Organizational Development Network Conference Recap from MNODN Chair

Dear members -

I’m back from California and am already putting next year’s Organizational Development Network (ODN) Conference* on my calendar.

This year’s conference theme was innovation. With 4 tracks and 50 concurrent sessions, the good news was there was something for everyone. The bad news was how difficult it was to choose which sessions to attend.

There were three terrific keynotes:

• Robert Kegan’s overview on the DDO – Deliberately Developmental Organization

• Verna Myers on Inclusion and Diversity

• Susan Foley on Intrapreneurship

I was able to download the majority of handouts and materials before the conference and skimmed them in flight from MN to CA. While thorough, the handouts don’t do justice to the richness of content presented and the connections made. With plenty of time between sessions, attendees had the opportunity to continue conversations sparked by a session and network with peers. A mentor/mentee program initiated the first day gave us an opportunity to meet several current students or practitioners in transition throughout the conference. I made a lot of connections that I’m looking forward to maintaining for years.

Important connections for MNODN were made via the regional caucus meeting. ODN has built sharing tools open to local OD related organizations and support them with special pricing for Board chairs. The ODN will be maintaining a programming repository to share programming ideas, materials and speakers and Regional Leaders’ KnowledgeBase to share regional management practices. While ODN does not have “chapters” these tools enable the sharing of OD knowledge across the globe.  

I attended presentations on the topic of Collective Consciousness, person-to-person, Conflict management, Dialogics Leadership, Practice Transformation, Performance “planning” and client contracting. Along with great content and networking, there were new tools to see in practice.  While I was familiar with Prezi, I’ll be checking out Sketchbook and Polleverywhere. If you’re interested in any of these topics, I’d be happy to share what I learned.

Look forward to seeing you at future programs and learning, growing and developing with you!

Warm regards,

Julie Moore Rapacki
MNODN Board Chair

*50th anniversary of the Organizational Development Network Conference is the weekend of October 25, 2014 in Philadelphia, PA.  If you’re a long-term planner, the 2015 conference will be part of the World OD Summit in Portland, OR.