WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007

EARLY AFTERNOON SESSIONS 1330 - 1530

The forced competition of global markets is placing higher demands on leaders and employees. In the long run, company-members will be unable to withstand these pressures without negative health-consequences such as stress and its long-term results. Companies need to cushion the pressure and protect the psychological and physical health and motivation of their people.

In this workshop we will examine a global view of organizational health and vitality, and use our screening instrument, psy.Risk® to explore the health and vitality of your organization. You will learn how to use the checklists in the instrument in your work as an external or internal consultant, and to apply a procedure to sensitize staff-members and leaders on company-health issues.

Ulla Nagel is the founder and owner of IPU Dr. Nagel & Partner Company - Innovative HRD and Business Development. Her company conducts research in industrial projects, particularly focused on health prevention and development of health resources in organizations. She is based in East Germany.

Sustainable development has widely been touted as a unifying global goal. In particular, it is the concept driving the UN's Millennium Development Goals. The sustainable development imperative demands an enormous scale of change if we are to shift our trajectory to one where the resources we consume can be sustained by the planet, and where wealth distribution can be transformed to eliminate the inequity in distribution between North and South (developed and developing) worlds.

In this workshop we will explore on a world-wide level the complexities, paths and principles that the sustainable development imperative presents. Participants will collectively construct a Behavior Over Time chart to help define the scale of the challenge, be introduced to the concept of Global Action Networks (GANs: www.gan-net.net) as a potential key organizing solution, and will propose - based on their experience - key "principles" that must be integrated into these networks if they are to be successful.

Steve Waddell is Co-Lead Steward of Global Action Network Net (GAN-Net), a global network of global networks. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Boston College, and Associate of the Center for Innovation in Management at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

Global disarray marked our arrival into the 21st century. But while anxiety, terrorism, fundamentalist thinking, and even war seem to most characterize the themes of our organizational/community conversations in this early part of the new century, instances of positive conversation between individuals and within groups happen every day. In-depth research conducted by The Leading Clinic points to the impact the leader's stance can have in setting the stage for positive conversation and system health to occur.

In this interactive workshop, we will explore the Model for a Healthy World, which identifies the individual and organizational competencies that make possible a felt sense of self-worth, hope and capability, form the foundation for personal well-being, and generate the ability to accomplish extraordinary things at all levels of system.

Sherene Zolno, RODC, executive director of The Leading Clinic, is a researcher, educator, consultant and author whose expertise includes working with leadership teams to ready them for the future, and assisting organizations in identifying strategic intentions, improving operations and transforming culture. Rick Skillman, FACHE has a background as leader and Chief Executive Officer of several major healthcare organizations, and brings a unique perspective to his consulting and leadership development practice. He is currently completing a book on leadership, Memoirs of a CEO: the struggle to lead with heart and soul."

Richard Stone, who wrote about the healing powers of stories/storytelling, coined the term destorification to describe a process parallel to desertification (the slow drying up of previously fertile land), in which our lives are slowly losing vividness and meaning, while banal or vulgar sit-coms and worse, stand in for the stories we have lost - in our personal and professional lives.

In this highly interactive workshop we will explore the effect of destorification on organizational and individual health, what we can do to stop the spread of destorification in organizations, and how we can use restoryation - a concept from narrative therapy - to refresh our life stories and 'restory' dysfunctional storylines.

Nick Nissley, Ed.D, is the Executive Director, Leadership Development, at the Banff Centre, in Banff, Alberta, Canada. He has taught and published widely, and has spoken often throughout North America and Europe on the topic of arts-based learning in management education and leadership development.

At the core of the change process is the space between the old and the new. It is filled with the tensions of letting go, embracing uncertainty, envisioning the possible, and integrating what was gained. In a world that is changing at an accelerating pace, these patterns of change have become less recognizable and change processes are often left incomplete. Living in the 'betwixt and between' has become a permanent way to be.

In this interactive session we apply an adapted rites of passage framework to map the dimensions of permanent change in our lives and practice, identify patterns for engaging the tensions of permanent in-betweeness, and explore how we can support one-another to navigate the in-between and move through all phases of change where possible.

Gisela Wendling, Ph.D., is the incoming Coordinator of the MA Program in OD at Sonoma State University. Gisela brings 10 years of working with organizations as an internal OD consultant at Anderson Worldwide, Director of Learning and Development at Netscape, and independent OD consultant in variety of business and non-profit organizations.

Most of us spend a major part of our adult life in organizational settings. The quality of our life within organizations substantially influences the quality of our life all together. Unfortunately for most people, organizational life brings more anxiety, tension and burn-out than joy. What can consultants, managers, HR professionals do about it? How can we improve the health - which is a prerequisite for joy - of an organization? How can we diagnose the most typical organizational diseases and provide cures for them?

In this workshop, participants will deepen their understanding of why organizations may not be healthy. We will map 21 common organizational diseases such as Workaholism, Money-Mania, Organizational Paranoia, Servility, Pampering, Decision Paralyses etc., identify their causes and origins, and suggests ways to overcome these problems in order to achieve revolutionary results. We will explore how leaders' belief systems can lead to organizational health, diseases and joy. Participants will be able to use some unique concepts such as Belongingness, Mattering, Organizational Entropy to create new possibilities for health.

Dr. Imre Lövey , is a management consultant and managing partner of CONCORDIA Organization and Management Development Ltd., which he founded in 1984. He is also the founder and first president of Hungarian Organization Development Society and is one of the pioneers of OD and experiential training in the management field in Hungary.

'I have no time', 'Time flies', 'Just in time', 'I haven't seen you for a while', Time is money', This product or service will save you a lot of time', ... These sentences are some of the commonly heard expressions about time. Time is an aspect of life that joins us from the moment when we are born and stays with us until our earth time has come to an end. The whole society is built upon the task to get control over time: organizations have to work efficiently; people want to be available always and everywhere; we buy all kind of products to save us time so we can plan more activities in our spare time.

Classical time-management focuses on the efficient planning of our clocktime. It doesn't pay as much attention to the experience of time and priorities of life. In this workshop we will help practitioners of organization development become more conscious of their own experience. It is an interactive, experimental workshop where participants will be confronted with their own view on time.

Cyriel Kortleven , Kortleven is coordinator of the 'Time to NOW'-projects. Cyriel is one of the crewmembers of new shoes today - a growing number of soulmates in business who give support to people and organizations on their road to creation, innovation and change.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007

LATE AFTERNOON SESSIONS 1600 - 1730

Most of us can recall times in our lives when we have performed in ways that were successful beyond our expectations, were extremely satisfying, and were not stressful to us. What we are generally NOT aware of, however, is that each of us has our own unique "generic high performance story-line" that influences the results we get from our efforts, but is not usually in our awareness. If we can identify some of the core qualities of our high performance "story-line," we can subsequently bring them into our awareness whenever we prepare to engage in important activities.

In this experiential workshop, you will be invited to share your stories of high performance with others, receive a short consensus list of your idiosyncratic high performance qualities, and explore how you can more consistently build these qualities into important personal and professional efforts.

John D. Adams, Ph.D., a professor, speaker, author, consultant, and seminar leader - has been at the forefront of the Organization Development and Transformation profession since 1969. His early articulation of issues facing organizations has provided a guiding light for the evolution of organization and change management consulting. He is based in the United States.

Conflict is often treated as a distasteful aspect of human interaction that we have to put up with but would prefer to ignore. Conflict can show you the path to enter into the forest and a view of the organization in its many dimensions. Even a conflict between a small number of players, reveals a complex, hidden organizational life. When you enter that forest and you see two creatures fighting, you might discover through observation that their buddies are hiding nearby waiting for the outcome. In such a context, the differences in power between the species will determine who will survive and who will not. This workshop will provide participants with a method for analyzing their organizations through their conflicts. Beginning with a case, we will explore the multiple elements revealed by conflict, from contextual elements to informal structures, culture and power. Participants will have a chance to explore their own organizational forests through the use of multiple tools taken from "Mastering the Conflict Game: Getting Ahead by Exploring the Hidden Life of Organizations" by Ghislaine Guérard who is the facilitator of this workshop.

Ghislaine Guérard ,is a respected organizational trainer and consultant with more than thirty years of experience. She possesses an M.A. and a Ph.D. in organizational communication. Through her studies and practice, she developed a unique approach to analyze and strategize in conflict situations. This resulted in CASM, (Conflict Analysis and Strategy Method) - which she has used to train hundreds of students and professionals. She is an Associate Professor at Concordia University in Montreal. Her past experience as a union negotiator is at the centre of her passion for conflict management and her abiding fascination with human relations in the workplace.

In the increasingly complex realities of organizations and management, it is possible to describe organizations as composed of a collection of independent "agents" who have the freedom to act in unpredictable ways, their actions creating patterns that cut across the system (Mandelbrot's "fractals" description) - giving rise to self-organization. In this world, traditional systems of analysis and control are less effective than in the past.

In this workshop we will explore the patterns and paradigms that emerge in human systems, as well as the paradoxes built into the system. We will disclose the emerging patterns, how they can create a new equilibrium in response to changes in your environment, and how to facilitate change toward a desired vision and mission.

Beny Sade , is an experienced practitioner in O.D., Leadership Development, Coaching, Mediation and Ethics. Beny is Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the "Israel Organizational Development Association" and Co-founder of SOL Israel Fractal. He is based in Israel.

In this highly participative workshop, we will explore the 10 lines of the lions' strategies to meet their needs in the wild, and draw parallels to that those existing in enterprises to meet their goals in a competitive environment. Through discussion we will draw lessons to facilitate organizational change.

Pierre Tchomobe , is an experienced OD consultant who has worked extensively in rural agriculture and micro-banking. Since 2005 he has served as Head of Audit and Monitoring of micro-banks Department in Appropriate Development for Africa Foundation (ADAF), an NGO based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Mac Nkenzi Consulting, a consulting firm in Yaoundé.

Through years of thinking of ourselves as thinkers, many of us have lost touch with our body's innate creativity and perceptiveness. This conference, with its new environment and influx of colleagues and ideas, offers an opportunity to wake up the system. Building on the opportunity, this experiential workshop uses a series of theatre-based activities to engage the imagination, while grounding the experience in our bodies. Creative movement and expression techniques will generate and enrich interpersonal connections, challenge conceptual boundaries, teach new approaches to facilitation, and refresh our creative and physical selves.

Amy Frazier, is a professional actress, teacher and director. She leads workshops that develop connection, creativity, and presence through use of the actor's craft. Amy is based in the United States.

Without question, increasing change and complexity are creating a storm that few organizations are able to weather. As the storm gains momentum, it lashes out in unpredictable ways, leaving many complex problems in its wake. As change accelerates, it creates even more complexity, thus further eroding our sense of competency. It is a vicious cycle: change and complexity feed off each other to create even more change and complexity! The end result can be an exhausted workforce, unable to deal with the overwhelming problems that change and complexity bring.

In this workshop we will explore a unique approach called systemic storytelling that uses the best of systems thinking and combines it with complexity and complexity overload to enable people to see the forest of interconnections. In this way they can better understand the system dynamics and become able to take action within the system in a way that creates sustainable results. Systemic storytelling is a way to navigate out of the storm, and to be prepared for other storms.

Marilyn Herasymowych and Henry Senko, authors and applied research consultants, are the founders and managing partners of MHA Institute Inc. Their interest lies in developing healthy and creative communities of learning that are capable of generating novel forms of knowledge. They are based in Canada.

• Are you able to access the true source of effectiveness and fulfillment?
• When what you do "works"-or doesn't work-do you know why?
• Can you "face the tiger" at work and at home with courage and grace?
• Are you a compassionate force to be reckoned with?
• Ready to turn everything that happens to you at work into grist for your personal development?

If so, come and explore five simple but life-changing questions, designed to assist you in a profound process of discovery-or re-discovery-of who you are and what you are about. The Five Questions:

• What am I bringing? (To this meeting, this conversation, this life.)
• What runs me? (Where am I on "automatic" and don't even know it?)
• What calls me? (What in me yearns to be expressed in my life and work?)
• What confronts me? (What "tigers" do I need to face?)
• What will unleash me? (How can I bring more of who I AM to what I DO?)

John Scherer , is a Seattle-based author, consultant and leadership coach with years of experience working with men and women leaders from 20 countries in both the profit and not-for-profit worlds in the USA, Canada, Africa and Eastern Europe. He is a pioneer in the emerging field that shares the name of his ground-breaking 1993 book, Work and the Human Spirit, and has written or created hundreds of print, audio and video materials in support of that connection. His next book, Work as Spiritual Practice: Five Questions that Change Everything is due out this fall.