Organizational

Development Process
Cheat Sheet

Build effectiveness and

capacity to change in 5 steps
Introduction
Organizational Development for HR professionals How to use this guide

We live in a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex and This guide provides a primer on the 5-step
ambiguous. Crises, constant innovation, and change have Organizational Development process, and provides
companies like yours facing new challenges every day, practical tips and insights to help you get a better

making effectiveness and capacity for change are more understanding of this increasingly important area

important than ever. And as an HR professional, you can of expertise.

make a real difference with smart use of Organizational

Development skills.

What is Organizational Development?

OD is a critical, science-based process that provides a

structured approach to building effective, adaptable
organizations. While OD isn’t an HR discipline, there is a
certain degree of overlap: for example, some OD
interventions relate to HRM, such as talent management.

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Organizational Development in action
The trigger The intervention and results
Before we get started with the process, let’s take a look at To fix this, the organization decided to speed up
what Organizational Development looks like in practice. We’ll decision-making by moving the responsibility for supply
take the case of a coffee bean company. chain management and procurement to a lower level in the
organization. This made the company more flexible and
This organization occasionally struggles with their coffee
better able to respond to changes in the external
bean supply. Things came to a head last quarter, when the
environment.
company missed its sales targets. An inquiry was launched.
In this case, the company used an OD intervention called
The challenge
organizational design to address the issue at hand. But what
This revealed a misalignment between the increasingly
process did they use, and where does HR fit into it?
unstable political landscape of the coffee production
countries, leading to supply disruptions, and the fixed In the remainder of this cheat sheet we’ll cover the

organizational structure. Not only that: further inquiry into Organizational Development process, most common OD

the company’s decision-making processes showed that interventions, and tips for using this in your own

decisions to switch supply lines needed C-level approval, company.

resulting in delays in decision-making capabilities.

These two issues were the reason that the organization

wasn’t able to hit its sales targets.
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The OD process

2 4

Diagnosing Evaluating &

Page 7 providing feedback
Page 13

1 3 5

Entering & Intervening & Endings &

contracting taking action exit
Page 5 Page 9 Page 15

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Step 1. Entering and contracting
An opportunity for improvement
The Organizational Development process starts when a
manager or administrator identifies an opportunity for
improvement. Possible triggers include:

● External changes affecting the organization

● Internal conflicts
● Complaints received from customers
● A loss of profits
● A lack of innovation
● High levels of absenteeism or turnover

Once the problem has been pinpointed, there is a meeting

between the “client” (the manager or leader you are
primarily working for or with) and the OD practitioner to
scope the problem and set the initial perimeters.

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Step 1. Entering and contracting
Creating the contract The Perceived Weirdness Index
This is relevant to all OD practitioners, both internal and Long-time OD practitioner Jonno Hanafin claims that
external. It’s not about signing a literal contract, but setting the success of an OD project is partially determined
expectations and making agreements. by where you fall on his Perceived Weirdness Index
(PWI).
Problems in OD projects are often caused by mistakes made
in this phase. That’s why it’s key to discuss and agree on If you aren’t perceived in an organization as being
both the what (core tasks, deliverables, scope, methods, weird enough, you run the risk of being absorbed into
timelines, and measures of success) and the how (how the the system, making it harder to get the client’s
work will be done, and how practitioner and client expect attention. This is particularly challenging for
each other to behave in the working relationship). internal practitioners.

But you can also be too weird, which can result in the
client not being able to tolerate your difference — and
rejecting your work.

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Step 2. Diagnosing
A data-driven approach Types of data to collect
With the problem identified and expectations set, it's time to ● Financial

gather your data. In order to accurately diagnose the source Information relating to business performance or

of the problem you need to understand how the organization financial results.

(or “system”) currently works and design effective ● Workforce

interventions that will solve the problem(s) identified in the Information about employees: roles, skills,

previous step. turnover and so on.

● Survey
Tip Information like employee opinions, feedback and
Involve others when you analyze the information you’ve engagement.
collected. Having multiple perspectives means there may be
You could also consider using external data about
multiple interpretations and therefore more insights that can
competitors for benchmarking, for instance.
help you understand issues and design interventions.

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Step 2. Diagnosing
Sharing insights
Once you've reached a diagnosis, it's time to communicate
the findings to key stakeholders. When providing feedback to
the organization, it’s not just what you share that matters —
how you share it is also crucial.

When you prepare your feedback, consider how much time

your stakeholders have to go over your input. You might have
uncovered enough insights to fill 100 slides, but will they
have time to go over the entire deck?

Chances are you’ll have to summarize your findings. When

choosing what to include, make sure that you also consider
which insights will mobilize stakeholders to make change
happen, as that is the ultimate goal of the OD process.

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Step 3. Intervening and taking action
Design the right interventions Intervention examples
At this point, you have thoroughly researched the ● Organization Level Interventions

organizational challenges and helped the client understand ○ Organization Design

them. With everyone aligned and motivated, it’s time to find ○ Culture change

solutions to the problems at hand and design interventions. ○ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work
○ Strategic planning and implementation
● Group Level Interventions
○ Team building
○ Conflict resolution
● Individual Level Interventions
○ Coaching, mentoring or counselling
○ Job shadowing, job rotation
○ Job redesign, job enrichment, job enlargement

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Step 3. Intervening and taking action
Questions to ask
Not every intervention will work for every organization. When
designing interventions, ask questions such as:

● What are your target areas of change?

● Should activities be focused on tasks, relationships or
processes?
● What is the best channel for delivering this activity?
● Which tools or techniques may be helpful?
● What level of intensity can the group tolerate (at the
start)?

Not sure what we mean by intensity? Turn to the next page

for more information.

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Step 3. Intervening and taking action
Intervention categories: Reddy’s cube
During the intervention design process, it’s important to
think about the kind of intervention that will work in the
situation at hand. Thinking about interventions in terms of

al
rs er-
al

du
p
Focus

on
pe Int
ou
categories can make it easier to identify what you need.

vi
di
Gr

In
Reddy’s Cube uses 3 dimensions to classify interventions,
based on scale (individual, interpersonal, group), intensity Cognitive
Intensity

High
(low, medium high) and intervention type:

Medium
Skill and activity
● Cognitive: increasing knowledge and understanding of a

Low
matter Behavior
Type
● Skill and activity: increasing the ability to do something
● Behavior: changing current behavior Emotional/reflective
● Emotional/reflective: releasing pent-up emotions and
Interpretive
learning to use emotion to remain reflective
● Interpretive: a paradigm shift

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Step 3. Intervening and taking action
Implementing interventions
Based on the questions you've asked and the type of
improvement needed, you have designed and selected the
best interventions. Now it’s time to implement them. As you
start to intervene, you will get more data about the system:
what works and what doesn’t. This can help you further
improve the interventions.

Tip
Getting the client involved in the implementation increases
the chances of them taking ownership.

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Step 4. Evaluating and providing feedback
Getting the right data
You want to make sure that your interventions are working as
intended — and that the client sees the value of your work.
This builds credibility and trust.

Here at AIHR, we are huge proponents of making smart use

of data, something that is often easier said than done.
Discuss which metrics and measurement methods to use in
the contracting phase, and set up regular reviews with the
client to see if you’re aligned on your interpretation of
evaluation data: is there anything either of you is missing, or
is someone interpreting the data differently?

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Step 4. Evaluating and providing feedback
Levels of evaluation Tip
An evaluation model from Learning & Development can also More isn’t better when it comes to measures. There is no
be useful for reviewing OD interventions: Kirkpatrick’s four perfect number. You want enough data to grant insight into
levels of evaluation. the balance of your intervention: 10 is probably too many,
while 1 may not be enough.
● Reaction
Overall perceptions from people in the system. One way
to measure this is with experience surveys.
● Learning
Have employees gained any new insights, awareness,
skills or experiences thanks to the intervention?
● Behavior
Gauging changes in thinking, being, and doing. This can
be measured with self-assessments or 360-degree
feedback, for instance.
● Results
What is the impact on groups such as customers and
shareholders? Or organizational measures, such as
financial numbers and external ratings?

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Step 5. Endings and exit
The final hurdle Providing support
The importance of endings cannot be understated. If How can you support the people or the organization in a way
handled incorrectly, you may face an impact on employee that has them feel safe?
engagement, trust, productivity and performance.
● Surface and acknowledge grief, and give it the space
If the intervention results in redundancies, for instance, you it needs.
may be faced with frustration, upset and even anger. ● Ensure people feel safe to express themselves: listen
Livelihoods are lost, along with bonds and alliances. Those without trying to hasten or solve the matter.
who keep their jobs may also feel guilt. ● Create conditions where people believe what they say is
confidential, and won’t be twisted or used against them.
Paying attention to the holistic experience, including the
emotional and psychological impact of change, can
contribute to the success of the implementation. Pay
attention to the endings if and when you become aware that
there may be related issues.

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Organizational Development Certificate

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