OrgDev with Distinction

Hosted by Dani Bacon and Garin Rouch

Business EntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

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Episodes

114

Latest episode

May 2026

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EN-GB

About the show

The Org Dev podcast is all about Organisational Development, a practice that has the power to transform organisations, shape cultures, and empower individuals. Yet, it's often shrouded in mystery and misunderstood. But fear not, because on this podcast, we pull back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of Organisation Development. We demystify the concepts, unravel the strategies, and delve into the real-life experiences of professionals who are driving real and significant change and innovation within organisations.

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60 recent

May 29, 2026Episode 10529 min

Whole Scale Change in Complex Organisations with Dr. Paul Tolchinsky

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!What does it really take to create large-scale organisational change that lasts?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we speak with Paul Tolchinsky - pioneer of Whole-Scale™ Change, cofounder of the European Organisation Design Forum (EODF) and one of the most influential voices in large-system transformation and organisation design.Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Paul shares lessons from working with organisations around the world to accelerate change by engaging people at every level of the system. We explore socio-technical systems thinking, participation and engagement, organisation design, and why sustainable transformation depends on involving the whole organisation - not just senior leadership.From his early work redesigning manufacturing systems at General Foods to shaping the evolution of Whole-Scale Change approaches, Paul reflects on the experiences, ideas and turning points that have influenced his thinking and what still matters most in organisation development today.Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

May 8, 2026Episode 1041 hr 1 min

Leaders Think They’re Driving Change - So Why Isn’t It Landing with Rupert Brown

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!Why do so many transformation and change programmes fail to deliver in practice – even when the strategy looks solid?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we explore why organisational change breaks down during execution, and what leaders, HR and organisation development practitioners can do to make change actually stick. We look at the gap between strategy and reality – from leadership alignment and decision-making to the lived experience of change across teams.If you’re leading transformation, working in HR or OD, or responsible for delivering change, this episode offers practical insight into how to execute change more effectively and sustainably.Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

May 2, 2026Episode 1031 hr 5 min

Workplace Conflct - What Smart Leaders Do Differently with Rick Buccheri I|

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we’re joined by Rick Buccheri, an organisational development practitioner based in New York, to explore conflict, collaboration and the real work of change. Drawing on his experience in organisational consulting and conflict resolution, Rick shares how tension shows up beneath the surface of teams - and what it takes to engage with it productively.We discuss why conflict is often avoided or mishandled, how power and responsibility shape workplace dynamics, and what leaders can do to create the conditions for more honest, effective conversations. Rather than seeing conflict as something to eliminate, Rick reframes it as a capability - one that organisations need to develop if they want to work through complexity and deliver meaningful change.If you work in leadership, HR or organisation development, this episode offers a practical perspective on how to navigate conflict, strengthen collaboration and support teams to take responsibility rather than defaulting to blame.Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

April 24, 2026Episode 10258 min

The Hidden Leadership Power of Endings with Lizzie Bentley Bowers and Alison Lucas

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!How do leaders handle endings well - and why do so many organisations rush past them?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we speak with Lizzie Bentley Bowers and Alison Lucas about one of the most overlooked aspects of leadership and organisational change: endings.Many organisations focus on launches, growth, restructures, mergers and new strategies. Far less attention is given to what is being left behind - projects ending, team changes, role loss, leadership exits, funding cuts and organisational transitions.We explore why poorly handled endings can create uncertainty, grief, resistance, disengagement and hidden disruption. Lizzie and Alison share practical insight on how leaders can guide people through endings with clarity, care and honesty - helping organisations move forward without damaging trust, morale or performance.If you work in leadership, HR, organisation development, change management or culture transformation, this episode offers practical ideas for handling transition and creating stronger beginnings.Topics coveredLeadership during changeOrganisational endingsRestructures and transitionsEmployee trust and moraleCommunication in uncertaintyCulture through changeWhy endings shape beginningsWish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

April 17, 2026Episode 1011 hr 0 min

Leading Change in a Human Way with Gareth Evans

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!What does it take to support people and organisations working under pressure, complexity, and trauma?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we welcome Gareth Evans, Lead for Specialist Organisational Development at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. A facilitator, coach, and thought leader in relational and trauma-informed OD, Gareth is the developer of the Conversational Spaces Framework and co-developer of the OD Practice Framework for working with organisational trauma.Together, we explore how organisation development can create the conditions for connection, collaboration, and meaningful work in complex and emotionally demanding environments.Topics include: trauma-informed OD, organisational trauma, conversational spaces, systems thinking, complexity, and relational practice.Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

April 10, 2026Episode 1001 hr 4 min

Adaptive Action - Human Systems Dynamics with Glenda Eoyang - Orgdev Episode 100

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!Most organisations are still managed as if they can be controlled, predicted and engineered into success. But what if that assumption is the problem?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we explore a different way of seeing organisations - not as machines to optimise, but as complex human systems that are constantly shifting, adapting, and responding to their environment. If you’re dealing with messy change, unclear direction, or patterns that don’t seem to shift despite your best efforts, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership and organisation development.This is a special episode - our 100th - and a fitting moment to step back and ask a more fundamental question: what does it really mean to lead in complexity?We’re joined by one of the most influential voices in this space, to unpack practical ways of working with uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it. We get into Human Systems Dynamics (HSD), the CDE Model (Containers, Differences, Exchanges), and Adaptive Action - not as theory, but as tools leaders can actually use to understand patterns, make better decisions, and take action in real timeWish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

April 1, 2026Episode 991 hr 4 min

The Workplace Productivity Trap - Dynamic Work Design wirth Nelson Repenning MIT OrgDev Episode 99

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!Why do so many organisations struggle to improve productivity - even when they invest heavily in strategy, transformation and new ways of working?Nelson Repenning, co-author of There’s Got to Be a Better Way, describes the hidden systems that shape how work actually gets done. Drawing on decades of research at MIT and real-world organisational transformation, Nelson unpacks why well-intentioned improvements often fail - and what leaders can do differently.We explore the core ideas behind work design, the structural causes of inefficiency, and why fixing productivity isn’t about working harder, but redesigning how work flows across teams and systems. This conversation gets underneath the surface of strategy execution, operational performance, and organisational effectiveness - offering practical insight for leaders, HR, and OD practitioners trying to make change stick.If you’re dealing with slow execution, overloaded teams, or initiatives that never quite land, this episode will help you see the system differently - and act on itWish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

March 26, 2026Episode 9859 min

The Real Reason Strategy Fails with Stefan Cousquer - OrgDev Episode 98

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!Why do leadership teams say the future matters - and then fail to make time for it?This episode examines a common pattern inside organisations: strong strategies, but limited execution. We explore how top teams prioritise, make decisions, and enable strategic change, and why leadership effectiveness is often constrained not by capability, but by how time, attention, and work are structured.Here are the links to Stefan’s latest editorials:Why strategy fails – the five tensions future-ready executive teams learn to steward: https://www.hultashridge.com/en/insights/article/strategy-and-transformation/Your executive team doesn’t have a strategy problem – they have a time problem: https://www.hultashridge.com/en/insights/article/faculty-column-transformation/Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

March 13, 2026Episode 971 hr 13 min

Leadership in Complex Systems with Dr Jean Boulton - OrgDev Episode 97

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!In this episode, Dr Jean Boulton joins us to explore how ideas from complexity science can help leaders understand strategy, power and change in uncertain environments. What really drives change in organisations - and what quietly kills it? Why do some initiatives gain traction while others fade away, even when the intent is strong?Originally trained as a physicist and now a strategy practitioner, Jean brings a distinctive perspective on why organisations rarely behave in the neat, predictable ways our plans assume.We discuss why traditional approaches to strategy often struggle in complex systems, how power and relationships shape outcomes inside organisations, and what leaders can do when cause and effect are not clear.If you're interested in complexity thinking, strategy under uncertainty and leading organisational change, this conversation offers a practical way to think about the messy reality of organisational life.Wish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch

February 27, 2026Episode 961 hr 0 min

Is Your HR Operating Model Set Up to Win ? with Perry Timms - OrgDev Episode 96

We'd love to hear from you so send us a message!Why has HR’s operating model barely changed in 25 years – while everything around it has?In this episode of the OrgDev Podcast, we speak with Perry Timms about the uncomfortable truth at the heart of modern HR: we’ve spent decades optimising processes instead of redesigning how HR actually works.As organisations evolve at pace – driven by digital transformation, new workforce expectations, agility, and shifting power dynamics – many HR functions are still operating with models built for a different era. Perry argues that incremental improvement is no longer enough. What’s required is a fundamental rethink of HR’s operating model, its role in organisation design, and its contribution to business value and societal impact.We explore:Why traditional HR structures struggle to support adaptive organisationsThe limits of efficiency thinking in transformation workSelf-managed and freedom-centred work systemsThe future of HR operating modelsWhat “Better Business for a Better World” really means in practiceWish you had a handy recap of the episode? So did we.That’s why each week in our Next Step to Better newsletter, we’re sharing From Pod to Practice – a 2-page visual summary of each episode designed to help you take the learning from the podcast and into your work.You’ll get: ■ Key insights from the episode ■ A reflection prompt ■ A suggested actionSign up now to get From Pod to Practice delivered to your inbox each week: https://distinction.live/keep-in-touch/About UsWe’re Dani and Garin – Organisation Development (OD) practitioners who help leaders and people professionals tackle the messiness of organisational life. We focus on building leadership capability, strengthening team effectiveness, and designing practical, systemic development programmes that help you deliver on your team and organisational goals. We also offer coaching to support individual growth and change.Find out more at www.distinction.live We'd love to connect with you on Linked In:linkedin.com/in/danibacon478https://www.linkedin.com/in/garinrouch