June 8, 2019 
9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M 
June 9, 2019 
9:00 A.M - 4:00 P.M. 
 
American University, Spring Valley Building, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20016 
 
    Dialogic Organization Development is a recently conceptualized alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid, socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images. Leaders and consultants can help foster change by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-grant ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new organizational conversations and narratives. 
 
     In this two-day theory and practice workshop one of the creators of Dialogic OD, Bob Marshak, will explain its basic premises and how generative change differs from classical ideas about planned change. Bob’s pioneering ideas and methods for how to apply dialogic premises in the moment with clients through generative conversations will also be explained and practiced. 
This is a unique opportunity to work with and learn from one of the originators of Dialogic OD and a master practitioner of generative conversations. Both coaches and consultants will find this workshop appealing and helpful to their practices.
 
Workshop Topics:
  • The Dialogic OD Mindset. Dialogic OD is not a specific intervention or set of practices. Rather it is a set of premises that lead to a mindset that guides organizational consulting and change. The basic premises will be introduced and explained. 
  • Dialogic Change Requirements. The three critical ingredients needed for dialogic change will be reviewed along with reflecting on what’s needed for them to occur. 
  • Generative Change and Planned Change. Comparing classical planned change with generative change. What’s the difference and why does it matter?
  • The Principles and Premises of Generative Conversations. If ongoing conversations create and recreate the narratives that shape how things are seen and experienced then generative change requires changing the conversations in transformational ways.
  • In the Moment Dialogic Meaning Making with Clients. How coaches and consultants can dialogically intervene in the moment with how clients are creating their reality.
  • Practice with Metaphor and Storyline Reframing Interventions. Multiple opportunities to apply and practice workshop ideas about dialogic meaning making with special attention to metaphors and storylines.