#📓 #📄 #🟡 # Dialogic OD: A Theory of Practice ![[calendar-plus.svg]] <small>Aug 29, 2021</small> | ![[calendar-clock.svg]] <small>Jan 03, 2023</small> 🏷️ [[MOCs/Interests/Change|Change]], [[Organization Development MOC|OD]] **Author:** [[Gervase R. Bushe]] **Citation:** Bushe, G. R. (2013). Dialogic OD: A theory of practice. *OD Practitioner, 45* (1), 11-17. --- # Summary ## Key Takeaways # Notes & Important Ideas - OD practice is divided into [[Diagnostic OD]] and [[Dialogic OD]]. ([note on p.11](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=1)) - Practitioners who only specialize in one or a few dialogic techniques are less able to impact the overall design and execution of an organization's change strategy. Consultants with an understanding of the overarching theory of Dialogic OD are positioned better to influence leaders and clients. ([note on p.11](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=1)) - *[[Sometimes it's better to be a generalist than a specialist.]]* - Understanding the underlying theory makes it easer to learn why certain dialogic interventions succeed or fail. ([note on p.11](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=1)) - *Important to understand context so you can better understand and address a specific situation.* - Communities and teams are different. - Communities = group of people that does not exist to accomplish specific, interdependent tasks. - Teams = have interdependent tasks and win or lose together. ([note on p.11](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=1)) - *Bushe notes that we call units and departments teams, but they aren't necessarily by this definition. An individual patient's care team is a true team, but what about a nursing unit?* - A [[generative image]] (language, stories, narratives) can alter thinking in a profound way. ([note on p.12](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=2)) ![[theoryofchange.jpg]] - Transformation is different from incremental change. Does not simply improve on what the system is already doing, but instead changes the nature of the system to be better at what it aspires to. ([note on p.12](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=2)) - Complex situations require new ideas that community members will be excited by and act on. ([note on p.14](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=4)) - Dialogic OD requires solid sponsorship from leaders with authority to support the changes that emerge. Sponsors needs to be closely connected with the front line but not controlling. They must rely on change agents to keep them informed. Change agents are more than just project managers. They have different relationship with sponsors and leaders.Sponsor doesn't tell change agent what to do, it's the other way around. Sponsors must take advice of change agents. ([note on p.14](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=4)) - Dialogic OD change process has to ensure that: 1. Targets, as well as all other sponsors and stakeholders, are engaged in discussing what changes will occur. 2. Members self identify the changes they want to take responsibility for. They must have personal ownership. ([note on p.14](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=4)) - Dialogic OD asks questions and engages diverse members in inquiry, not to find "the truth," but to fully engage members in uncovering generative images and stimulating new ideas. ([note on p.15](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=5)) - Dialogic OD process has to eventually shift from stimulating ideas to launching action. ([note on p.16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) - Significant transformational change happens when individuals and groups start acting differently on their own. ([note on p.16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) - Sponsors and change agents need to pay attention to what is working and make changes to the systems and processes that will fully support those changes so they'll be sustainable. ([note on p.16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) #### Dialogic OD Consulting Process - Sponsors and change agents identify the problem and reframe it in a positive and future focused way. Determine how the community will engage in conversations around the reframe and how the organization will respond to changes that emerge. - Community members are engaged in events that build enhanced relationships and use generative images to elicit new ideas. Seeing new options for change, members make personal, voluntary commitments to new behaviors and projects. - After the event(s) new thinking and conversations lead people to make new choices in their day to day. As members develop different attitudes and assumptions, the culture starts to change. ([note on p.12](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=2)) #### Dialogic OD Techniques OD Technique | Source ------------ | -------------- Art of Convening | Neal & Neal Art of Hosting | artofhosting.org [[Appreciative Inquiry]] | Cooperrider Complex Responsive Processes | Stacey, Shaw Conference Model | Axelrod Coordinated Management of Meaning | Pearce & Cronen Cycle of resolution | Levine Dynamic Facilitation | Rough Engaging Emergence | Holman [[Future Search]] | Weisbord Narrative Mediation | Winslade & Monk [[Open Space Technology]] | Owen Organizational Learning Conversations | Bushe Reflexive Inquiry | Oliver Real Time Strategic Change | Jacobs Re-Description | Storch Search Conference | Emery Solution Focused Dialogue | Jackson & McKergow Structure of Belonging | Block Syntegration | Beer Systemic Sustainability | Amadeo & Cox Talking Stick | pre-industrial Technology of Participation | Spencer The Circle Way | Baldwin Visual Explorer | Palus & Horth Work Out | Ashkenas [[World Café]] | Brown & Isaacs #### Key Conditions for Successful Dialogic OD - A sponsor with the authority to commandeer necessary resources and support emergent change. - An effective sponsor-change agent working relationship. - Reframed problem/challenge into possibility centric, future focused issue that is personally meaningful to community members. - Identification of the appropriate community for addressing the issue and a way to get them to come to the event(s). - Convening events that build the relationships among community members so that readiness to engage in the change issue is heightened. - Convening events that create and/ or utilize generative images to provoke new thinking and catalyze self-generated change proposals from the community. - Slack resources are available to support emergent changes. - Processes for sponsors to "track and fan" emergent changes" ([Bushe 2013:16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) > "A body of knowledge only develops by being able to see unexpected things show up against a background of expectations." ([Bushe 2013:11](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=1)) > "change occurs when the day to day thinking of community members has altered their day to day decisions and actions, which leads to a change in the culture of the community that entrenches those new ways of thinking." ([Bushe 2013:12](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=2)) > "It is to unearth, catalyze, and support the multitude of motivations and ideas that already exist in the community, in the service of transforming the community in the desired direction" ([Bushe 2013:14](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=4)) > "possibility centric framings of issues are more likely to engage community members and lead to more generative outcomes," ([Bushe 2013:15](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=5)) > "framing of the issue has to be open enough to allow unexpected, surprising ideas to surface." ([Bushe 2013:15](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=5)) > "Transformational change needs good ideas coupled with energy." ([Bushe 2013:16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) > "The energy for acting on generative ideas comes from: 1) the amount of inspiration people feel; 2) the quality of relationships in the community; and 3) clarity about what to do next" ([Bushe 2013:16](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/EQWAUVHD?page=6)) ## Connections to Other Materials - *Should we treat groups like communities or work to make them teams?* - *[[Focus on Transformation Instead of Incremental Improvements | How can we change culture to focus on transformation more than incremental improvements?]]* --- # Personal Reflections & Application - *Should we treat groups like communities or work to make them teams?* - *[[Focus on Transformation Instead of Incremental Improvements | How can we change culture to focus on transformation more than incremental improvements?]]* # Other References TBR:: 🔖 Bushe, G. R. (2010). Being the container in Dialogic OD. *Practising Social Change, 1*(2), 10-15. (Z) TBR:: 🔖 Bushe, G. R. (2004). Managers want tribes not teams: An invitation to rethink teambuilding. *OD Practitioner, 36*(1), 9-12. (Z) TBR:: 🔖Bushe, G.R., & Marshak, R. J. (2009). Revisioning organization development: Diagnostic and dialogic premises and patterns of practice. *Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 45*(3), 348–368. (Z) 🔖 Gilpin-Jackson, Y. (2013). Practicing in the grey area between dialogic and diagnostic organization development: Lessons from a healthcare case study. *OD Practitioner, 45*(1), 60-66. (Z)