Member Spotlight.

Q: What is your educational background? 

I have a Bilingual Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta and hold Certificates in Program Evaluation as Organizational Development & Adult Education. I am an IPMA-Advanced Certified Professional and certified in MBTI Step I and Step II & PROSCI. I completed other certificate programs in facilitation and DEI and just finished an amazing Penn State graduate course by Dr. Bill Brendel called Developing Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Organizations – I highly recommend it!

Q: How long have you been in the OD field?

Over 11 years, working in multiple facets of OD including organizational effectiveness, organization design, learning, performance management, and change & project management. I have also integrated an OD and change lens to various aspects of DEI work.

Q: How long have you been a member of MNODN?  

I am brand new!

Q: What special skills do you possess that make you an effective OD professional?

Effectively holding space for others as they are sharing the issues they are grappling with and being able to pinpoint root causes. As an OD professional, I see things very differently and this fresh perspective is my strength. It enables me to be innovative, creative and challenge status quo so we can do things differently.

I’ve been told that I am highly collaborative and have awesome facilitation skills. I am very good at org design and change management – I can come up with some cool possibilities and build a variety of supports to ensure a smooth change implementation.

Q: Have you been a board member or volunteer with MNODN? If so, please share your  experience/benefits.

I served on the board of a couple of professional associations, including the Toronto OD Network. I was the Communications Director and Board Member at Large for OD Partnerships. It was a wonderful opportunity meet people in the OD community and to give back.

Some of my proudest accomplishments include bringing new partnership opportunities and new members to the association, championing the partnership agreement with OD Network to expand offerings to members and the OD community, as well as co-creating the overall framework for our call for speakers initiative. I encourage you to volunteer with a professional association – it is a great way to meet people and a fantastic skill building opportunity that further enhances what you have to offer as an OD professional.

Q: What advice do you have for people entering the field?

Network, network, network and do informational interviews with various OD professionals so that you can identify the facet of OD you would like to work in. I strongly recommend getting certified in change management, facilitation and program evaluation – you will always rely on these regardless of the type of OD intervention that you are implementing.