U.S. Cellular and the Greater Chicago Food Depository are winners of the First Annual Impact Awards sponsored by the Organization Development Network of Chicago (ODNC). The Association for Individual Development was awarded an Honorable Mention in the not-for-profit category. 

The Impact Awards were created to celebrate professional excellence and emphasize the contribution of Organization Development (OD) to organizational health and performance. 

For Profit Winner - U. S. Cellular
Recipient: Jacqueline E. Pauls

U.S. Cellular carried out organization-wide interviews to grow revenue, drive standards of excellence, improve customer satisfaction and embed the culture of their Dynamic Organization. The project involved almost all of the 2100 associates in their Central Region using the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process. 

Through a team of 250 associates from all levels and all functions trained to use AI, U.S. Cellular was able to conduct personal interviews with 1,978 employees in less than one month. The interviews surfaced thirteen key themes that made it possible to create short and long-term action plans.  These themes were honed during a “Summit” at which employees participated in small cross functional groups to plan, organize and prioritize change activities to promote a more effective operational model.  As a result of the overall process, associate satisfaction scores have been improved and the organization has demonstrated increased agility.  For example, when a request was made to move up a major technology upgrade by two weeks, a plan involving marketing, sales, network engineering and operations was in place and in motion within 24 hours.

Impact Awards judge Mark Lindner, Director of Human Resources at Allstate, noted, “U.S. Cellular titled their application ‘Bringing the Dynamic Organization to Life” and I think that is a banner for what Organization Development can do.”  Mike Herron, Vice President, Leadership and Organization Development for Northern Trust noted there were “positive interventions inside positive interventions” because the combination of training, interviews and summit enabled improved communications and overall capabilities as well as the ability to address specific business issues. 

Not-for-Profit Winner: The Greater Chicago Food Depository 
Recipient: Naomi Berkove

The Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) launched its “Pantry University” to strengthen the agencies (pantries, shelters and soup kitchens) they work with and to enhance their ability to provide food and services to a population of thousands of hungry Chicagoans. 

Realizing that many agencies are understaffed, and that workers in these agencies often lack key skills, GCFD involved the agencies themselves in designing a curriculum with separate learning tracks based on level of experience, teaching methods that appealed to a multi-level and diverse audience and an environment where agencies could learn from each other.  Agencies that demonstrated exemplary performance were enlisted to serve as lead instructors, co-instructors, coaches, facilitators or mentors to assure that knowledge transfer was based upon best-case practices. 

Using large group models, member agencies also created their own ethical standards to which agencies should conform. These will serve as guidelines for all participants in Pantry University.

Following OD models of collaboration, GCFD demonstrated an impressive ability to change direction based upon feedback from their agency customers and new information. They also formed additional partnerships with professional volunteers, City Colleges and professional groups.  Business structures and processes at participating agencies were addressed.

According to Michael Mulqueen, Executive Director, “This effort was designed to improve the effectiveness of our member agencies and develop the human capital that is making a difference in the lives of the people they serve. We did a lot of research; we looked at corporate models such as Hamburger University and Harley Davidson.  We hope this program will inspire other non-profits in Chicago, but also that it will be replicated around the country.”

Not-for-Profit Honorable Mention: The Association for Individual Development 
Recipient: Robert Skoda

The Association for Individual Development (AID) faced a gloomy financial reversal in 2002. AID is a social service agency that supports individuals with developmental disabilities and behavioral disorders. AID employs 380 people at 30 sites throughout the Fox River Valley. 

 “We had to decide how we were going to move forward in the wake of huge financial cuts, primarily from changes in state funding levels,” said Bob Skoda, AID’s Vice President of Organization Development and Human Resources. “We had to determine whether we were going to look at our people as expenses or assets. We put our employees first in the process of change. Our people shape our clients perception of who we are and how we operating. We made the protection of this asset a priority.”

Taking a systems view of their dilemma, AID adopted a comprehensive approach to change. The principals they identified to guide the change included: linking organizational change with employee needs (including career development); reducing or eliminating low rate of return tasks (workflow and process re-design); developing a performance feedback process; lowering turnover; and creating a recognition program.

“We undertook a series of ‘life-style’ changes,” added Skoda. “We realized that we had to become faster and more flexible as an organization. Opportunities surface throughout the year that requires responses. We created a Human Resources Redeployment and Opportunity Management System that makes it possible to adjust the labor structure without a layoff. It also stimulates pro-active planning for the recruitment of difficult-to-fill, critical positions through anticipation of job specific labor market shortages.”

A distinguished panel of judges drawn from business, consulting and academia was assembled to evaluate applications submitted from the greater Chicago area for the 2003 Impact Awards. Applications focused upon diagnosis and design as well as quantitative and qualitative results. OD values, including respect for and inclusion of organization members, two-way communications, equal access to information, ethics, and knowledge transfer were also evaluated.

Patrons for the Awards program were The Northern Trust Company and Fulcrum Network, with sponsorship by Capital H Group.   Academic Partners included the Graham School of the University of Chicago, and Benedictine, DePaul and Loyola Universities.

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