Practicing Organization Development, 5th Edition

CHAPTER EIGHTEENIntervention Selection and Design: Using OD&C Principles to PLAN Intentional Change

Steven H. Cady and C. Theodor Forde-Stiegler

Effective intervention design is a cornerstone of successful Organizational Development and Change (OD&C). Unlike traditional change management, which often imposes pre-designed solutions on organizations, OD&C engages the entire system in the design process. This level of engagement ensures that change initiatives are purpose-driven, effective, sustainable, and aligned with organizational goals. This chapter explores the significance of crafting intentional interventions through a participatory approach involving stakeholders at all levels.

Effective intervention selection and design requires collaboration that invites input from all parts of the organization. Organizations can tap into collective wisdom by involving everyone in the design process for solutions that resonate with the organizational culture and dynamics. This engagement fosters ownership and alignment, ensuring interventions are more than a temporary fix but are instead a sustainable path to growth and transformation (Cady and Fleshman 2012). This approach bypasses the need to create buy-in later, as co-owners of a co-designed solution will support and defend what they have helped create.

Intentional interventions are co-created rather than merely chosen. They are planned in ways that allow for agility, akin to the phrase often used in our field, to “Plan tight, hang ...