As the UK’s leading centre for Organisational Development (OD), Roffey Park continuously explores the boundaries of organisational life to help further knowledge, insight and capability in the field. The OD Laboratory is a powerful two-day programme that combines practical strategic frameworks with innovative, high-energy activities that get to the heart of why partnership is critical to organisational success and the essential role leaders play in making it happen. It provides a rare opportunity to work with one of the world’s most innovative thinkers on human systems and organisations – Barry Oshry.

Barry Oshry has been a pioneer in the field of human social systems, attempting to unlock the perplexity of power and powerlessness in organisational life. Within the OD Laboratory, he will present his renowned Organization Workshop.

Working intuitively and dynamically, Barry will help participants consider why partnership is critical to their own organisational success, what gets in the way of developing it, and the integral role they must play in making organisational partnerships happen. Taking roles as top executives, middle managers, workers and customers interacting in a fast-paced environment, participants will be enlightened by a high-energy approach that is grounded in pragmatic strategic frameworks.

The Organization Workshop will enable participants to:

• Gain a whole system view of the organisation
• Understand more and blame less
• Work more effectively with people at all levels and in all positions
• Experience less stress while making greater contributions
• Develop and lead energised, effective and powerful organisations
• Produce better results for themselves and their organisations

Barry’s unique workshop style helps participants make sense of what they’re learning and enables them to link it back to experiences within their own organisations.

There will be space for you to create your own dynamic within the space. This year we are seeking to provide a range of experience that is truly mind-expanding; and encounter your thinking about organisational life and its complexities at a different level of interaction.

Barry Oshry

Barry Oshry is co-founder and President of Power and Systems in the US. A leading figure in social system life, Barry has spent more than three decades researching social systems and developing organisational simulations to illustrate the critical role partnerships play in organisational success. Barry started his work at Boston University in the 1960s, where he developed large-scale organisational simulations for undergraduates in business. In 1970 he developed The Power Lab, and since the mid 1970s has developed and honed the Organization Workshop, providing ‘system sight’ to organisations around the world. A true pioneer in his field, Barry is a regular conference speaker, delivering vibrant presentations and workshops on partnership, total system empowerment and building community in the face of differences.

An acclaimed writer, Barry has authored several seminal books, including The Possibilities of Organization, In the Middle, Space Work, Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life and Leading Systems: Lesson from the Power Lab. The Roffey Park OD Laboratory gives OD professionals in the UK a unique opportunity to learn, first-hand, from an exceptional innovator.

Participant Benefits

The OD Laboratory has been designed to give you the maximum opportunity for learning through shared experience. You will:

• Hear the latest thinking in the world of OD illustrated with practical examples from the Roffey Park OD team
• Take part in the unique and powerful Organization Workshop with Barry Oshry
• Network and share issues and experiences with other OD professionals
• Take time out to refresh and stimulate your thinking and practice of OD.

The OD Laboratory Programme will include a variety of sessions from the Roffey Park OD team illustrating the latest thinking in OD. The whole group will participate in the innovative Organization Workshop with Barry Oshry and we will complete the two days with a session offering the opportunity to share your learning and review how this can be applied in your organisation.

These sessions are likely to include:

• Does the workplace have a role in providing people with well-being and happiness? Can ‘motherhood and applepie’ live comfortably alongside the drive for performance? Can organisations serve society in a way that meets a wider range of needs?
• Is politics in organisations a dynamic energy for good or ill? Can OD interventions move the political climate towards synergy and productive engagement?
• Do leaders embody the spirit of change they seek to encourage? Can we strengthen the behaviour of managers as true instruments of change by raising awareness of the impact of physicality?
• What do people really want? Will they pay the price for a more sustainable world? What can OD do to explore this agenda constructively without the organisation imploding?

Some of the Roffey Park OD Team

	Sylvia Baumgartner, Principal Consultant Sylvia has 15 years international experience of working in people and OD, leadership and management development, cultural change, facilitation, executive coaching, project management and competency based performance.
	Peter Hamill, Senior Consultant Peter is a consultant, facilitator and coach with an international background in leadership and organisational development. He is passionate about the development of individuals to fulfill both personal and organisational objectives.
	David Cleeton-Watkins, Senior Consultant David is a business psychologist and development specialist. His portfolio includes the design, implementation, and evaluation of assignments that include leadership development, assessment and development centres, change management, coaching and mentoring, career counselling, and personal profiling.
	Sue Belgrave, Senior Consultant Sue is an innovative personal and OD professional; her experience ranges from designing and facilitating large group interventions to coaching individuals. Her particular interest is working with organisations to implement sustainable business practices and using the arts to explore business issues sustainable business.
	Sharon Brockway, Principal Consultant Sharon is an experienced occupational psychologist who has a background in assessment and development, with specific interests in personality, coaching and leadership. Her background led to her interest in organisations and their effectiveness.
	James Traeger, Senior Consultant James has 18 years experience in human and organisational development and specialises in leadership with due attention and sensitivity to organisational and global diversity. He has won acclaim for his work on the Metropolitan Police’s ‘gender agenda’.

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