Page Title

Issue #5

Jun-Jul 2010

Editorial

What’s with Change Management?

Crucial Conversations

That Lead Change

AN ARTICLE ON CHANGE MANAGEMENT THROUGH

CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS WITH STAKEHOLDERS

“Dear ODyssey,

We have just received the findings from the Employee Engagement Survey administered in my organisation, and the results are not encouraging. Upon deeper analysis, the data collected suggest that employee engagement levels have been adversely affected by employees’ perception that the organisation’s Leadership is unable to provide a clear vision of the direction of the organisation.

What’s On

Programmes & Events

Research Papers, Reports & Cases

June 2010

· Enterprise Risk Management – Introductory Course

· “Creating a Positively Powerful Organisation”:
A Sharing on Appreciative Inquiry, the Singapore Prison Service Cluster B Experience

· OD Practitioners Foundation Programme

· Communities of Practice: A Primer

· Roundtable with Professor Adrian Furnham

· Facilitating Large Group Conversations that Create Change

July 2010

· Public Service Employee Engagement Survey
Forum 2010

· Dave Snowden’s Fellowship Visit

More details

Current efforts in research include the following:

Papers & Reports

· Diagnosing Organisational Gaps Position Paper

· Facilitating Organisational Change Position Paper

· Developing Organisational Culture Position Paper (completed!)

Case Studies

· Case on Culture Development

· Cases on Change Management

· Case on Balanced Scorecard (completed!)

More details

Highlights: Culture Development

Culture Development is an area which may appear to be intangible and hard to grasp. Not the case for the 20 OD practitioners who attended the inaugural run of the Culture Development Basics Programme on 13 and 14 May, and walked away with deeper insights on the relatively uncharted terrain of developing an organisational culture that supports personal and business excellence. Taught in a systematic manner through facilitated discussions, group activities and a case study, participants explored the What, Why and How of Culture Development.

In conjunction with Public Service Week, a workshop on “Organisational Culture – The Power of Behaviours” was also conducted for public officers on 20 May. The workshop featured an experiential activity, where participants got to experience firsthand the powerful influence of unspoken group norms on individual behaviours.

Here are what some of our participants said about the Culture Development Basics Programme in 3 words or less:

Highlights: OD Practitioners Community of Practice (CoP) 26 May 2010

The OD Practitioners CoP formed four discussion groups, with each group addressing one of the four topics listed below. These topics were surfaced and selected at the recent CoP session held on 26 May.

What’s OD

Do You Know?

Folded Corner: “As we move from exploring ‘Culture Development’ to the ‘Change Management’ theme in the second quarter of FY10, we have come to appreciate how these two areas of OD work are often interlinked. To systematically develop a desirable culture would require us to apply change management techniques as we seek to foster acceptance of new mindsets and behaviours. Conversely, in introducing change – be it technological or structural, failure to take into consideration the prevailing organisational culture would prevent us from making the change stick and sustainable. During the inaugural run of the Culture Development Basics Programme held in May 2010, one of the participants shared this very valid and important insight – culture change starts with the kind of conversations we have with the people around us who are involved in the change process. Without this simple but crucial dialogue, mindsets for change cannot be initiated and engaged. This issue’s feature article therefore explores how we as OD practitioners can prepare ourselves in holding crucial conversations with our stakeholders to jumpstart the change process. To better appreciate the importance of crucial conversations, we have lined up for you a workshop on facilitating large group conversations, as well as a sharing session by the Singapore Prison Service on their experience in using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to facilitate change. Shaping a desired organisation culture and managing change require skilled hands, plus a readiness to facilitate and engage everyone in conversations about the transformation we are effecting in our organisations. We too would like to continue our conversation on OD with you, and we hope to do so in the coming weeks through the various programmes, events and platforms we have planned for you and the rest of the OD community. I look forward to conversing with you. ~ Low Chee Seng Director, Centre for OD

Having conducted post-survey focus group discussions, we have diagnosed that the root issue behind this negative perception is the lack of Senior Management Team cohesion – which is demonstrated when some members of the Senior Management team would publicly express differing views on the direction of the organisation.

In order for employees to gain clarity and confidence in the Leadership’s direction for the organisation, we see the need to bring about a change in the way members of our Senior Management team behave as a team. We believe that a Senior Management team retreat would be a useful intervention to help achieve this. But first, we would need to convince my CEO that there is a need to change how the Senior Management team is working together. I’m concerned that raising this need for change might upset him. How should I communicate this issue with my CEO? How can I prepare for this conversation so that it will turn out well?

Sincerely,

OD Practitioner

Dear OD Practitioner,

Indeed one of the common challenges faced by OD practitioners is convincing key stakeholders such as our PS/CEO and members of the Senior Management Team, on the need for change. Often times…

To read the letter and full response, please click here.

Rounded Rectangle: “To be a recognised professional voice
for OD in the Public Service”

With the goal of positioning the OD Practitioner CoP as a recognised professional voice for OD in the Public Service, the OD Practitioner CoP is working to develop unique ‘created by the OD Practitioners CoP’ think pieces/mini kits for the OD community in FY2010.

This effort started with the formation of four CoP discussion groups to address four specific areas of work interest to OD practitioners. Each discussion group - led by a passionate practitioner from the OD Practitioner CoP, will organise their own meetings during the June-August period to discuss their topics. The outcome of these CoP group discussions will take the form of a slide deck, a script or a set of guiding principles, which will serve as the prototypes of the ‘created by the OD Practitioners CoP’ mini kits meant to address daily issues and challenges experienced by OD practitioners at work.

The discussion groups will share their work at the CoP session scheduled in August 2010. OD practitioners can contribute to enhance these ‘created by the OD Practitioners CoP’ mini kits, or volunteer to work on new ones thereafter.

Do any of the topics interest you? Want to be part of the CoP discussion groups? Drop us a note at cscollege_od_cop@cscollege.gov.sg, and we will provide you with further details.

WHAT IS CENTRE FOR OD?

The Centre for Organisation Development (Centre for OD) supports and assists public organisations in their pursuit of continuous improvement and sustained organisation performance.

Find out how we Engage, Educate & Equip

MYTH OR FACT?

“OD efforts to bring about change in the organisation are solely driven by the OD team.”

Click the balloon for the answer.

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An e-newsletter to accompany OD practitioners on their journey in Organisation Development.

ODyssey is brought to you by Centre for Organisation Development (Centre for OD), Civil Service College.