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Our Approach

Give people a fish and they eat for a day; teach people to fish and they eat for life.
 
Track and field athletes passing relay baton. Studio shot over white.

Four Stage Model

4 StageModel_large

Five Factor Model

5 Factor culture diagram

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Leading people, managing change, and delivering results are the focus of the O.D. Systems approach.  We help our clients accomplish this focus by providing consultation, training, facilitation, and assessment services that are tailored to meet the specific needs of the client organization.  A tremendous benefit to working with O.D. Systems is the close and continuous relationship we develop with each client—a relationship built on trust.  All our programs are directed at the individual, work group, and organizational levels—whether configured vertically, horizontally, or through a matrix structure—so that the client’s needs can be addressed in a strategic, systematic, and systemic manner.  We are interested in helping the organization teach people how to fish.

A needs assessment is conducted at the beginning of each project, in order to identify the presenting issues, the scope of the project, and the expected outcomes.  In response to complex client needs, we often use multiple methods in our approach, such as appreciative inquiry (AI), facilitated dialogue, and group ware to promote interaction, discussion, and consensus building.  Training and facilitation projects are experiential in nature—more than 75% participant-based.

Training alone is rarely the “solution” to the challenges facing organizations today.  We have consistently found that complex organizational issues tend to be best addressed through a combination of consultation, assessment, training, and coaching.

O.D. Systems’ consultants are routinely available to provide individual and small group coaching and consultation.  In on-site training and facilitation projects, our associates are available for one hour after the scheduled training day for individual or group consultations.  This is offered as a benefit to organizations, at no additional cost, for participants who do not want to raise sensitive questions or issues during open discussion.

Our approach is based on an organization development (OD) framework using simple management models that provide a structure for analysis and development.  Two essential tools are our Four-Stage Analysis & Development Model and our Five Factor Organizational Analysis Model.

The Four Stage Analysis & Development Model, shown at left, is a two-dimensional approach to examining individual, work group, and organizational behavior patterns by focusing on four questions:

  • Stage 1:           Where are we (am I) now?
  • Stage 2:           Where do we (I) want/need to be?
  • Stage 3:           What is keeping us (me) from it?
  • Stage 4:           What are we (am I) going to do about it?

The Five Factor Organizational Analysis Model, shown at left, focuses on the organization’s mission, along with the structures, resources, power dynamics, and culture of the organization that drive, support, or impede mission accomplishment.