~ Review by Pete Canny, LG member For our November event, our valued ODA members Carolina Bouten-Pinto and Syed Shah took us on a journey through their process and approach to OD at the City of Hobart, where they both work. We were introduced to their process of establishing the OD team, engaging the organisation during a CEO transition, and …
~ Review by Fiona Sewell, LG member The National Centre for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at The University of Sydney hosted this month’s ODA workshop led by Associate Professor Gabrielle Russell, focusing on cultural competence in leadership. The session emphasised critical self-reflection, relational accountability, and continuous learning to foster equity and social justice. Culture is not simply one’s ethnicity and race. …
For our September event, Leadership Group members Pete Canny and Yope Vagenas developed “Prismatic Reflection,” a reflective process for our OD community. This process was designed to guide consultants (internal or external) in examining their practice through three perspectives: their self-perception, their primary clients’ (those who hired them) perspective, and how secondary clients (those they work with) view them. …
~~ By Fiona Sewell, LG member We were delighted to welcome ‘the Marie Kondo of org design’, Beatrice Hofmeyr, to this month’s ODA meeting. Too often, restructuring efforts begin and end with an org chart. But as Beatrice reminded us, true organisational design goes beyond this. She shared compelling insights into why traditional restructuring efforts often fall short and …
Kaliopi and I were sitting at the Vietnamese café for the ODA drinks when Sarah Kirkby came over to say goodbye. She said, “This is my second ODA event. The first was online. I’m so happy I flew down from Sydney. Everyone is so welcoming.” That was the overwhelming feeling I had at the ODA conference too: Openness, conversation, …
~ By Yope Vagenas, LG member Ahead of new psychosocial regulations being introduced in Victoria and scheduled to take effect from 1 December 2025, it was very helpful to have Pete Jensen expertly guide us through a blueprint for moving beyond compliance and helping employers manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace. The new regulations include 17 psychosocial categories and Victorian …
Sharing stories is important in any community, be it a family, a collective or an organisation. It helps us to understand each other better, allows us to make sense of our experiences and to connect. When we share stories intentionally, we can create an environment for better work and a strong, united culture. Storytelling expert Shawn Callahan led us through …
~ By Alex Dugdale, ODA Leadership Group We all have needs in our working life. Sometimes these needs are small, trivial obstacles that niggle away in the background. Sometimes, they are big, firm barriers preventing us from growth. All too often, we push these needs down, soldier on, and operate in isolation- as if we need to have all the …
With Steve Hearsum To start the 2025 ODA program, we welcomed Steve Hearsum who led an insightful conversation around how we potentially collude with our clients as OD practitioners. It was a provocative exploration of our relationships with certainty, being experts and the expectations of clients. Steve challenged us to think about how we can be drawn into colluding with …
Conference – Beyond the surface – exploring the deep work of OD – 25 July 2025 Pre-conference event – 24 July 2025 In a world of constant change, the field of Organisation Development (OD) is more important than ever. At its core, OD focuses on people, culture, and systems in a multitude of ways, helping organisations not just be more …
