OD for Life
We are organizational development practitioners.
We are learning and leadership development consultants.
We are coaches and facilitators.
And we are people of all backgrounds and abilities who share a sense that something profoundly different is needed wherever people gather in shared purpose and collective action.
This is our "maniflexo."
Throughout 2021 and 2022, a group of passionate, concerned people gathered online and in person to ask:
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What is our responsibility as OD practitioners in confronting the crises we face as a planet?
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Which unique gifts do we have to offer to the biggest questions of our time?
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How do we take a stand as individuals and organisations to act for the good of the whole?
The words on this page are the answers we discerned together. This is a living, evolving document, and so we think of it as our maniflexo.
We hope you will join us in our ongoing commitment and learning. This conversation needs diverse perspectives and contributions if we are to find our way to wisdom. And we are going to need each other if we are to find the courage to do what is truly needed.
For too long and with too much harm, human organizing has been guided by principles of efficiency more than effectiveness. Of speed and scale at all costs. Of extraction rather than empathy. And of domination and disdain for the human spirit. The outcome is toxic workplaces and devastated ecosystems. It is rising addictions and despair. It is divided and depleted communities. And it is the looming threat of civilizational collapse.
With this declaration, we are stepping forward together in courage, humility and care because we recognize that we have an essential role to play in the changes humanity needs to make.
WE CAN
NO LONGER
BE NEUTRAL
in how we use
the core skills of our work:
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Helping people join together in service of something bigger than themselves.
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Enabling ongoing leadership and learning.
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Facilitating collaboration and new possibility.
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Equipping people and organizations for meaningful change.
IT MATTERS
to what end we do these things.
IT MATTERS
if we stop short of what is truly needed.
And so we choose to be guided by a narrative that says:
what we are developing in our organizational development work is life’s ability to thrive.
Our lives, the life of our organizations and communities, life within the more-than-human community.
This, above all else, must be at the center of our every engagement and every conversation.
Through our projects and our clients,
our actions ripple out across the world.
This vast sphere of influence gives us
enormous responsibility as practitioners,
as a field, and as human beings.
Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to making that ripple
a tidal wave of thriving and integrity
that responds to the true level of crisis at hand
and the full depth of care in our hearts.
We have many questions about
what this will look like and what it will take.
Already, we are confronted by paradoxes
and by the shadow parts of ourselves and our profession.
But one thing is clear:
by committing also to each other,
we will find our way
into the learning and the transformation
that are needed.
Together, we are nourished with
a deep sense of hope and belonging.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Signed:
Ana Arrabé
Spain
Walter Bertolini
Austria
Monica Boos
Germany
Stefan Faatz-Ferstl
Austria
Alexander Evatt
Austria
Ramona Fricke
Lebanon
Onno Geveke
The Netherlands
Javier Gras
Spain
Joeri Kabalt
The Netherlands
Michelle Holliday
Canada
Din van Helden
Austria
Claudia Gross
Egypt
Alice Hahn
United States
Janet Frood
Canada
Dorothe Liebig
Germany
Diane van Marrewijk
The Netherlands
Dave Pendle
The Netherlands
Andres Roberts
United Kingdom
Tom Mansfield
United Kingdom
Marc van Roon
The Netherlands
Katherine Long
United Kingdom
Matthijs Schilder
Italy
Margriet Schut
The Netherlands
Cees Sprenger
The Netherlands
Priscilla Verwoert
The Netherlands
Anne Weber Carlsen
Denmark
Nina Thüllen
Austria
Ways we are living out this commitment together
Stewarding different forms of 'knowledge'
gathering and exploring principles, frameworks, methods, and practical stories, as well as experiences of nature and our own bodies
Learning as a community
connecting through a newsletter, a LinkedIn group and physical and online convenings, as well as an online community platform for those who have participated in an in-person gathering
Strengthening the ability to respond to what's needed
taking action through inquiry, forming an informal incubator together that leads to courageous action
Coming Up Next
We hope you will join us at one of these upcoming events.
Wed, Mar 26Earthdance & NineMountain (MassachusettsMar 26, 2025, 5:00 p.m. – Mar 29, 2025, 10:00 a.m.Earthdance & NineMountain (Massachusetts, 252 Prospect St, Plainfield, MA 01070, USAIn the spirit of co-creation, shared contribution and emergent learning, we will gather to deepen our collective inquiry and find friendship and courage in each other.
Wed, May 07Wir Bauen Zukunft (Nothern Germany)May 07, 2025, 5:00 p.m. – May 10, 2025, 10:00 a.m.Wir Bauen Zukunft (Nothern Germany) , Holzkruger Straße 1, 19258 Gallin, GermanyIn the spirit of co-creation, SHARED contribution and emergent learning, we will gather to deepen our COLLECTIVE inquiry and find friendship and courage in each other.
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