Follow developments in the field of organization development by staying current with organization development education and training news and trends. For instance, participate in organizational development workshops, seminars and training courses. Connect with members of groups that offer networking opportunities for individuals involved in developing organizations. Additionally, you can take educational courses related to organization development.

Examine your goals to decide whether or not customized services fill your needs or if ready-made products work best for you. Then, determine what learning methods you prefer to gain knowledge about group improvement.

1. Work with consulting firms that offer organization development training.

2. Interact with other professionals to gain OD education and insight.

3. Take web-based organization development training courses.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Invest in companies that specialize in organizational development training

Enhance your team's effectiveness, learn how to manage change and develop focus groups, and gain intelligence about the ethics of organizational interventions. Fortify your board or top management with training about change management, insight on leadership to support managers and staff, facilitation skills to guide group processes, and other tools to align your team with a common goal.

I recommend: Toolpack Consulting LLC serves companies, nonprofit organizations, governmental groups and consultants with organizational development resources. This business also provides articles about employee empowerment, motivation and using mission statements. Align provides organizational development education and training and is a division of the Western States Learning Corporation. Tap their expertise through organizational development, training and human resources consultants.

Network with others to stay abreast of organizational development training

Join an organization that connects you with others who are interested in following trends in the field of organizational development. Search for groups that offer members journals, books, article abstracts, management reviews, and other organization development education and training tools.

I recommend: Connect with the Professional Organizational Development Network in Higher Education to stay informed of the latest trends affecting organizational development. You can network with other professionals nationally and globally. Gain a global perspective of news and trends in the field of organization development training through Emerald Group Publishing Limited's publications. The company is a top publisher of management research, such as organization development education and training.

Study OD education through organizational development courses

Whether or not your business is corporate or nonprofit, invest in organizational development training that customizes education for your needs or provides pre-developed educational courses from which to choose. Organization development courses can provide insight on workplace culture, cross-cultural communication, adult development, needs assessments, as well as leadership and human relations. Study in person or consider online organizational development courses.

I recommend: Train with the College of Education at Oregon State University, which offers organizational development classes to support facilitation skills for guiding others in long-term change through behavioral science theory. In addition, learn skills to conduct needs analyses and develop learning strategies. Gain knowledge about ways to evaluate program effectiveness. Get in touch with MindLeaders, a company that provides e-learning organizational development classes. They also offer organizational development education for small businesses, corporate and governmental, academic, and human resources professionals.

Use organization development education and training to help you to identify your business priorities, the process to make your business a success and what behavioral areas need change and developing. You can use organization development training courses not only for you, but for your staff as well. Help develop your teams by improving their skills for collaboration and teamwork. Use the training to show employees how to adopt high performance successful attitudes, emotions and behaviors. Put results-based goals in front of your team and concentrate on areas of priority. Maintain and measure the results over a period of time to evaluate success or draw up a new game plan.

Organization development education and training is vital to improving processes within your company, gaining a competitive advantage, improving your staff's adaptability, increasing your efficiency and promoting growth and progress within your business.

To find the right organization development training for you:

1. Determine if the organizational development training is for an individual or a group.

2. Assess the time factor of the training. At what point does the training not become cost effective time wise?

3. Create a budget to accommodate all of the organizational development training costs.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find organizational development courses through an industry directory

Skip Google or Yahoo, and instead find your organizational development training courses through industry specific directories or search engines.

I recommend: Find an Organizational Development Certification program through the StudentCorner.com search engine. Look at the online education directory from the Society for Human Resource Management. There you can find their "Organizational Development" Course Catalog.

Go back to school for your organizational development education

Whether you are pursuing a masters or just certification, pursue your organizational development education through an accredited learning facility.

I recommend: Regent University offers a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership. Find certification programs and workshops from the Crawford Group. Look at the Organizational Development Program offered by the Leadership Excellence University. Help your whole team experience organization Development training through the folks at InnerWork Company.

Take organizational development training workshops

Pursue your organizational development training through a variety of workshops.

I recommend: Find OD education workshops from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Check out the Managing Multiple Projects, Objectives and Deadlines workshop from Skillpath to increase your organizational development skills. Look at the organization development education training opportunities offered through Duke University. Find out about workshop information from Colorado State University.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Use organizational development education to turn your staff into business leaders who can compete in an aggressive business world. They need to be at the top of their game as far as quality, and utilizing organizational development classes will help position them for success.

Organization development is an integral part to the success of any organization with leadership being a key component. Strong leadership in an organization involves strong ethics, providing professional development opportunities for employees, possessing strong communication skills and staying abreast of technological advances to enable the organization to remain competitive in the future.

One can obtain organization development education and training through certification programs, online courses, college courses, which enable one to earn a degree, on-site training programs, workshops and seminars.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Organizational Development Certification

Organizational Development Certification involves instruction on strategic planning, identifying competencies that are beneficial to implementing change, identifying issues that impede the organization's performance and resolving conflicts before they cause damage to the organization.

I recommend: For more information on obtaining an Organizational Development Certification, refer to New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Organizational development online courses

Online courses are a convenient way for individuals to receive organizational development education and training, for it provides them flexibility as to when they complete coursework. Courses relevant to organizational development include those related to attitude change and motivation, career development, employment law, leadership, earning respect and employee benefit programs.

I recommend: Refer to the Society for Human Resource Management website for online courses pertaining to organizational development.

Master of Arts in Organizational Development

An Organizational Development Master of Arts programs include instruction in leadership incorporating elements that are necessary for increasing the effectiveness of an organization, such as ethics, creativity, and teamwork. Other courses include those related to problem solving, motivation, conflict resolution, strategic planning, mentoring and communication.

I recommend: For information on Master of Arts programs in Organizational Development, refer to the Regent University School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship website.

Organizational development on-site training

On-site training programs can be a cost effective method of providing a group of employees instruction on organizational development. Another advantage to on-site training programs is that providers will often tailor training programs to address the specific needs of the organization.

I recommend: Refer to the Leadership Excellence University website for more information on their on-site organizational development training programs.

Organizational development workshops

Workshops can be an informal method of instruction that generally involve individuals working together in small groups, participating in group exercises to develop teamwork and problem solving skills and often includes discussion of experiences shared by group members.

I recommend: For information on organizational development workshops, refer to the Colorado State University Office of Training and Organizational Development.

Employee retention strategies

Employee retention is an indicator of how well your organization is functioning. Granted, individuals seek employment elsewhere for higher pay or improved health insurance benefits, but higher than normal levels of employees leaving an organization is an indicator that there are other underlying issues. Employee retention strategies can identify and remedy problems within an organization that in turn will improve morale and employee retention levels.

I recommend: Refer to Employee Retention Strategies website to learn how to implement strategies within your organization.