The field of OD is grounded in humanistic values. In this session we'll explore what organizations would look like if we truly centered our businesses around human dignity, learning, and well-being.
The Human-Centered Organization: OD's Role in Bringing Radical Humanity to the Workplace
Presenter: Maya Townsend
October 17, 5-7pm, virtual
In November 2022, an international group of business leaders and thinkers asked: “What are organizations centered around?” The answers were telling: Leaders. Operations. Profit. Customers. Managers. Money. Notably missing from the list were purpose, human well-being, learning, and growth.
Many of today's organizations replicate the Taylorist model, which believes employees are tools to be used, not human beings with ideas, energy, needs, or rights. What would our organizations look like if we treated people as unique and valuable? If we conceived of people as our most valuable source of organizational energy and contribution rather than a cost to be managed?
The field of OD is grounded in humanistic values. Many of us strive to help our clients become more just, democratic, and collaborative. In this session, participants will:
Explore what organizations would look like if we truly centered our businesses around human dignity, learning, and well-being.
Consider/learn the impacts of human centering on practices such as appraising performance, hiring, onboarding, and managing.
Leave with new ideas and inspiration for OD’s role in developing vibrant, energized, human-centered organizations.
Bio Maya Townsend is the founder and lead consultant of Partnering Resources, specializing in bringing diverse groups together to tackle complex systemic challenges. She helps clients create adaptive strategies, develop collaboration, navigate change, and resolve conflict effectively. Maya is a published author who teaches conflict resolution, negotiation, networked leadership, business ecosystem strategy, collaboration, and change management at graduate and undergraduate levels. Maya holds a Master of Science degree in Organization Development (MSOD) and is pursuing a doctorate in Leadership and Change through Antioch University.
Maya is also the co-editor of Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network (AMACOM, 11/2012). She wrote the chapter on “Organization Network Dynamics and Analysis” for The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change, and she serves on the Editorial Review Board for OD Review, the premier organization development practitioner journal in the United States.
