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Outstanding OSD Graduates
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2005
 Ariel Blair is a business strategy and OD consultant. Her management consulting practice, Thought Catalysts focuses on developing strong business strategy and the organizational capabilities needed to manage through change.
Ariel built a strong foundation for her consulting through more than 20 years of business experience. Her experience includes line and consulting roles in business strategy, organizational development, and marketing. She has worked in a wide range of industries including banking, health care, consumer electronics, paper manufacturing, and technology development. Her participation in the OSD Training Program allowed her to complement her love of strategy with supporting clients in aligning organizational capability.
Ariel spent more than eight years with Hewlett Packard Corporation. Ultimately, she was selected for an international assignment as Strategy and Planning Manager in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions of Hewlett Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group. While in this role, she lived in Barcelona, Spain and supplemented her project implementation experience with a cross-cultural perspective.
Ariel’s publications include “Boundary Bending: Integrating Strategy and Organizational Development” in the Fall 2004 OD Practitioner journal.
Ariel’s education includes a BA in Development Studies from Brown University, as well as an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College. She has also completed the OSD Training Program and the Group Intensive Training Program.
Beyond working with organizational systems, Ariel enjoys feeding her curiosity through travel, learning to live in new cultures, and the practice of various spiritual disciplines. Her current volunteer work is focused on malaria prevention in Africa.
2004
Ann Begler, Lisa Gaynier, and Sally Higginbotham are OSD Outstanding Graduates in 2004. Since graduating from OSD XIII, Ann, Lisa, and Sally have been actively working to apply and integrate Gestalt approaches in the fields of mediation and conflict resolution. This pioneering work has culminated in a series of recent successes.
Ann has written an article on Gestalt applications that will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s journal, ACResolutions. Lisa authored the lead article in the most recent issue of the Gestalt Review, highlighting what Gestalt practitioners offer to the field of mediation; Ann and Sally wrote corresponding commentary. Together, Sally and Ann have published articles on Gestalt approaches to mediation for local and regional mediation newsletters, and have designed and delivered numerous training programs that integrate Gestalt orientations with mediation. This work led to all three Outstanding Graduates teaming up this year to offer two training programs for experienced mediators at GIC and GISC. The threesome will also present the workshop "The Positive Side of Resistance" at the American Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference this April in New York City.
Complementing their collaborative activities, Ann, Lisa, and Sally are each active in ongoing Gestalt communities: Ann in Pittsburgh, Lisa in Cleveland and Ann Arbor, and Sally in the New England area. All three are working to build support for a community of Gestalt practitioners within mediation organizations. Ann, for example, is Chair of the Ethics Committee for the Organizational Conflict Management Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, and she is active in local and state Bar Association committees that focus on mediation. Lisa and Sally are also active in their local, state, and regional mediation communities.
2003
 The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Organization & Systems Development Center is pleased to announce our first Outstanding OSD Graduate recognition for September 2003. William A. Bradshaw is a 1974 graduate of OSD I, the first training program of its kind. Bradshaw has a long and distinguished career in the accounting and auditing professions in Canada. When Thorne, Mulholland, Howson, and McPherson, Chartered Accountants, made him a partner, he was the youngest partner in the history of the firm, and his contributions to the CA profession were recognized with an FCA fellowship designation. In 1967, he joined Touche, Ross & Co, Toronto, the predecessor of Deloitte and Touche, where he was made partner in 1974. In the midst of going through the OSD I program, Bradshaw was offered and accepted a position with the Auditor General of Canada on Executive Interchange, a position that enabled him "to apply some of my new learning" and gave him "an opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of the biggest system in the country." He was later promoted to Deputy Auditor General. Bradshaw has published significant work integrating Gestalt concepts and theory into the auditing profession, as is evident in his following descriptive list:
- In 1991, the CICA published a paper titled "Assessing the Effectiveness of Management Control," authored by Allenna Leonard and myself. In it, we examined the systems perspective and began the research necessary to evaluate its potential application to the accounting profession. We hoped that it would be of interest to managers who were responsible for designing, assessing, and reporting on control.
- In 1995, the Criteria of Control Board of the CICA published Guidance on Control. It provided a framework, or model, developed by three OSD graduates, Duncan Galloway (OSD VI), Peter Jackson (OSD X), and myself. The genesis of the CoCo model was the Gestalt Cycle of Experience. The model has five components: purpose, commitment, capability, action, and monitoring and learning. As the forward makes clear, the term control has a broader meaning than internal control over financial reporting.
- In 1998, the CoCo Board published Learning about Risk: Choices, Connections and Competencies. In it, Alan Willis and I offer seven models of risk: strategic choices, operational risk and control choices, crisis choices, resilience and survival choices, leadership choices, choosing to be aware, and intuition and the choice to deny or act. Each model presents choices for recognizing, assessing, and acting on risk. Its 130 pages include numerous stories and examples.
- In 2000, the CICA published Research Report: Audit Enquiry: Seeking More Reliable Evidence from Audit Enquiry. Allenna Leonard and I were the authors. The report included important recommendations for the Assurance Standards Board. We called for a recognition that audits were performed by teams, not individuals, and that the way team members shared and integrated evidence was of crucial importance. We pointed out the importance of various relationships, how to foster high-trust relationships, and how to recognize when a relationship had gone from being cordial to being cozy. We called for a redefinition of audit evidence. We pointed out that much of the most important evidence an auditor needs is in people's heads and can only be obtained and assessed through skillful interviewing.
- In an article published in the Gestalt Review, also in 2000, titled "Self-Assessment: The Way Forward for Boards of Directors," Peter Jackson and I explain how Gestalt concepts and systems thinking pervade all the guidance published by the CoCo Board, including Guidance for Directors: Governance Processes for Control.
According to John Carter, Bradshaw—using his presence, knowledge, awareness, and skill—was instrumental in assisting Touche Ross Managing Partner Jim Miller to change the organizational culture of the firm: "Bill was a pioneer in understanding the power of translating systems theory into systems thinking, and in intervening to support individuals to change their ways of scanning the environment and of making meaning of collected raw data. The following 1978 memo written by Bill reflects OSD concepts that remain powerful and relevant."
August 23, 1978
To: Jim Miller
From: Bill Bradshaw
Re: Partner Development Workshop
I am writing to you not as an "instructor" for the October 21-27 workshop, but as a "participant" and as a "partner." I want to tell you why I am excited about the workshop, and explain why I see it as so important to the firm.
The primary theme or focus of the workshop will be "systems theory," "general systems theory," "open systems"—call it what you will. I have learned a little about this subject through my attendance at the Organization & Systems Development course I have been attending for the past two years in Cleveland. Incidentally, the National Training Laboratory is presently revising its courses dealing with this subject, and two of the Cleveland instructors, John D. Carter and Carolyn Lukensmeyer, are actively involved with these revisions.
The Presidents of all major corporations are finding that they must adopt "systems" thinking to their management in order to deal with the tremendous complexity of their own organizations and their environments (the world) around them.
It is difficult to describe the basic characteristics of this type of thinking. I will, however, make an attempt in the hope that I can give you some idea why I am so excited, and why I believe the subject is so important to our partners and the firm.
Russell Ackoff, speaking in 1972, argued that all the apparent problems which management confronts are manifestations of four basic problems. He goes on to say that we are still trying to treat these problems with methods and techniques developed in the "machine age" and that they are just not working.
1. Management is not confronted with separate problems or a series of problems. Rather, it is confronted with a system of problems which Ackoff defines as a "mess." The solution to the problem does not consist of the sum of the solutions to the problems that make it up. This has required a fundamental shift in our thinking from problem solving to planning. The challenge is to deal with interacting problems as sets. A corporation will not succeed if management breaks it up into departments and then solves the problems relating to each department. Nor will a department succeed if management breaks its problems down and solves them separately. Systems thinking provides a vehicle for dealing with sets of problems interactively rather than independently.
2. There is no such thing as the solution to a problem any more. Today's solution is useless tomorrow. The "perfect" solution is inappropriate when the organization and the environment changes, and changes are taking place faster and faster. Instead of solutions, we need processes which will provide for the maintenance or improvement of solutions over time. This involves both "learning" and "adapting." Learning can be defined as improving effectiveness under constant conditions, as in "to learn from experience." Adapting is the way we maintain or improve effectiveness under changing conditions.
Management can be looked at as a subsystem which is responsible for control of the larger system of which it is a part. Because of the rapid rate of change, management will have to design systems for themselves and the organization based on the concept of "experimentation" rather than the concept of "experience." Experience will just not be a good enough teacher in the face of rapid change.
3. The machine age concept of a corporation was that it had no purpose of its own, and the people in the corporation—managers, workers, and staff—could be treated as though they were purposeless. The systems view is that the corporation has purposes, it has parts with purposes, and it is a part of an economy or society which has purposes. The problem facing contemporary management is how to serve the purposes of the citizens and employees and still have the corporation thrive.
4. The last problem is how any organization can effectively serve the larger system of which it is a part, and in so doing better serve its own purposes. As Ackoff points out, it is easy to serve the environment if you are willing to go bankrupt. The problem arises when you try to do it while maintaining corporate viability.
I have been giving up a my of my old ideas, my old ways of thinking about the world. This has been both exciting and difficult, since this type of learning is threatening to the old ego. Here are a few examples.
- I have had to let go of the idea that the world is a machine controlled by cause and effect laws, which can be understood only if I break it into parts, then explain the parts, and then put these explanations together to understand the whole. Instead of breaking things down, I am finding that I have to look up to see how things fit into larger wholes. In other words, it is necessary to look at things as part of a larger whole. By explaining the larger whole it is possible to obtain an explanation of the things started with.
- I have had to let go of the idea that if one could only get the various departments in a corporation operating at top efficiency, the corporation itself will operate at top efficiency. The opposite is, in fact, true. If all departments are operating at top efficiency, one thing is sure: the organization will not be operating at top efficiency, and may in fact be headed for disaster.
- I have had to give up my notion that the really important question about the future is "What is it going to be like?" Or to put it another way, having good forecasts does not make it easier to manage effectively. The real issue is what can one make of the future. In the past, good managers predicted the future and prepared for it, both in the sense of solving problems and grasping opportunities. Good managers in the future will decide what kind of future they want and will do everything they can to bring it about.
It is, I believe, essential that all of our partners have a working understanding of systems theory. They will need this to provide them with a framework for dealing with firm problems and client problems. Our consultants, auditors, and tax people will need this understanding in order to work together and serve their mutual clients.
I hope this memo will give you some idea of why I believe the October workshop is so important. I will be back in Ottawa by September 1, and would be glad to chat with you in person or on the telephone. It was so great to talk with you in July. I hope we can do it often.
All the best, B |
 Judith L. Fisher is our second OSD Outstanding Graduate for 2003. Judith is an OSD III graduate. She presently serves as Facilities Coordinator at the Fairhill Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She runs the Marketing School for Caregivers and Kinship Care, and trains and oversees Customer Service personnel. Judith has held a variety of directorships, consulting positions, and training positions in the real estate field, and holds a current license with Chestnut Hill Realtors. She is an active volunteer, providing support services for many charitable organizations in the Cleveland area.
Judith has a long-standing relationship with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She worked as an administrative and secretarial assistant to her sister Harriet Schenker, the GIC office manager, and the Institute administrative committee. During this time, she took the OSD Program and was subsequently promoted to the position of Registrar and Office Manager. Judith became GIC's first Program and Marketing Coordinator. She left the Institute to pursue her a career in the Real Estate/Sales Industry, and has been successful beyond her wildest dreams.
We are pleased to recognize Fisher's association with GIC and the OSD Training Program, and to applaud her many accomplishments.
Judith's career objectives: To combine my experiences in psychology and the Real Estate/Sales Industry. To continue to use skills that I have developed to motivate others in sales and marketing techniques. My people skills have proven to be an asset that has made me successful in all of my endeavors. My formula for successful marketing management is to hire the right people, and to educate and train them to understand what the company wants and to believe in their product. This will ultimately produce positive energy and a productive bottom line.
She says, "There is not a day that goes by that I don't appreciate my learning and experience in the OSD Training Program. The experience changed my life. I grew, personally and professionally. Most of all, I gained the internal confidence I needed to acknowledge my knowledge and skills and to know that I could achieve what I wanted to do professionally."
Career Experience
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2003 - Fairhill Center, Facilities Coordinator
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2002-2003 - Skyline Management, Marketing Director
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2001-2002 - Chestnut Hill Realty, Inc., Marketing Director
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1999-2001 - Millennia Housing Management, Marketing Manager for the repositioning of Erie Shore Landing
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1999 - JLF Consulting Services, consulting for a local multi-family corporation
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1997-1999 - Associated Estates Realty Corporation, National Operations Trainer
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1995-1999 - Associated Estates Realty Corporation, Director of Corporate Housing
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1992-1995 - Associated Estates Realty Corporation, Marketing Sales Manager
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1988-1992 - Associated Estates Realty Corporation, Marketing & Sales Representative
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1979-1994 - Dolores C. Knowlton Realtors and Realty One, Licensed Realtor
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1968-1988 - Gestalt Institute of Cleveland - Administration and Program and Marketing Coordinator
Volunteer Work
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1980-1984, Hospice Council of Northern Ohio, Board of Trustees
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1981-1983, Home Health Care, Leader of Bereavement Groups
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1968-1975, Parents Volunteer Association, Leader of Retarded Adults Group
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1966-1968, Cerebral Palsy, Support Staff with children
- Red Cross, Hospital Services Coordinator
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