Dear Good Members, 

As the 2018 incoming President for GOOD Network, I am truly honored to work with the outstanding talented individuals on our Leadership Board, Communities of Practice, and our  members in our OD profession.  I will work hard to enhance your dedication to promoting the OD profession and meet your expectations as an organization.  

I cannot do this alone, and I am grateful for the team of talented, knowledgeable, and humble professionals I am privileged to work with.  There are familiar names and new people that have joined on our Board and CoP and organization committees. Refer to the organizational chart for names of our leadership team and their roles in GOOD Network.  I encourage you to meet someone new each time you attend a GOOD Network event.  

Our Greater Orlando OD Network now has over 200 members and is comprised of corporate members and individual consultants.  

When contemplating the message to share with you all, the key word I chose is innovation. To better understand the significance of the word, I thought a brief overview of the history of OD as a profession and background on our local chapter should be the starting place to embrace how technology and innovation are changing our profession. Some of you may not know about the history of our profession, my hope is you find this of interest and value. For more information about the OD Network, go to The Organization Development Network website.

Bill Gellermann and Mark Frankel spearheaded a global effort to develop and disseminate a statement of values and ethics in organization and human systems development. Their efforts brought together widespread support, over 600 people from 25 countries that referenced values and ethics in our profession that established a Statement of Values and Ethics and an Organization and Human Systems Development Credo that is the framework of OD.  

A brief summary of the OD Network Credo is 

Our purpose as professionals is to facilitate processes by which human beings and human systems live and work together for their mutual benefit and mutual well-being. Our practice is based on a widely shared learning and discovery process dedicated to a vision of people living meaningful, productive, good lives in ways that simultaneously serve them, their organizations, their communities, their societies, and the world.

We are an interdependent community of professionals whose practice is based on the applied behavioral sciences and other related sciences, a human systems perspective, and both human and organizational values. We serve people at all system levels, ranging from individuals and groups to organizations, communities, and ultimately the global community.  

The expanded latest version of the Credo is found here and definitely worth a read that requires reflection.  It is beautiful and should make you feel proud of what you do. 

Moving to our own Greater Orlando OD Network, I was fortunate to have time with Vicki Lavendol, [previous GOOD Network President and current executive leadership member] who shared 2014 strategic plan as part of my orientation. This helped me have greater appreciation into the thought leadership behind our professional organization.  There were three overarching themes established:

1. Enhance bi-monthly meeting value with quality standards
2. Expand value beyond bi-monthly meetings, thus communities of practice were born
3. Engage greater leadership and volunteer opportunities

The individuals that spent time and forethought in 2014 by creating GOOD Network best practice standards at that retreat made it possible for our chapter to be recognized as with an Outstanding Regional Network Award in 2015 from the national OD Network.  When I interviewed for the position of President of GOOD Network, I knew I wanted to keep those standards in place and work to have our chapter recognized for that award again.   I am so excited to work with the seasoned members of the leadership team and the new members that bring such rich experience and background to our organization.  I look forward to meeting with the executive team in January 2018 to look at those guidelines with the goal of achieving that recognition again.  

My goals for 2018 during my tenure as President include: 

1. Apply and win recognition as an outstanding regional chapter organization
2. Unify and expand our communication outreach through multiple social channels that share the GOOD Network news and recognize individuals in our membership
3. Educate our members about trends and future innovation in our profession. The Organization Development Network Annual Conference (October 18-October 21, 2018) and will be held in Alexandria, Virginia. I encourage you all to attend the conference.  I plan on attending and will share the latest in our profession with you through blog articles and updates via social channels. What a great way to network with others in our profession and expand your reach outside of Orlando. My hope is to bring awareness to other OD professionals attending and encourage them to connect with our membership and look for opportunities to bring awareness to our region that expands our reach.

We have new communities of practice you can attend from a monthly book club featuring the book we received in October (Radical Collaboration), to webinars about trends in technology, external AND internal consulting groups, a new training and learning group, coaching, and mentoring.  We continue to push the boundaries and find ways to bring more value to our members based on feedback and the wonderful network of individuals that step up to volunteer. 

Over the next year, your GOOD Network board will work to respond to the ever-changing needs of our field.  We will enhance networking opportunities, strategic solutions, and continue to expand our member services.  We will continue to advocate for our profession, increase our visibility in the community, and incorporate breakout sessions and panel discussions in our meetings.  We will continue to recognize our membership for all they bring to GOOD Network through appreciation events and through social channels, along with other resources that enhance the GOOD Network’s benefit to its members.

I look forward to meeting each person that is a member of the GOOD Network.  I encourage you to reach out to me at ijohnston@pivotbusinessconsulting.com or speak with me at one of our regularly scheduled program meetings, communities of practice or networking events.

Sincerely, 

Isabella Johnston, President