Then…
I thought it was easy. I believe it will be.
Behind me is 40 years of what I may call my OD consulting journey. It all started from the bottom. I became adept as process and methods observer for hundreds of manufacturing MSMEs. Then I moved up to entrepreneurship—-looking at the brains behind those mad processes. How did they start? Grow? Organize? And reorganize for scale? Why do they crash? How can we prevent that? Can OD really help? It was an exciting roller-coaster ride.
Just Now…
3 months ago today, I woke up thinking what’s possibly new that I can share with my OD colleagues. It’s not everyday this happens but by some mysterious way, I thought of offering a micro-course on how to start an OD consulting boutique.
Crafting the Course
This should be a walk in the park. I’ve worked with some of the very best small and large consulting firms in the Philippines and abroad. I sat on both sides of the table: being hired as a consultant or hiring the consultant for a client. I have worked with hundreds of MSMEs (by varying employment sizes) plus governments, private sector, federations and chambers, civil societies, youth groups and mission-purpose organizations as clients.
In less than an hour, I have drafted the 2-day (with a weekend in-between) virtual course. It had sessions on: your readiness for freelancing, solo versus partnership, legal aspects, profile and service portfolio, markets and marketing, service delivery, talent management, pricing and pitching, budgets and revenues. But that’s not all. Spent another week to assemble the materials consisting of readings, cases, datasets, exercises, and video URLs. Making the presentation decks was a breeze.
A Few Baby Steps…
Ads out. Plenty of inquiries but only few souls took the plunge. The sessions were active. Participants listened intently, enjoyed the exciting exercises (some were AI driven), group discussions, and lots of practical group activities. Definitely, not your usual virtual course.
Finding Your Niche…
Helping the participants define their service portfolio was tricky. The easy part was brainstorming on popular services and tools as examples. Strategy, agile, appreciative inquiry, leadership, HR, digital, wellness, social media, productivity, engagement, career, L&D, etc. And just before the Day 1 closed, a participant asked: Where’s the OD services in that list? I politely answered, everything in the list could be an OD service. And that’s that! I gave out the assignments for the long weekend.
ARTistic Framing…
But it didn’t stop me mulling over the question. It immediately dawned on me that the services (and tools to deliver them) can either be slotted in the “advise-research-train” (ART) boxes. Take the T in the ART boxes. You can slice training many times and call it by many names (mentoring, coaching, tutoring, facilitating, etc.), the value differences seem cosmetic than organic (and so under appreciated). And this goes for the A and the R too. Seems traditional but still pervasive ART appear to be the basis of most OD service portfolio. They continue to be the core of our OD interventions till now. Aren’t they mere extensions of our academic thinking and tools? Are they too theory based? Overused? Non-digital? Do they reflect what we as practitioners can deliver, rather than what our clients need? Or worst, are they yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems?
While the participants were architecting their business models, creating their brand and logos, listing their services, drafting their websites and brochures, estimating their Year 1 budgets assigned for the weekend, I was stuck on what could be a special frame for defining service portfolios for OD consultants. I am concerned about the subtle dominance and pervasiveness of the ART boxes.
Aha…
Just about about to give up when I came across Dr. Wade A. McNair’s OD consulting model. As slogan, he seeks to create workplaces where talent drives business results and individuals are engaged, equipped and empowered to be their best selves - at work and in life. His services is the right blend of “Knowledge, Understanding, Belief and Experience” that can help organizations get the results they envisioned. The model consists essentially of context (he calls it culture), change and data (CCD) framework.
Notes
In the course, we also discussed the advantages of being an ODPN member and included the membership fees in the new company’s budget.
In the future, the course will be retitled and redesigned as: Starting and Growing your Own OD Consulting Boutique. Watch for new announcements.
Forthcoming Courses for OD Professionals
Milalin Javellana and Tita Puangco, ESSENTIALS OF OD, June 8 (8:00 to 5:00, In-Person) Meralco PowerTech. Ortigas
Dr. Josephine Perez PROCESS OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS, June 27-28
Dr. Joy Calleja OD DIAGNOSIS, September 6 (In-Person)
Dr Melissa S Reyes Designing OD Interventions November 17 (In-Person)
Event Announcement: ODLAB 2023: REIMAGINE OD. ODPN takes the lead in driving and inspiring a new direction for OD in the Philippines by first REIMAGINING THE PRACTICE on July 20—21, 2023 in Davao. You’re invited. Connect to ODPN (odpnsecretariat@gmail.com) for a brochure, registration and sponsorship opportunities. Join us! Save the date!!!
Dr. Ed Canela Courses:
1. Data Analytics with AI for MSMEs #3 at University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UP ISSI) via Zoom June 20-22, 2023.
2. AI for OD Practitioners, June 30 and July 7, 2023, (online) for Php 5,000 Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute (SAIDI) Graduate School of Organizational Development and Planning. Email interest to Ms. Cynthia Cruz.