The OD School: An intensive for leaders
who are redesigning their organisations, starting
with themselves.
The OD School is a 10-week, high-touch executive programme for senior leaders who are actively shaping or delivering organisational redesign.
Created and led by Jill Foley and Carla Henry, it combines a proven organisational design methodology with decades of hands-on experience, live coaching and a curated peer group giving you the structured thinking and practical tools to design an organisation that is fit for the future.
Welcome
Why this programme is different?
Most OD programmes teach you a framework. This one builds your capability to lead the change yourself.
The OD School combines a proven 8-step methodology with the leadership insight needed to navigate the complexity, politics and emotion that every redesign brings.
You will not just leave with a better operating model, you will leave as a more effective leader of organisational change.
Who is it for?
Senior leaders who are:
Accountable for solving real organisational design challenges
Leading or sponsoring transformation, operating model shifts or major redesign
Operating at C-Suite, C-1 or C-2 level
Ready to apply a structured methodology to a live, in-flight piece of work
Ideal participants include: COOs, HRDs, Heads of Transformation, Strategy Leads, Talent Directors and senior OD/Change practitioners.
Introducing the OD Circle Line model
Your 10-week journey
A structured, practical journey through The Circle Line applied directly to your own live organisational challenge.
What you will learn
The programme is organised around the steps in The Circle Line model. Each week, we cover a new step (or steps) and the design questions that need to be resolved. We will share tools and practical guidance on how to use them as well as bringing insights, examples of good practice and lessons we have learned about what typically goes wrong and how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
At each session, you will have an opportunity to apply the model to your business challenge and benefit from coaching support and guidance from other participants as well as Carla and Jill.
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Redesigning your organisation is an opportunity to refresh, recharge and reinvigorate your business. It is also an inherently risky endeavour.
OD projects are unsettling for colleagues, a distraction from business as usual and complex (there are no right answers).
In week 1 we introduce the 8-step OD model The Circle Line and explore what it takes to deliver a successful OD project.
When to redesign and what to redesign
Ensuring leaders are fully ready for what lies ahead
Shaping your approach and setting up the right design team
Building capability beyond this project – enabling ‘always on’ OD
We will also give you space to introduce yourselves, get to know each other a little and explore the business challenge you are bringing to the programme.
Module 2:
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Building a compelling case for change is arguably the most important step in the design process. It sets direction and articulates clear outcomes and success measures.
Your case for change is the foundation that underpins all subsequent steps in the design process.
In module 2, we explore how to get to clarity, alignment and confidence on:
The purpose and scope of change – a compelling narrative that connects, engages and inspires at all levels
The goals and quantifiable benefits of change – how this change makes us a better business
Clear design guiding principles – that inform and guide design choices
Module 3:
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In module 3 we cover the steps in defining future work:
Starting from a clear understanding of the work that drives disproportionate value – the things you need to do brilliantly to sustain competitive advantage
Defining where and how that work will be done e.g. centre / region / offshore, in-house vs external
End-to-end process design
We will also discuss the emerging implications of AI through stimulus and inputs from thought leaders
Module 4:
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Organisation charts set out reporting relationships and impact the way power and authority are allocated, which can be highly emotive. We will explore organisation charts and design beyond the hierarchy of a chart and what organisation design models can work
In this module we cover:
Workforce shaping and resource planning
The basics of job design
Building the organisation chart, from organisation models to spans and layer, team sizes what really important and what’s not
Matching talent to value, how do your people add value today and tomorrow and designing talent strategies future back
Module 5:
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Every organisation design creates a cultural shift, whether you intended it or not. Structure shapes behaviour, and behaviour shapes results.
Yet most OD projects skip over these questions entirely or leave them until it is too late.
In module 5 we tackle the design choices that matter most but are hardest to draw on a chart.
How your new design will change the way people lead, collaborate and make decisions
Identifying the behaviours that will make or break your new operating model
Designing the leadership shifts required – not just the structural ones
Navigating the political and emotional realities of change
Module 6:
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A brilliant design that does not get implemented is just an expensive PowerPoint.
In our final module we focus on what happens after the design is signed off – the part where most OD projects quietly fail.
Aligning performance measures and incentives with your new model
Governance – who owns the design and how it evolves
Transition planning and the critical first 90 days
Building ‘always on’ OD capability so you are not back here in three years
Module 1:
What our clients say
Between us, we have over 60+ years of experience helping organisations design and redesign themselves. Here is what some of our clients say about working with us.
Throughout our careers, we have had the privilege of partnering on change, organisation design and leadership development initiatives with a wide range of organisations, including:
Nando’s, TalkTalk, Cathay Pacific, Pentland Brands, Eastspring Investments, Kellogg’s, SABMiller, Mastercard Foundation, Mars, Novartis, Sky, Bupa, Whitbread, Google, PayPal, Inchcape, BBC, BP, Prudential, Mondelez, Britvic, Gilead, Aviva, Swire Shipping, Carnival, Croda, Sage, Christie’s, Save the Children, United Utilities, Morrisons, The Open University
and many more…
What You Will Get
A structured, practical journey through The Circle Line, applied personally to your own live organisational challenge.
6 x weekly virtual workshops (2 hours each)
3 x 1:1 mentoring sessions with Jill or Carla (before, during and after)
Weekly applied exercises (approx. 1 hour)
Tools, templates and practical frameworks
A curated peer group of senior leaders
Access to all materials and our learning platform
Ongoing support via The OD Collective community
Why Join?
You will:
Access Jill and Carla’s live coaching and consulting experience
Join a small, highly curated cohort of peers and experts doing the work
Apply the methodology directly to your own live challenge
Receive all the methodology, tools and workbook for your own use
Strengthen your organisation’s ability to design and redesign itself
Interested in joing our next cohort?
To register your interest and to receive more information
