The Picture is Crooked
We have just returned from three days in Chicago, attending the “Best of OD Summit”, a learning conference for organization development professionals. There were bout 700 attendees, both external consulting organizations and internal, corporate OD specialists. We were there as exhibitors, demonstrating GoalTrakEV as a tool for these people to use in their efforts to help their clients excel.
From our perspective as vendors the conference was a success. We had a good flow of people coming to our booth who were seriously interested in GoalTrakEV. Many asked us to follow up after the conference. As a learning venue, the attendees we spoke to said that they got what they came for; meeting with colleagues, learning new and enhanced methods of practicing their profession, and of course, eating, drinking and enjoying what the Windy City has to offer.
There was, however, a disturbing undercurrent. A high percentage, (about 50% by our unscientific count), of these OD professionals told us that even though they are asked by upper management to improve the overall human performance of their clients' organizations, both internal and external consultants said they were stonewalled in their efforts by these same people.
These professionals are educated and trained to facilitate the enhancement of organizational collaboration, communication, recruitment, management development, interdepartmental cooperation, strategy formulation, succession planning and a host of other critical disciplines. They are paid well to implement their skills with the potential outcome of improved overall organizational efficacy, reflected in higher profits and more satisfied customers for their clients. Why then, this top level resistance?
We don't have the answers. Our experience in our OD consulting practice has been similar, though our percentage of success is higher. For the most part, when we've been engaged for an extended period, say, 18 to 24 months, the organizational changes tend to remain intact. Perhaps our somewhat off-center approach of using goal setting as the catalyst for change is the reason we get these results. We'd like to think so.
In our view, goal setting is the most powerful tool for human achievement that is available to us as a species. Everything that we do as people is to either gain a benefit or avoid a loss. We are motivated by a potential satisfying outcome to perform the simplest activity such as brushing our teeth, to the difficult process of looking for a new job. Maybe these management folks have not clarified their goals. Without a system of goals, our only motivation is survival. They apparently are not willing to “pay the price” because they don't see the rewards. If that's the case, maintaining the status quo, staying in their comfort zone, will always prevail.
-RSL