What is Organizational Development? 6 Jobs in the Field

Ever wondered how some companies manage to stay ahead of the curve, adapting to change with ease and keeping their employees engaged? The secret often lies in...

Ever wondered how some companies manage to stay ahead of the curve, adapting to change with ease and keeping their employees engaged?

The secret often lies in a well-executed organizational development (OD) strategy.

Take Google, for example. In the early 2000s, as the company experienced rapid growth, they faced challenges in developing a sound organizational structure while maintaining their innovative culture.

Their solution? Project Oxygen (source) set out to challenge this skepticism—to teach technically-oriented employees the value of proper management, organization, and communication. The rest, as they say, was history.

In this article, we’ll dive into the world of organizational development, exploring its importance for business success, the skills that are needed to excel in the field, and the career opportunities it offers!

What is Organizational Development?

Organizational development (OD) is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization’s effectiveness through the application of behavioral science knowledge and practices.

Think of OD as a psychologist or personal trainer for your company. Just as a counselor or personal trainer helps you identify areas for improvement, set goals, and develop strategies to achieve them, OD professionals develop strategies to improve an organization’s health, effectiveness, and overall performance.

At its core, organizational development focuses on 5 key areas:

1. Aligning people, processes, and technology with business goals: Remember Project Oxygen? By getting engineers on board with the concept of management and leadership, Project Oxygen ensured that their tech-focused workforce would continue to be aligned with Google’s broader business goals.
2. Enhancing organizational culture: For example, OD professionals might work on developing a culture of innovation by encouraging risk-taking and creative problem-solving, or focus on improving work-life balance by implementing flexible work policies.
3. Improving communication and collaboration: This could involve implementing cross-functional team structures to break down silos and encourage diverse perspectives, or introducing new collaboration tools to facilitate better information sharing across the organization.
4. Developing leadership capabilities: This might include executive coaching sessions to improve strategic thinking, or leadership development workshops that focus on skills like emotional intelligence and effective decision-making.
5. Encouraging innovation and adaptability: This could involve creating dedicated innovation labs where employees can experiment with new ideas, or implementing agile methodologies to improve responsiveness to market changes.

Let’s harken back to our personal training analogy. A good personal trainer doesn’t just focus on your technique at the gym—they’ll often look into overhauling your entire lifestyle.

Likewise, organizational development is a holistic approach to business improvement that looks to transform a company’s diet and mindset (“soft” aspects; think culture and behavior) as much as it wants to build up a glorious bicep peak (“hard” aspects such as processes and systems).

The Importance of Organizational Development (3 Key Factors)

It’s hard for any company to thrive and grow without paying attention to organizational development. Let’s explore three key factors that highlight the need for OD:

Adapting to Change

Organizations need to be agile and adaptable. Research by McKinsey https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/agility-it-rhymes-with-stability has shown that agile organizations have a 70% chance of being in the top quartile of organizational health, which is linked to long-term performance.

Likewise, another study (source) revealed that adaptive companies achieved 3-year total shareholder returns that were 7 percentage points higher than the industry average.

In other words, the more a company adapts, the higher its success!

More specifically, organizational development can help companies:

• Anticipate and prepare for change: OD professionals use techniques like environmental scanning and scenario planning to help organizations identify potential future challenges and opportunities, allowing companies to develop proactive strategies rather than merely reacting to changes as they occur.
• Develop flexible structures and processes: OD initiatives often focus on creating organizational structures that can quickly adapt to new circumstances. This might involve implementing matrix management systems, creating cross-functional teams, or developing rapid decision-making processes that allow for quick pivots when needed.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement: OD programs often emphasize the importance of ongoing skill development and knowledge sharing. This could involve implementing regular training programs, creating mentorship opportunities, or establishing knowledge management systems that allow employees to easily share and access information across the organization.

Enhancing Employee Engagement and Productivity

Happy employees are productive employees! Organizational development plays a major role in creating a positive work environment that boosts engagement and productivity.

According to a Gallup meta-analysis (source), businesses with high employee engagement achieve significantly better outcomes compared to those with low engagement, including:

• 23% higher profitability
• 18% higher productivity
• 78% lower absenteeism

OD initiatives contribute to employee engagement by:

• Improving communication channels: OD professionals create open and transparent communication systems. This could include regular town hall meetings, internal social media platforms, or training managers in active listening. These efforts help employees feel informed, valued, and connected to the company’s mission.
• Providing growth and development opportunities: OD initiatives focus on robust learning and development programs. This might involve clear career progression paths, personalized skill development plans, or mentorship programs. Investing in employee growth increases loyalty and engagement.
• Aligning individual goals with organizational objectives: OD helps connect an employee’s daily work with the company’s broader mission. This could include implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), redesigning performance reviews, or creating recognition programs that reward contributions to key organizational goals. When employees see how their work fits into the bigger picture, they’re more engaged and motivated.

Driving Innovation and Competitive Advantage

Knowledge is power, and innovation is the key to staying ahead of the competition.

Indeed, studies have shown https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-in-a-crisis-why-it-is-more-critical-than-ever that companies with strong innovation performance grow significantly faster than industry peers. In fact, the most innovative companies outperform middle-of-the-pack competitors on revenue growth by up to 2 times, and on profit growth by up to 3 times!

Organizational development can create an environment that nurtures creativity and innovation by:

• Encouraging cross-functional collaboration: OD initiatives can break down silos between departments, bringing together diverse teams with varied expertise and perspectives. This cross-pollination of ideas often leads to innovative solutions and approaches.
• Implementing idea management systems: OD can help establish processes and platforms for capturing, evaluating, and implementing employee ideas. This ensures that good ideas don’t get lost in the shuffle and gives employees a stake in the company’s innovation efforts.
• Creating a safe space for experimentation and risk-taking: OD strategies can help cultivate a culture where failure is seen as a learning opportunity rather than a setback. This encourages employees to think outside the box and take calculated risks, driving innovation forward.

Let’s imagine a scenario where an OD professional is trying to orchestrate an innovation workshop— think Nick Fury assembling the corporate Avengers for an epic brainstorming session.

From R&D wizards to marketing gurus, sales experts to operations specialists, this diverse team of specialists can tackle key business challenges and dream up new product ideas that wouldn’t be possible in isolation:

The OD professional’s role in this innovation endeavor involves:

1. Carefully selecting diverse participants: The OD pro curates a mix of employees from different departments, ensuring a blend of skills, experiences, and perspectives to fuel creative problem-solving.
2. Designing the workshop structure and exercises: They create a series of engaging activities that encourage out-of-the-box thinking and collaborative ideation, making the process both productive and enjoyable.
3. Facilitating the sessions to ensure productive collaboration: The OD expert guides discussions, manages time, and ensures all voices are heard, keeping the energy high and the ideas flowing throughout the workshop.
4. Helping teams refine and pitch their ideas to leadership: They assist teams in honing their concepts, preparing compelling presentations, and effectively communicating the value of their innovations to decision-makers.
5. Supporting the implementation of promising innovations: The OD professional doesn’t just stop at ideation. They help shepherd the best ideas through the implementation process, ensuring they don’t lose momentum once the workshop ends.

8 Important Skills for a Career in Organizational Development

To excel in the field of organizational development, professionals need a diverse set of skills.

Here are 8 of the most important ones:

1. Communication: The ability to articulate ideas clearly and listen actively is paramount in OD.
2. Analytical Thinking: OD professionals must be able to analyze complex organizational issues and develop effective solutions.
3. Change Management: Guiding organizations through transitions is a key aspect of OD work.
4. Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and managing emotions—both your own and others’—is crucial for success in OD.
5. Systems Thinking: The ability to see how different parts of an organization interact and influence each other is essential.
6. Data Analysis: OD professionals often need to interpret data to make informed decisions and measure the impact of interventions.
7. Facilitation: Leading workshops, meetings, and training sessions is a common task in OD roles.
8. Project Management: Many OD initiatives are structured as projects, requiring strong project management skills.

Pro Tip: Want one of the most important skills of all? Check out this resource for more:

The Process of Organizational Development in 7 Steps

Organizational development is not a one-time event but an ongoing process.

Here’s what that a 7-step process might look like, alongside a concrete example with a fictional company called TechInnovate:

1. Entry and Contracting: Establishing the relationship between the OD professional and the client organization.
   • The CEO of TechInnovate reaches out to an OD consultant, concerned about high employee turnover and declining productivity. They agree on the scope of work, timeline, and expected outcomes.
2. Diagnosis: Gathering and analyzing data to understand the organization’s current state and identify areas for improvement.
   • The OD professional conducts employee surveys, interviews key stakeholders, and analyzes company data. They discover that TechInnovate’s rapid growth has led to unclear roles, communication breakdowns, and a disconnect between management and developers.
3. Feedback: Sharing findings with leadership and collaboratively developing action plans.
   • The OD consultant presents findings to TechInnovate’s leadership team. Together, they prioritize addressing the communication gap and clarifying roles as key areas for improvement.
4. Intervention: Implementing strategies to address identified issues and achieve desired outcomes.
   • The OD professional implements several strategies:
     1. Facilitates workshops to clearly define roles and responsibilities
     2. Introduces a new project management tool to improve communication
     3. Conducts leadership training for managers to enhance their communication skills
5. Evaluation: Assessing the effectiveness of interventions and making adjustments as needed.
   • After six months, the OD consultant surveys employees again and analyzes productivity metrics. They find improved satisfaction scores and a 15% increase in project completion rates.
6. Adoption: Integrating successful changes into the organization’s culture and processes.
   • TechInnovate incorporates regular team-building exercises into their schedule, continues leadership training, and makes the new project management tool a standard part of their workflow.
7. Separation: Gradually reducing the OD professional’s involvement as the organization becomes self-sufficient in managing change.
   • The OD consultant gradually reduces their involvement, providing occasional check-ins and advice. TechInnovate’s HR team takes on the responsibility of continuing the initiatives and monitoring progress.”

Challenges in Organizational Development

While OD can bring tremendous benefits, it’s not without its challenges. Here are some common hurdles OD professionals face—alongside strategies to deal with them:

6 Job Titles in Organizational Development

Now that we’ve explored the what, why, and how of organizational development, let’s dive into some exciting career opportunities in this field. Here are some job titles that play important roles in shaping the future of organizations.

Disclaimer: Salary ranges reflect the 25th to 75th percentile in the US, per data from Salary.com http://salary.com at the time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the organization and a candidate’s experience, academic background, and location.

1. Account Manager

Average Salary : $50,000 - $80,000 per year

Job Description: Account Managers in the context of organizational development act as a bridge between the OD consulting firm and client organizations. They manage client relationships, understand organizational needs, and oversee the delivery of OD solutions.

Primary Duties:

• Develop and maintain strong client relationships
• Conduct needs assessments to identify OD opportunities
• Collaborate with OD specialists to design tailored solutions
• Manage project timelines, budgets, and resources
• Present proposals and results to client stakeholders

Education and/or Training Required: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Psychology, or related field; MBA or Master’s in Organizational Development preferred. Certifications in project management or account management are beneficial.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: Account Managers ensure that OD initiatives are aligned with client needs and expectations. They help translate organizational challenges into actionable OD strategies.

2. Organizational Psychologist

Average Salary: $100,000 - $160,000 per year

Job Description: Organizational Psychologists apply psychological principles to workplace issues. They study human behavior in organizational settings and develop strategies to improve employee performance, satisfaction, and overall organizational effectiveness.

Primary Duties:

• Conduct psychological assessments and employee surveys
• Develop and implement training programs
• Advise on organizational structure and job design
• Facilitate team-building and conflict resolution
• Research and analyze workplace trends and behaviors

Education and/or Training Required: Ph.D. or Psy.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Licensure may be required depending on the state and specific role.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: Organizational Psychologists bring a deep understanding of human behavior to OD initiatives, providing the necessary insights for the development of a happy and productive work environment.

3. Human Resources Manager

Average Salary: $100,000 - $140,000 per year

Job Description: HR Managers oversee the human resources functions of an organization, including recruitment, employee relations, compensation and benefits, and training and development. In the context of OD, they play a crucial role in implementing people-focused strategies that support organizational goals.

Primary Duties:

• Develop and implement HR policies and procedures
• Manage recruitment and onboarding processes
• Oversee employee performance management systems
• Coordinate training and development programs
• Handle employee relations issues and promote a positive work culture

Education and/or Training Required: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field; Master’s degree often preferred. Professional certifications such as SHRM-CP or PHR are valuable.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: HR Managers are often at the forefront of implementing OD initiatives. They ensure that people’s practices align with organizational strategy, foster employee engagement, and create systems that support continuous learning and development—all crucial aspects of successful organizational development.

4. Change Management Consultant

Average Salary: $90,000 - $120,000 per year

Job Description: Change Management Consultants guide organizations through periods of significant change, such as mergers, restructuring, or the implementation of new technologies. They develop strategies to minimize disruption and maximize the adoption of new processes or systems.

Primary Duties:

• Assess organizational readiness for change
• Develop comprehensive change management plans
• Create and deliver change-related communications
• Design and facilitate training programs to support change initiatives
• Coach leaders and employees through the change process
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of change efforts

Education and/or Training Required: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Psychology, or related field; Master’s degree in Organizational Development or Change Management preferred. Certifications such as Prosci’s Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) are highly valued.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: Change Management Consultants are essential in ensuring that organizational changes—a key aspect of OD—are implemented successfully. They help organizations navigate the human side of change, which is often the most challenging aspect of any OD initiative.

5. Learning and Development Specialist

Average Salary: $90,000 - $120,000 per year

Job Description: Learning and Development Specialists design, implement, and evaluate training programs that enhance employee skills and knowledge. They play a crucial role in fostering a culture of continuous learning within organizations.

Primary Duties:

• Conduct training needs assessments
• Design and develop training materials and curricula
• Deliver training sessions using various methods (in-person, virtual, e-learning)
• Evaluate the effectiveness of training programs
• Stay updated on industry trends and best practices in learning and development
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to create targeted learning experiences

Education and/or Training Required: Bachelor’s degree in Education, Human Resources, or related field; Master’s degree in Instructional Design or Adult Education can be advantageous. Certifications such as ATD’s Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) are valuable.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: Learning and Development Specialists are key to building organizational capabilities. By enhancing employee skills and knowledge, they directly contribute to improved performance, innovation, and adaptability.

6. Talent Acquisition Manager

Average Salary: $120,000 - $150,000 per year

Job Description: Talent Acquisition Managers oversee the recruitment and selection processes for an organization. They develop strategies to attract top talent, build a strong employer brand, and ensure that the organization has the right people to achieve its goals.

Primary Duties:

• Develop and implement recruitment strategies
• Manage the end-to-end recruitment process
• Build and maintain relationships with external recruiters and job boards
• Analyze hiring metrics and report on recruitment effectiveness
• Collaborate with hiring managers to understand staffing needs
• Enhance the candidate experience and employer brand

Education and/or Training Required: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field; Master’s degree can be beneficial. Certifications such as SHRM-CP or AIRS Certified Recruiter are valuable.

How the Role Contributes to Organizational Development: Talent Acquisition Managers play a vital role in shaping the future of an organization by bringing in the right talent. They contribute to OD by ensuring that the organization has the human capital needed to drive change, innovation, and growth.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Organizational Development

Q: What is organizational development?

A: Organizational development is a systematic approach to improving an organization’s effectiveness and health. It involves applying behavioral science knowledge to enhance organizational strategies, structures, and processes, ultimately leading to better performance and employee well-being.

Q: Why is organizational development important for companies?

A: Organizational development helps companies adapt to change, enhance employee engagement and productivity, and drive innovation. It improves organizational effectiveness by developing a positive work culture, aligning individual goals with company objectives, and creating an environment that nurtures creativity and competitive advantage.

Q: What skills and qualifications do I need to work in organizational development?

A: Important skills for working in organizational development include strong communication, analytical thinking, change management expertise, systems thinking, project management and emotional intelligence. Typically, a bachelor’s degree in Business, Psychology, or a related field is required, with many positions preferring a master’s degree in Organizational Development. Professional certifications can also be beneficial in advancing your career in this field.

Q: What jobs are there in organizational development?

A: There are various career opportunities in organizational development, including Account Manager, Organizational Psychologist, Human Resources Manager, Change Management Consultant, Learning and Development Specialist, and Talent Acquisition Manager. These roles contribute to organizational development in different ways, from managing client relationships and applying psychological principles to workplace issues, to implementing people-focused strategies and guiding organizations through significant changes.

Is OD Right for You? Reflecting on Your Career Path

If you’re intrigued by the idea of helping companies navigate change, improve team dynamics, and boost overall performance, OD might just be your calling!

Let’s quickly recap some key points from this article:

• OD is crucial for adapting to change, enhancing employee engagement, and driving innovation.
• Key skills for OD professionals include communication, analytical thinking, change management, and emotional intelligence.
• The OD process involves stages like diagnosis, feedback, intervention, and evaluation.
• Common challenges in OD include resistance to change, lack of leadership support, and difficulty in measuring impact.
• Career opportunities in OD include roles such as Account Manager, Organizational Psychologist, Change Management Consultant, and Talent Acquisition Manager.
• These roles contribute to OD by aligning strategies with organizational goals, applying psychological principles, implementing people-focused initiatives, and guiding change processes.

Still unsure if it’s the path for you? Check out our comprehensive career guide here!