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11 Steps to Selecting an Executive or Life Coach

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conversation

Credit: malouette via Flickr

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, there are several signs that the recession is starting to lift .  Although this is fantastic news, it may leave you wondering your role in this new economy.  Are you going to stay at your current job?  Do you have the skills that employers will find valuable?  Do you want to use the better economy to start something new?  Or if you are in an executive position – do you have the skills to lead your organization in the new marketplace?  Maybe now is the time to think about hiring an executive or life coach.  This individual can help give your skills a tune-up and ensure you are ready for what’s next.  So how do you go about selecting such a person?  How do you know they will be a good fit?  Here are some steps to get you started! Read more ›

Posted in business, Collaboration, OD Insights Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Does Light Boost Workplace Productivity? Green Offices Increase Business Success

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

example of workplace lighting

We’ve all heard of the “Hawthorne Effect”, right? Studies done between 1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (a Western Electric facility located outside of Chicago) attempted to study the effects of lowering or raising the levels of light in the building on employee productivity. As students of OD, we learned that workers responded with higher productivity levels NOT because of higher or lower levels of light, but primarily because they were being shown some interest by management. In fact, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles, and even relocating workstations resulted in increased productivity for short periods of time.

A quick Google search on the impact of environment on productivity brought up several studies on the impact of such things as temperature, visual comfort and view, and office layouts. Once such article cited two cases of note: Read more ›

Posted in Accelerated workplace, business, OD Insights, Workplace Culture, Workplace Policies Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Reasons Why the Recession Is Really Over!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

recession goodbye!

When the recession set in late last year, I said to myself, “Oh, we’ll be fine. We have several major client engagements under way, and our clients aren’t pulling the plug on us yet.” Then in January, we signed a contract for another significant organizational change management effort, so I asked myself, “What’s everyone else doing wrong? We’re fine!” That’s when our largest clients reduced our level of support and in some cases didn’t even renew our contracts demonstrating to me exactly what this recession was all about. And that’s when I realized just why this was being called the worst global economic crisis since the invention of the telephone almost 140 years ago.

So what does this mean as we quickly approach year-end? NOTHING! It just means I spent a lot of time (and still do) listening to CNBC business updates and that we learned to run our business more efficiently this year getting more done with less. Those can always be beneficial exercises though. What would hurt us would be continuing to believe that we are stuck in a recession and can’t do anything about it. Well guess what… THE RECESSION IS OVER!

After conducting some informal market research the past few months, we developed the following Top 10 List of reasons why the recession is really over: Read more ›

Posted in Accelerated workplace, business, topical Tagged with: , , , , ,

Meet our office pets!

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We practice what we preach here at Plus Delta Consulting and work hard to create a fun place to work. One of the things we promote is a pet friendly atmosphere. Yes, we bring our dogs with us to work (almost) every day. There are a few exceptions when there are clients or other VIP guests coming into the office, but generally the pets get to come to work. Who are these furry friends? Read below to meet our office pets and see the cutest 25-second video clip! Read more ›

Posted in Work/Life Balance, Workplace Culture Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Future: Unconference! Interview with Juliette Powell from OD Network Conference ’09 – Part II

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As promised in part I of my Interview with Juliette Powell, in the video below Juliette discusses the future of conferences. If there was any misconception about the nature of the “unconference” versus the “conference” arising from her keynote address, or about the future of how people will interact in such settings, this video will bring clarity to that and might inspire you to go to an unconference in your city this year. I also asked Juliette to discuss more about the Leadership Engine and how that was created. We are looking forward to our next collaboration with Juliette!

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Posted in Collaboration, Groups/Teams, Social Media Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

What Makes Ordinary Groups Extraordinary? An Interview with Geoffrey Bellman and Kathleen Ryan, authors of Extraordinary Groups

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I recently had the honor and privilege of sitting down with Geoff Bellman and Kathleen Ryan, co-authors of the new book Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results. What a treat!  Geoff has been a personal idol of mine ever since I started my doctoral program more than 15 years ago, and Kathleen may now be my newest favorite OD consultant. Whether I’ve known them long or short, both are tremendously caring and generous souls who are ever-so-graciously giving back to the field of OD these days just as they have given to their local Seattle community for many, many years.

Geoff, Jeremy, and Kathleen

So why do you, our blog readers, care about Geoff and Kathleen? Because they are two leading team performance experts who just published an eye-opening book… Read more ›

Posted in Accelerated workplace, Collaboration, Groups/Teams, OD Insights Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tweeting the Organization Development Network Conference: Collaboration, Transparency, & Engagement

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In a time of decreasing attention spans partially due to the flood of information many of us experience, it has become an important skill to encapsulate the main point of a complex idea in as few words as possible — especially if one is “tweeting” on Twitter.com, limited to 140 characters or less per tweet. Laura Horwitz not only excels in this regard, but has written an insightful guest post drawing connections between new technology and its implications for conference interaction and the foundations of OD. After reading her post, please share your reactions (in our comments section).

Edie Seashore and Laura Horwitz

Edie Seashore (left) and Laura Horwitz (right)

As organizational psychologists, we look at human interactions as comprised of content and process. The OD Network conference was certainly chock full of great content, sessions that re-explored foundational theories, highlighted innovations, and introduced new applications at the boundaries of the field. And, with 800 participants, including many of organizational development’s leading theorists and practitioners, the conference offered a rare chance to connect with others who share my interests and values. Yet, as I reflect on my time in Seattle, what stands out about my first OD Network conference is not so much what I learned or who I met, but how I engaged with the content and process… through Twitter.

Read more ›

Posted in Collaboration, Events, OD Insights, Social Media Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Juliette Powell Interview on Social Media in Organization Development: Part 1

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[youtube]idEZ9lO6owI[/youtube]

I recently conducted a two-part interview with Juliette Powell (author of 33 Million People in the Room) at the OD Network Conference in Seattle, just after she delivered the final keynote speech, titled “The Technology of Relationships: Social Networking and the Future of Human Communities.” This first interview gives you a behind-the-scenes look into Juliette’s take on the field of OD after delivering the keynote and meeting with OD practitioners for several days. You’ll especially want to watch if you were at the keynote or you plan to watch it on YouTube when it gets posted by the OD Network. I highly recommend you watch that keynote address when posted; her points are crucial for OD practitioners to remain relevant in the shifting organizational and media landscape.

You won’t want to miss our upcoming blog post featuring the second interview. There she clears up the misconception from the keynote address around her provocative comment regarding the demise of traditional conferences. She also further elaborates on her upcoming Leadership Engine project – an exciting new development for OD.

Here is a quick glimpse of that comment regarding the future of conferences during the keynote address

Read more ›

Posted in Collaboration, OD Insights, OD Network, Social Media Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Relive the 2009 OD Network Conference with Plus Delta’s pictures from Seattle

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Click here to view more conference photos courtesy of OD Network staff photographer Robin Reid

Posted in Events, OD Network Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Community – Online and Offline: A guest post from OD Network Conference 2009

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We have a strong commitment to provide the Organization Development community with a series of conversations highlighting the use of social and collaborative media within organizations. We believe that these technologies can be an empowering and enabling force for human potential. We have asked Jackie Alcalde Marr to write a guest post from the OD Network Conference 2009. Her new book, along with authors Arthur Jue and Mary Ellen Kassotakis highlight the use of new communication technologies in the workplace. After reading her post, please share (in our comments section) your experiences with these technologies in the workplace, or what you wish you could do for organizations with them.

cover of Social Media at Work

This week at the OD Network Conference, organization development consultants – -seasoned and newly inspired – gathered to hear one of our favorite thought leaders, Peter Block. Block spoke of the “collective possibility” to “create a future distinct from the past.” This conference, like so many others, lives off of this premise – that people come together to share experience, debate new ideas, learn from each other in order to move their cause, profession or passions forward.

Read more ›

Posted in Collaboration, OD Insights, Social Media Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

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