?” - Peter Block
- “Reflections arise from the quality of the conversation.” - Peter Senge
- “Turn what you know into what you do.” - David Ulrich
- “Ask employees what matters to them.” - Beverly Kaye
- “Is it worth it?” - Marshall Goldsmith
Kopitzee Parra-Thornton and Ashley Allen wrote a summary of the keynote and breakout sessions, which appears below. They write, "We invite you to contact us to talk in more detail about our experiences (Kopitzee@cox.net and ashleyallen33@yahoo.com). Peter Block The conference began with a brief introduction as to what’s hot in the OD world (e.g., succession planning, talent management, leadership development) and what’s of concern (e.g., security, the new worker mindset). Peter Block was a fully engaging speaker. He emphasized that change begins with a small group of people and his discussion centered on the work of leaders to create the conditions that foster accountability and commitment during change through consent and connectedness rather than through mandate and force. He spiced up his presentation with an unexpected musical talent, Barbara McAfee, who occasionally jumped into the presentation by saying, “Peter, I’d like to sing a song about that…” to musically emphasize important points.  Peter Senge Peter Senge discussed learning as a combination of aspiration (shared vision), reflective conversations (team learning), and understanding complexity (interdependence and systems thinking). He reviewed one of the nine systems archetypes which illustrated the difference between addressing problem symptoms with symptomatic solutions (the “band aid” approach) or fundamental solutions (getting at root causes). It was exciting to see how these ideas could be immediately applied to our current work and serve as a frame to explain issues with our current organizations. In the end, Dr. Senge reminded us that learning is an iterative process between thinking and doing. David Ulrich David Ulrich, another dynamic speaker, discussed an “actionable framework for change leadership.” He encouraged an integrated approach to change whereby strategy, OD, and human resources operate interdependently. This integrated approach to change involves two phases: Phase 1- Detection and Prevention and Phase 2- assimilation and identity. He shared a variety of tools designed to facilitate the process and optimize clarity at each step. We were inspired and eager to pick up his books. Beverly Kaye Beverly Kaye discussed the three critical stakeholders involved in employee engagement and retention. Each of the stakeholders plays a unique role in employee engagement: the organization provides the systems, the manager provides the support, and the employees provide the spark. She discussed how in the future an engaged workforce will become even more important than it is today due to changing demographics, skill shortages, and disgruntled employees. She proposed a five step process to building and sustaining a talent focused culture: - Diagnose,
- Design,
- Deliver,
- Sustain, and
- Track.
She also proposed the interesting idea of stay interviews for employees to ensure that the needs of talented staff are met so they stay within their current organizations. Marshall Goldsmith Marshall Goldsmith was the energetic and insightful speaker that we know him to be. He discussed his coaching model and challenged all of the attendees to begin with themselves when it comes to coaching. He emphasized the importance of accountability and follow-through when coaching. He also discussed the importance of gaining the support of those around the coaching client to ensure success because changing perceptions is much more difficult than changing behavior. Additionally, he introduced his concept of teambuilding without time wasting that is available on his website. Marshall also discussed the important factors to consider when Influencing Up including making peace with what you can’t change, focusing on making positive changes, and letting go of being right or winning. He highlighted an important question to ask yourself when dealing with people when you don’t have power, “Is it worth it?” What an experience to see him work his magic with a 200+ group! -Prepared by Kopitzee Parra-Thornton & Ashley Allen
|
