What is an Organizational Development Consultant? (part 2)

So now that I've over viewed three major stages of any organizational development, a question may be "so knowing that, what does an Organizational Development Consultant do?"  

In short, OD Consultants facilitate that process from Entrepreneurial, to Systematic, to Networked. Not every organization needs the same thing, and interventions have to be tailored to the stage they're at.   

Whole Organization Analysis.  Before taking any action, I have to learn at which stage the organization is currently functioning. This entails gathering information regarding four major questions: 

1.  SYSTEMS: How does this system operate?  How do the resources and energy flow into and out of the system? An entrepreneurial organization system operates based on individuals figuring out what needs to happen when it needs to happen, usually based on their past experience. A Systematic organizational system has clearly defined top-down processes and procedures to dictate how things should be done to accomplish defined objectives. A networked organizational system enacts a decentralized learning framework and entrusts individuals to determine the best behaviors based on clearly defined parameters and guidelines.    
2.  CULTURE: How do individuals and groups interact within this system?  Entrepreneurial Organizational cultures operate using "tribal" communication where few people do many tasks and have and answer to a "chief-like" figure whose personality drives motivation of the others. A systematic organizational culture de-personalized so that roles and responsibilities are spelled out within a hierarchy, and where power is held by those with the largest set of responsibilities (at the top). A networked organizational culture de-emphasizes conventional hierarchies and relies instead on sophisticated norms of peer-to-peer communication to foster successful team performance. 
3.  INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT: What do individuals need, value, and perceive?  Individuals also develop in a similar fashion as organizations. Their consciousness drives behavior: Are they Experts* that want to specialize in a specific technical role? Achievers who seek to meet and surpass measurable targets of success and utilize a wider scope of talents and knowledge to do so? Or are they individualists who don't define their success according to conventional indicators, but usually seek "human" indicators that they value, like community, or fulfillment, or personal development. Individuals at different stages of development will resonate with different interventions. *these stages come from Bill Torbert 
4. INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. What are the behaviors that people do everyday?

What are people's routines like? What do individuals do under stress? How do they complete tasks they've set out to do? What do they do during downtime? Do they show up on time? These questions directly impact external performance indicators (e.g. sales or productivity) and provide insight into the needs, values, and perceptions of individuals.   

An OD consultant gathers this information to determine how he can support the strengths of a given stage of development, and promote a transformation to the next higher stage.    

Case Study: Fostering a Networked International Non-profit 

A non-profit humanitarian aid organization's volunteer program saw high turnover and a struggling donation sorting program: 6 volunteer coordinators in 2 years. As an organization at an Entrepreneurial stage, it was able to figure out how to recover a half-million pounds of medical donations from the waste stream and send them to needy recipients in Haiti, Guatemala, and Tanzania.  

When I came into the organization, the sorting system relied on hand-written labels and the experience of long-time volunteers who passionately sacrificed extra time just to dig through find the right supplies for recipients – it worked, but was unsustainable. What was needed were the processes and procedures to make the sorting system coherent and efficient. I created 1400 supply locations with labels, a written and video training program, and clearly marked signage as well as a system for determining what to scrap and what to keep. I consolidated power in the Volunteer Manager, not so the position could dominate others but so it could take ownership of the entire system, focusing on the big decisions while enabling front-line volunteers to focus on the most all-scale, manageable decisions. These interventions are all hallmarks of a systematic organization. 

Over the course of three years, the program stabilized, the system became efficient and organized so that the organization and the program could grow to take in more supplies, more volunteers, and more international aid requests with less waste and less fatigue.   

As time went on, however, the limitations of the systematic organization became known. Since donations,  volunteers, and recipient needs are unpredictable by their nature, a larger, more efficient Systematic organization could not adapt quickly enough to meet the ever-changing environment. So I began implementing characteristics of a Networked organization: created a collaborative, digital database accessible to all staff and volunteers, established norms of communication and teamwork among staff to make sorting more agile, and empowered interns and experienced volunteers to lead groups. In this Networked environment, I could relinquish power, articulate the guidelines of sorting to team leaders, and facilitate a dynamic system. Such a networked organization was able to recruit and manage 3000 volunteers, 6 interns, 2 large-scale volunteer events and thriving educational and corporate outreach.  

I was able to implement this OD process first by spending enough time up front in the whole system analysis overviewed above. The information informed my strategy and provided a path to navigate and make day-to-day decisions to catalyze the transformations.  

How do you see your organization's current stage? What is moving it forward? What is thwarting progress?