Why the results of OD interventions are not perfect

Recently, I have finished major dental treatment which I had put off for years, due to fear and dilly dallying; finally l decided to just do it. The treatments took six months.

During the tens of meetings I had with my dentist during this half year, I found myself observing his work . And as the work came to a close, it was evident  that he felt satisfaction at the near perfect results. Indeed, my smile is “luvly”.

I have executed many complex OD projects over the years: post merger integration, interventions with very senior managers, and working with cultures where OD values appear incompatible. I have also done lots of work with Fortune 500 companies and very demanding start-ups.

My business grows via referrals and although my style is an “acquired taste”, at the personal level I have a sense of humour and it is easy to interact with me, so clients “like” me. This having been said, I have never delivered a “perfect” result, like my dentist has.

If properly executed, OD interventions cannot be perfect. Organizations themselves are very imperfect. Once the human race started organizing and we all  became dependant on one another, there is severe anxiety built into the very essence of organizing, and all forms of organizations. This anxiety is not soluble.

OD creates more effective coping mechanisms, flexibility and a better breed of manager, follower and team. Yet often, once OD mitigates the noise caused by one problem, another problem surfaces, which is totally natural.

Many so called OD practitioners try and sell OD products  which can be “plugged in and played” , as it were,  to any organization. They promise “client satisfaction” and perfect results. This brand of OD practitioner, the snake oil salesman, wants his client to be thrilled. I don’t. Being thrilled with the results an OD project makes no sense at all, because at best, human organizing is so imperfect.

The OD which I practice delivers a professional service and not a product. The results that I deliver are very real and concrete, because they are not “perfect”. Certainly since most of my business is repeat or referral, the clients are satisfied, but they are not thrilled! Mais non!

And alas, in dentistry so much is dependant on the dentist, whilst in OD, so much dependent of client-consultant interaction. So here is a paradox to think over: in OD, only the unskilled deliver perfect results.

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15 thoughts on “Why the results of OD interventions are not perfect

  1. Pingback: Why the results of OD interventions are not per...

  2. Have you ever thought about putting it all into a book or teaching OD for practitioners, Allon? I would’ve certainly signed up. Your posts are the most relevant pieces on OD I have ever found on Internet. If I ever do training or courses on OD, I could base it almost entirely on your blog entries 🙂

  3. Pingback: 10 basics components of Organization Development | Allon Shevat

  4. Allon, Thanks for re-posting this (on LinkedIn), one of your best from years ago. This excerpt rings quite true to me: “If properly executed, OD interventions cannot be perfect. Organizations themselves are very imperfect…there is severe anxiety built into the very essence of organizing… This anxiety is not soluble.
    OD creates more effective coping mechanisms, flexibility and a better breed of manager, follower and team. Yet often, once OD mitigates the noise caused by one problem, another problem surfaces, which is totally natural.”

    OD is messy. While powerpoint presentations may make OD look so orderly, it aint. Because you are dealing with ego, emotion, culture, and history.

    OD practitioners are human therefore imperfect. Each one of us has the same primary tool, the Use of Self. And it is a tool that must be worked on constantly.

    And all solutions generate new problems. Which is “good news” because we will always be needed.

  5. It would be interesting to know how many intervention you did as an internal consultant? The main problem is that OD is perceived and taught for consulting, not to be used for all workers in their daily job and in our daily life in general. If the skills were here taught and used in our daily life may be OD consultants especially external would not be needed but would that be for consultant that do not have OD ethics killing the golden egg?

    • I have never been an internal consultant.
      Internal OD is basically feeding the troops with home made cool aid and that’s not something I do, nor is it OD.
      Internal OD is new speak… And nonsense

  6. Pingback: The perfect storm: The fearful HR clerk and the OD brush salesman (totally revised) | Allon Shevat-אלון שבט

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