Philadelphia Region
Organizational Development Network
March 2003
Highlights:
PRODN CALENDAR12, 2002
- Monthly
Meetings
- March 27
(Thursday) Trust in the Balance:
Building Successful Organizations on Results, Integrity and Concern. Trust has become more
elusive as organizations downsize and embrace new organizational practices. If
you believe that trust the foundation for successful organizations and teams,
then you should attend this event. –An evening with Dr.
Robert Shaw of Princeton Consulting Group. (PCOM – Rowland Building, room 340)
- April 29
(Tuesday) Reschedule of the October Cornell Event Joint meeting with
SHRM Interactive Theater as an Educational Medium. The Cornell Interactive Theater Ensemble will engage us in
conversations to work through our reactions and stereotypes to gain
appreciation of individual motivations and subtleties in interactions. PCOM City Line Avenue – Rowland Building,
room 340) This event has a $25 charge and is well worth the time and
investment.
- May 22
(Thursday) How to Maximize Success with Organizational Political Savvy
With Joel R DeLuca, Ph.D. and Dr. Stewart Friedman, Head Director of Ford
Motor's Global Leadership Institute
5:30 pm - 9:00 pm -- Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (City Line
Avenue Philadelphia)
SPECIAL LEARNING EVENTS
- February 3-4 2003 White
People Confronting Racism Part 2 9:00 – 6:00
Leaders
- Antje Mattheus and Lorraine Marino PCOM (City Line Avenue – Rowland
Building)
- Friday April 11, 2003
Coaching; a Gestalt Approach 8:15 – 4:00
Leaders – John D.
Carter Ph.D. and Dorothy E.
Siminovitch, PhD (McCall Field, Upper Darby)
Tuesday June 3, 2003
Merging Cultures with optional Trainer
Certification June 4, 2003 8:15 – 4:00 Leader Barry Oshry of Power and Systems, Inc (McCall
Field Upper, Darby)
Special Interest Groups (SIG)
President’s Message
Dear PRODN Members:
We have had a rich and engaging start to 2003 for
PRODN! Most recently, we had a terrific
networking event at John Harvard’s Brew House in Wayne. It was an evening designed for dialog
regarding our field and current events of importance in the larger world. It was a chance for us to connect with and
learn from one another. Having special
guests is highly valuable, but this program reminded me of how much we have to
offer each other by just showing up and sharing ourselves.
I was able to attend the second
workshop of the Whites Confronting Racism series that PRODN is offering. Like the first workshop, I believe it was a
powerful learning experience for all who participated. I am so pleased that the word seems to be
getting out about how valuable this series is for OD practitioners. It is my dream that we will continue to
support this work in Philadelphia.
These have been highlights for me
since January. And I am so looking
forward to our spring events. Folks
from the Gestalt Institute will be doing a workshop for us on coaching. For those of you who are not familiar with
their work, this promises to be an outstanding learning event (I’ve already
registered). The Cornell Interactive
Theatre Ensemble will be facilitating a unique diversity event for our April
monthly program. Bringing them here has
been admittedly a pet project of mine, as I think it reflects our current
emphasis on creating a more inclusive organization. I’ve heard nothing but good things about their skills as actors
and facilitators as well. Please join
us. You will find more information
about these events and others on the website.
Onto an update on our membership
drive for this year… I am pleased with
where we are with membership renewals.
It is clear that there is much support for this organization and its
efforts to bring you learning opportunities.
If you have neglected for some reason to send in your membership, please
do so. And if you know of anyone that
would benefit from what we have to offer, put on your recruiting hat! For us to stay viable and strong, we must
continue to build our community of members.
I want to let you know that after
a lot of consideration the Steering Committee has decided to make a change in
the way our administrative work has been done.
While Devon Office Center has provided us with several years of sound
functional support, for financial reasons we are in the process of shifting
those services to another vendor. We
are taking steps to ensure that our transition plan will operate so as to
continue to provide you with uninterrupted service. The transition will occur over the course of six weeks, and we will
provide you with all of the updated contact information as soon as it is
operable.
Finally, this had been a year of
learning for the steering committee about working across differences. I have learned more deeply than ever that
the issue of diversity is a complex and historically rooted one. It demands continuous efforts and structural
support to create enduring organizational change. I believe that as communities and workplaces become increasingly
multi-cultural, it is critical that OD practitioners gain the awareness and
skills to work across race, gender, ethnic and cultural boundaries. I also believe that our professional
organization must reflect the importance of this issue in its board, its members,
its monthly programs, and its special learning events. Toward this end, the steering committee has
approved the creation of a Diversity Chair to hold a position on the steering
committee and to oversee an Inclusion Learning Track. These changes will be instituted for the 2003-2004 programming
year. We will provide you with more
information soon.
On that note, we are looking for
nominations for the steering committee for the upcoming year. Are you
interested? Would you like to nominate someone? Please contact me. I’d love
to hear from you.
March comes in like a lion and
goes out like a lamb. I think that’s what they say. Anyway, as the weather turns warm again, PRODN has much to offer
which will engage your minds and hearts.
Please show up and share them with us.
Best,
Kim Eberbach
Chair, PRODN
215.836.4326 Keberbach@onemain.com
The Value of Monthly Meetings for PRODN members
Non-member fee of $20 can be applied to
Membership dues when you join at a meeting.
A PRODN membership includes free admission to monthly meetings with the
exception of a planned special monthly event featuring the Cornell Interactive
Theater Ensemble coming this spring.
February Meeting Summary
Even with the threat of impending snow, 20 folks
members gathered at the February networking meeting to enjoy a few cold ones
and some tasty bites of chicken wings, cheese and crackers, beef teriyaki
sticks and more! The format for the evening was a structured networking session
and after a beginning chat over day to day things for the first hour or so, we
were then encouraged to take a seat with 2-3 other people at small tables. Each
table was provided with a list of intriguing discussion questions as
suggestions and were provided with time to talk about whatever they chose to.
Some of these questions included: What do you think of reality TV? What would
you be willing to die for? How does your spirituality/faith impact your work?
After about 30 minutes, we then were asked to move
to a different table with a different group of folks and continue our dialogue.
Even Stokes Carrigan said " he'd enjoyed the opportunity for conversations
and would be back"! The evening again proved that our community needs more
time to network and get to know each other. It was just like the good ole'
days!
Look for more opportunities like this to share our
experiences and stories!
SIG MEETINGS
Learning Group
Next meeting March 6, 2003 6:30 – 9:00 at Page
Morahan’s House
735 Fetters Mill Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
Call for directions or check the website215-947-6542
We will be discussing pages 172-229 in the book we are currently
reading: Lessons from the Field, Applying Appreciative Inquiry,
Sue
Annis Hammond and Cathy Royal, eds., published by Thin Book
Publishing, ISBN: 0966537335.
New Practitioners Group SIG Next meetings
March 5
(Wednesday),
April 17
(Thursday),
May 13
(Tuesday) and
June 18
(Friday).
Monthly meetings will be near Conshohocken. Please contact Cynthia Brancato for
directions or additional information at 215-652-1602 or email her at Cynthia_Brancato@Merck.com
OTHER NEWS
- Chuck
Houghton takes on Membership. Chuck
Houghton is our new membership chair on the PRODN board - If you cannot get
into the member sites, perhaps you need to renew your PRODN membership, this
can either be done on line or using by faxing the attached document to Devon
Office Services.
A number of interesting learning events
sponsored by other organizations are highlighted on our website of particular
interest are:
Pendle Hill Monday
Night Lectures held either in Wallingford at the Pendle Hill retreat or at
the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia.
These lectures focus on racial and gender issues. These sessions
conclude with a weekend conference May 2-4.
Beyond Discovery and Dream an AI design workshop – May 7 –
9 Bryn Mawr, PA.
Chesapeake
Bay OD Network Conference Making the Business Case for OD March 22,
2003 Chevy Chase, MD.
Meeting
Location Directions
Directions to Philadelphia
College of Osteopathic Medicine
4170 City Ave
Rowland Building
Philadelphia, PA 19131
215 871-6100 (after hours 215 871 6351)
From Philadelphia
International Airport
Take
Interstate 95 North.
Look for signs to Interstate 76 West to Philadelphia - Valley Forge.
I-76 (follow signs to Valley Forge) at St. Joseph's University sign - stay in
left lane and look for Exit City Line Avenue, Route 1 South.
Take City Avenue South two blocks to Monument Road (Adam's Mark Hotel is on the
left).
Make a left onto Monument Road, PCOM's entrance is on right before light. Our
meetings will be in the Rowland Building. Follow signs to parking garage (flat
fee $4).
From New York,
New Jersey or New England
Take the New
Jersey Turnpike South to the PA Turnpike Exit 6.
Take the PA Turnpike West To Exit #24 (King of Prussia/Valley Forge).
After the tollbooth, follow signs for Philadelphia, Interstate 76 East.
Take I-76 East to the City Avenue Exit (also known as City Line Avenue or U.S.
Route 1 South). Take City Avenue South two blocks to Monument Road (Adam's Mark
Hotel is on the left). Make a left onto Monument Road, PCOM's entrance is on
right before light. Our meetings will be in the Rowland Building. Follow signs
to parking garage (flat fee $4).
From the West
Drive east
on the PA Turnpike to Exit #24 (King of Prussia/Valley Forge).
After the toll booth, follow signs for Philadelphia, Interstate 76 East.
Take I-76 East to the City Avenue Exit (also known as City Line Avenue or U.S.
Route 1 South). Take City Avenue South two blocks to Monument Road (Adam's Mark
Hotel is on the left). Make a left onto Monument Road, PCOM's entrance is on
right before light. Our meetings will be in the Rowland Building. Follow signs
to parking garage (flat fee $4).
If you’ve forgotten to renew your PRODN membership – now’s
the time!