Chatting About Change with Dr. Jim Maddox

My guest for this episode is Michelle Clarke, who is a Global Leadership Coach & Facilitator, Coach Trainer, and Improv Coach – YES!  She describes her fascinating journey from South Africa to Santiago, Chili. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of using the cloud to deliver leadership coaching and group facilitation.  She describes how she provides cross-cultural facilitation virtually around the globe. Michelle also shares how she conducts Improv workshops to develop leaders, increase group creativity, and improve listening and communication skills.  

My guest for this episode is Angela Nan, who is a consultant and professor in Myanmar.  She is a recent graduate of Assumption University with her Ph.D. in Organization Development.  She talks about her recently launched consulting practice and her work with empowering and training female leaders in her country.  She is part of a growing presence of new OD practitioners introducing OD and expanding its use across their region.

My guests for this episode are two of the authors of the soon to be released book, Syngineering; Building Agility into Any Organization, Bill Zybac and Richard Thayer.  Bill poses a powerful question, “How do we deal with the volatility and complexity all around us, and all kinds of unintended consequences playing out all over the globe?”  Our conversation explores the field of organization design and some of the book’s ideas and strategies to help design organizations to adapt and manage change.  A core approach is to bring all voices together to work across silos, applying Gestalt theories and an organic approach.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Brian Primack, who is the Dean of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas.  He has a unique skillset with a background in both human development and psychology along with an M.D. in Family Medicine.  He shares his perspective on the impact of the changes in technology (especially social media) on health outcomes.  We discuss how during the pandemic, technology and social media are providing a lifeline for those who are isolated, and at the same time how the use of social media is linked to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

 My guest this week is Manish Srivastava, who shares his journey from the director of learning and development for Unilever into working globally with such issues as child malnutrition with UNICEF in Ethiopia and Human Capital efforts and engaging the youth around sustainable change in Cambodia.  He has been a consultant with the Presencing Institute at MIT University for a number of years.  He shares his stories around Awareness Based Systems Change and how unintended consequences impact broader system components.  He describes his work around using poetry, theater, and mindfulness to help leaders and organizations to become more self-aware – not just systems thinking but also systems feelings.  During this pandemic with physical isolation, he is helping people to reframe their reality around possibilities, empathy, and recognizing the helplessness of the current situation which provides the potential to find our deeper connections, from sitting with our brokenness, and experiencing these realities together.  

My guest this week is Rod Barnett who does consulting in organization development and people development with his consulting firm, Salient Management Consulting.  He currently resides in Australia, just outside of Sidney.

My guest is Angela Springer, who is a regional director of HR for a media company.  She shares the increased need for HR to help the organization focus on employee health and safety.  HR is helping organizations to make decisions around the needs and perspective of employees.  We also discuss the nature of virtual workspaces.  She shares her perspective around maintaining relationships with remote employees and the impact on organizational culture.

My guest this episode is Michael Broom, the CEO at the Center for Human Systems.  Michael shares his deep systems thinking skills and insights as we discuss the challenges around doing OD work in non-face-to-face settings.  He shares some thoughts around some current projects with Google and NASA on helping these organizations to build OD capacity and approach challenges from a systems perspective.

My guest this episode is Renee Duxler, the Director of Economic & Workforce Development at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.  Renee shares her passion for community engagement during our conversation centering on her new role with the Chamber and the challenges and opportunities with small Midwest cities.  Renee’s background in social work and community activism is proving useful in creating awareness on the broader community challenges and needs facing many small towns.

My guest this episode is Gözde Berber Özbalaban, Associate Partner at Management Centre Turkiye and owner of the consulting firm, “Lead Fit”.  She lives in Istanbul, Turkey.  We talk about the need for resilience, and that to have resilient organizations, you must first have resilient leaders.  Gozde shares her insights around the role of self-care and personal habits around fitness for effective leadership.   We talk about the challenges and opportunities around leading remotely and how to create trust in this day of Zoom.