How can organizations communicate better?

Our July 18 program meeting was on “Focus Group and OD”. In a popular format that we intend to use more often, those attending has their choice of two out of four presentations. Bonnie Gorbaty and Karen Stahl of Pathfinder Innovation did “Building a Brand from the Inside Out: A New Employee Roadmap for Linking OD Insights to Business Performance”. Bruce Katcher of Discovery Surveys, Inc. explained the “Do’s and Don’ts of Focus Groups”. Louise Mallette of The Telic Group considered “How Can I Get the Truth?” Mal Watlington of City Square Consulting covered “Virtual vs. In-Person Focus Groups”.

As an OD organization, our focus was on how organizations can use focus groups to support organizational communication. Hence our “Question of the Month” is “How can organizations communicate better?”

Jim Murphy

What is the connection between personal transformation and organizational transformation?

Our Deeper Inquiry Group was formed in February as a follow up endeavor to our December 2005 program meeting with Otto Scharmer on Theory U. This new “subgroup” is for Learning Group members who wish to explore presencing and related topics through unstructured, open inquiry, dialogue, discussion and, oftentimes, simply being present to what comes up for us as a group. It meets monthly using a rotational system for leadership.

The “DIG SIG” topic for July was one that should be of interest to many members, and we have thus opened up discussion here for those who have thoughts on the relationship between individual and organizational change. The August 1 Deep Group meeting will be about sharing members’ experiences with personal transformation.

Jim Murphy