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Practicing OD — Applying Polarity Thinking to Complex Societal Issues
This article describes work I have been doing during the past year plus in Charleston, SC, the site of the horrific nine murders in Mother Emanuel AME Church. The work has been done with Police Chief Greg Mullen and colleagues Margaret Seidler and Chandra Irvin and the entire Charleston community. The purpose? To further improve …
How can we both plan for and live into the future? And what’s the future of O.D? Interview with Jake Jacobs
I recently was interviewed by Sally Fox from Engaging Presence In her words… How do we both plan ahead and live the future now? Robert “Jake Jacobs”, author of the book Real Time Strategic Change, internationally known for his work with both large scale group interventions and supporting individuals and systems to change, shares his …
Whole Systems Transformation Through a Polarity Lens: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Increased rates of change are driving the need to respond to ever-more complex problems. More and more situations are emerging where factions take different positions seemingly at odds with one another. Nowhere is this more present than in the work of Whole System Transformation. This chapter describes an approh that can enhance all transformation work. Regardless …
Lose Lose Leadership Dilemmas
You’ve got a tough choice. The performance feedback is in and the message is clear: you’ve been micromanaging your people. They complain about feeling suffocated by the systems and processes you’ve put in place to ensure consistent, quality work. It’s the one blemish on your otherwise positive annual review. You’re told it’s the only thing standing between you …
How RTSC Helped New York City Drop TB Incidence by 85%
In 1992 there was a potential worldwide epidemic of tuberculosis brewing in New York. Multiple drug resistant strains were beginning to show up – the kind that known medications could not treat effectively. TB is a disease of the poor and indigent. Patients regularly moved between the Public Hospitals, Shelter System, and Prisons. The Department of Health was …
Creating Dynamic, Energy-Producing Meetings
Richard H. Axelrod, Emily M. Axelrod, Julie Beedon and Robert W. Jacobs Leader to Leader, volume 17, no. 2, June 2006 We have a love-hate relationship with meetings. Sometimes we leave them energized, brimming with ideas, and eager to move forward. Too often though, we leave drained, numb, and wondering what we were doing there in …
How Do I Keep People Involved
Richard H. Axelrod, Emily M. Axelrod, Julie Beedon and Robert W. Jacobs, Our Children, Burrelles-Luce, September 2006 Sometimes it’s easy to get people to volunteer to help, but often much harder to keep them involved till the work is done. Here are five ways to make sure that doesn’t happen to you: Keep reminding people …
Positively M.A.D.: Making a Difference in Your Organizations, Communities, and the World
(edited by Bill Treasurer) with Robert W. Jacobs and 30 other contributing authors Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. (www.bkconnection.com) Paperback original— 188 pages (2005/ ISBN-10: 1576753123) M.A.D. stands for Making A Difference. Positively M.A.D. is about how to do it. This book shows that getting M.A.D. doesn’t mean getting angry, or getting even — it means using …
Beat the Odds and Succeed in Organizational Change
Richard H. Axelrod, Emily M. Axelrod, Julie Beedon and Robert W. Jacobs Seventy percent of organizational change efforts fail or fall short of achieving their intended objectives. This figure is even more astounding when you take account of a recent Oxford University study on change, which found that over 68% of employees welcomed meaningful involvement in change. Clearly, we …
