CBODN: About - Interview

CBODN Member Spotlight: Matt Minahan

Member since 1984

Matt Minahan is a teacher, author, consultant, and a dad. Of all these, he's most proud of the dad part, with two almost-grown kids . . . but if you want to read about his worklife, visit www.minahangroup.com He's a teacher in the OD/SHR Masters of Science program in the Business School at Johns Hopkins University, a member of NTL Institute, the founder and coordinator of the ODNet email discussion lists, a very involved OD Network volunteer, and a regular presenter at the ODN and CBODN events.

Matt, thanks very much for going under the “spotlight” for this article. You’ve been very active with CBODN for many years.

I joined right after the founding conference in 1984, and was on the CBODN board in 88 and 89, when Nedra Weinstein and Judy Vogel were Presidents. I'm still extremely close with several people from those boards, so they have literally changed my life, and who I've become.

You’ve been active in CBODN well past the point where you may have relied on your membership for business-building networking or basic OD know-how. What do you get out of your membership?

It's all about the relationships. Through CBODN, I get to see folks I've known for decades, and new folks, too, at every meeting. These relationships can last for a long time, and be very powerful. I'm doing a Future Search right now for a client who I met in CBODN almost 20 years ago, and another piece of work with someone I mentored at a CBODN conference a few years back.

I don't come to CBODN looking for work, but I find that when I'm paying attention to relationships, the work happens naturally, via connections made here at CBODN and elsewhere.

And, the same is true of the OD Network, where I've been a very involved volunteer, and NTL Institute, where I'm also a member and pretty heavily involved staffing T groups and with members' online communications.

Tell us about the CBODN Program you’ll be hosting on March 28. What will you cover?

The session is called "Spiraling through Group Development," and it's a new group development model that I've pulled together, integrating some concepts from Tavistock and Bion, and NTL and Lewin, plus some systems thinkers like Ken Wilber.

I had the huge honor of being asked to write the group development chapter for the brand, spanking new "The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives," edited by friends and colleagues, former CBODN President Brenda Jones, and Michael Brazzel. So, it gave me the chance to integrate some of the theories and concepts from my dissertation, which was on group decision making, with some of the classics in our field, with some newer systems thinkers and philosophers, too.

Who should attend that program?

Anyone who works in groups should find something of interest. Work groups, family groups, neighborhood groups, task groups, play groups, etc etc. We'll do a little simulation, using the great "fishbowl" technique, and then see if there is evidence of the phases of The Group Spiral model in what we saw. It should help make some sense of what's going on in those itchy, uncomfortable moments when things just don't seem right in groups. I think my kids would enjoy it, too . . .

What does your firm specialize in?

We're a very small, boutique firm, specializing in strategic planning, organization design, and leadership development. I work most closely with 3 close friends and associates, and we all cross refer work to each other as well.

What is your favorite kind of work/client?

My favorite projects are 12-24 month projects where we're taking on the hairiest organizational problems imaginable, such as developing a communications infrastructure for an organization with 187,000 people in every conceivable time zone on the planet . . . or building a philosophy and structure to foster and support specialized knowledge and expertise in a global organization . . . creating a new mission, vision, and values for an organization with 50 years of history, but no clear sense of its future . . . redesign and business simplification for the HR function in a world-wide organization, etc. etc. Big, chunky projects that have system-wide or even global implications. I normally take on one project like this every year or two...

What kind of work do you not do now? By choice?

I don't do stand-alone events, such as team building retreats, unless it's the team at the top and in the context of a larger strategy and change program.

Do you partner with other OD practitioners in your work?

Almost every project I work on is in partnership with an OD person I know. Sometimes they're internal, sometimes external. Sometimes, I bring them in, sometimes, they bring me in. But the scale of project that I like best is just too much for one pair of hands and one set of eyes, so I almost always bring in colleagues who have a different perspective on the work than I.

Where does most of your work come from?

ALL of my work comes from people that I know. I don't write proposals; I don't read RFPs. That model works really well for larger firms, but for a small boutique like ours, it's all about who we know, and who knows us. So, if you're starting your practice right now, seek out and nurture relationships with OD folks . . . it may take 15 years, but someday one of them may pay off, as has happened with me right now.

What do you like about your work?

I love the freedom to think and write . . . I love the intimacy with clients . . . . I love the challenges of large, knotty problems in complex, challenging systems . . .

What drives you nuts about your work?

The variability. When things are very busy for me, they are crazy busy. But when things are quiet and the phone's not ringing, it's deathly quiet. Managing my own anxieties in those not-busy periods is difficult. There is always so much room for self doubt when the phone doesn't ring. And, of course, it's always about me, isn't it? . . . . Am I getting too old? too fat? too slow? too forgetful? too persistent? too invisible? too revealing? too witholding? too nice? too demanding? I suppose, it's dealing with my own sense of my self and my doubts that drive me nuts about my work . . .

How have work environments changed since you started working in OD?

The field has lost its sharp shape and identity over my 25 years in the field, especially as it has been taken over by the HR function. As a field, we were napping during the 80s and 90s, when the HR function co-opted our skills and mandate. As a result, some good HR people are doing bits and pieces of good OD, but they don't have the depth of knowledge, education, skill, or experience to do good OD. And, they don't have the independence. In the end, what makes a good OD person good is her or his independence from the system, and willingness to say something that might get themselves fired. I don't see that kind of fierce courage and honesty among people in HR who are doing OD, and that's quite sad.

In my OD Certificate program at Georgetown, the sessions on group interventions struck terror in many of us. Can you comment on that? How can the OD consultant, be they internal or external, keep calm in such a fraught situation?

Remember three things when you're in that situation: 1) breathe; 2) the group knows what it needs to do . . . our job is to help them discover it; and 3) breathe again.

What are some of the more common group process issues you come across?

There are three big issues that I find plague most groups. 1) they often aren't clear about their goals; 2) they often aren't clear about their roles within the group; and 3) they often need help finding the balance between the needs of the individuals versus the needs of the group.

What core capabilities does an OD practitioner need to be successful at group interventions?

I'd recommend a solid grounding in basic group development theory; know the FIRO-B, your Bion, your Bennis and Shepard, your Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model. Know yourself well enough to know what you're good at in a group setting. If you haven't been to a Tavi and a T group, run, don't walk, because there is so much to learn in those settings that can only make us better as intervenors.

What are a couple of “no fail” group interventions you might recommend to novice OD consultants?

I own and make heavy use of the Pfeiffer and Jones Annuals Series. There are lots of good activities and simulations in there and I find that they come in very handy with groups.

Your model draws on the work of group process pioneers like Lewin, Bion, and Schutz. Is there one person or theory in particular that find particularly relevant to your work?

No, I have several favorites, but no one stands out . . . except the Group Spiral, of course! ;-}

Matt, you’ll also be leading a session at the CBODN Annual Conference on April 28. Can you tell us a little about that?

I'm partnering with an OD student in the Johns Hopkins OD/SHR program, Kenya Crawford. We'll be doing a famous simulation, that all OD people ought to know and be familiar with, called Win As Much As You Can. It's been adapted by my good friend and colleague, Bill Gellermann, from the old Prisoners Dilemma simulation. So, it's an opportunity to experience a classic simulation about the tradeoffs between trust and competition. It will be highly interactive, and should be a lot of fun . . . and educational, too. It's the kind of experience that all good OD people should have!

About Matt Minahan

Matt Minahan has more than 25 years experience in strategic planning, organization design and development, executive coaching, leadership development, management effectiveness, and decision making. He works with leaders who are planning enterprise-wide change programs, including business strategy, values, mission, business process simplification, planning systems, new structures, communications, management practices, business process re-engineering, and monitoring and evaluation systems

He works in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, working with senior executive teams who want to develop new business strategies, redesign their organizations to meet new business challenges, improve goal setting, communication and involvement strategies, and management practices.

He earned his doctorate from The George Washington University in Executive Leadership and Organization Development, following an MS in Organization Behavior from the University of Hartford and a BA in Communications from the University of Maryland. He also is on the adjunct faculties of Johns Hopkins University and formerly, the AU/NTL program at American University.

Back

CBODN Member Spotlight is a new monthly feature, offering members an opportunity to learn from, and about, each other. If you are interested in being profiled in an upcoming Member Spotlight, please send an email to Nancy Bauer, Membership Co-Chair, at Nancy@NBCconsulting.com.