2004 ODNC IMPACT AWARDS
FRIDAY, November 19, 2004
Women's Athletic Club, Chicago

Equity Office Properties and Loyola University Medical Center
Win 2004 ODNC Impact Award

Following are the winners of the Second Annual Impact Awards sponsored by the Organization Development Network of Chicago (ODNC).

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 – Equity Office Properties Trust
Recipient: Rose Hollister

Faced with the need to make major strategic changes to respond to conditions in the competitive commercial real estate business, Equity initiated a massive, industry-level strategic change that combined more than a dozen initiatives. The changes encompassed team development, job redesign, consolidation, training, communication and leadership coaching. The results were dramatic:
• Customer retention up 15%
• Speed – they consolidated operations from 169 to 48 offices in under one year
• Organizational engagement that offered all employees a voice
• Skill development as internal employees partnered with external consultants to work through the ambitious project

Not-for-Profit Winner – Loyola University Medical Center
Recipient: Kathy Orms

Faced with growing shortages of qualified people, Loyola needed to improve employee satisfaction, reduce turnover and offer a clear line of sight to strategic goals. The ambitious project engaged 4,000 out of 5,000 employees and was implemented by in-house facilitators through 350 cross-functional groups utilizing Learning Maps. Again, dramatic results:
• Reduction in overall turnover, each year of the program from 13.1% to 12.5% to 11.6%
• Reduction in nursing turnover from 10.5% to 10.1%, which is lower than both national and local levels.
• Saved 1.5 million dollars as a result of decreasing turnover.

A distinguished panel of judges drawn from business, consulting and academia was assembled to evaluate applications submitted from the greater Chicago area for the 2004 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 McDonald’s Corporation, Kraft Foods and U.S. Cellular. Academic Partners included the University of Chicago, Graham School, and Benedictine, DePaul, Roosevelt, Northwestern and Loyola Universities.