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Item Details
| Title:
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LEARNING TO SWIM, LEARNING TO FLY?
A CAREER IN ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
| By: |
Valerie Garrow, Sharon Varney |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| List price:
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£35.00 |
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We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for
further information.
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| ISBN 10: |
1851844368 |
| ISBN 13: |
9781851844364 |
| Publisher: |
INSTITUTE FOR EMPLOYMENT STUDIES |
| Pub. date: |
8 April, 2011 |
| Series: |
IES Report 481 |
| Pages: |
65 |
| Synopsis: |
Organisational Development (OD) is currently much in demand in UK organisations across all sectors. Organisations continue to look for a broad range of skills from their OD practitioners, from organisation and process redesign, capability building, talent management and employee engagement to behavioural changes required for business transformation. There is, however, no recognised career path or standard qualification for practitioners. This report examines how people make their way in OD, what kinds of skills and experience they find most valuable and the routes they have taken to developing a top-level career. We ask whether OD professionals are born or made. The answer of course is a bit of both. A broad range of operational experience, a good grasp of theory and a well-stocked tool-kit are all important basics but there is something too about an OD mindset. Successful OD practitioners are curious about people, intuitive about intangibles, willing to take risks, tolerant of ambiguity, have strong values and particularly want to make a difference in an organisation. We asked practitioners what learning they would like to share with others wishing to develop a career in OD.Here is their advice on: get curious about OD and find out more: There is a wide variety of OD roles and contexts, and individuals work in different ways to influence an organisational system. Find out what people do, what tools they use and how they approach OD practice. Build another career first: OD is rarely a first career. Practitioners come from different educational and professional backgrounds, which all serve to enrich the discipline. Get some solid business experience: All the practitioners in this report agreed that you need to understand what makes an enterprise function. Helping organisations become more effective requires an appreciation of how the whole system works and having hands- on experience of functional roles such as finance, sales, marketing and general line management helps to build valuable insight. Believe in people: OD is rooted in the behavioural sciences and if you are not curious about what makes people tick both as individuals and within their peer groups, then OD is probably not for you. At the same time some of our practitioners demonstrate a real belief that given the right opportunities and support, individuals can do remarkable things.Get the right training and development: An important similarity in all our OD practitioners is a hunger for learning and the ability to integrate seamlessly theory and practice. Masters-level qualifications often prove a key career transition point while the acquisition of tools and techniques along the way allows them to build a flexible repertoire and deepen their facilitation and consultancy skills. Develop your self-awareness: OD practitioners stress the importance of understanding the impact they have on other people as well as managing the impact other people have on them. At the same time they draw on their own life and business experience to enrich their contribution. Hone your consultancy skills: Consulting is a core skill for OD practitioners, whether they practise it as an internal or an external consultant. Having experience of both perspectives will broaden your experience even if you decide that one is better than the other. Learn from others: Practitioners learn from working with and watching more experienced people. In the absence of a formal professional body, OD networks also provide a source of learning and support.Look for opportunities to work internationally: Cultural understanding features prominently in the development of our senior practitioners, developing their awareness of organisational culture and also how to work with diversity. Prepare for the future: OD practitioners need to flex with changing needs, business practices, technologies and so forth - and be willing to hold fast to their own moral compass. The new sciences have provided innovative metaphors and ways of thinking about organisations that can encourage creativity in organisation design and development. |
| Publication: |
UK |
| Imprint: |
Institute for Employment Studies |
| Returns: |
Returnable |
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