top of page
OD for Life logo long.png

We are organizational development practitioners.

We are learning and leadership development consultants.

We are coaches and facilitators.

And we are people of all backgrounds and abilities who share a sense that something profoundly different is needed wherever people gather in shared purpose and collective action.

PXL_20220506_144650823.jpg

This is our "maniflexo."

Throughout 2021 and 2022, a group of passionate, concerned people gathered online and in person to ask:
 

  • What is our responsibility as OD practitioners in confronting the crises we face as a planet?

  • Which unique gifts do we have to offer to the biggest questions of our time?

  • How do we take a stand as individuals and organisations to act for the good of the whole?

​

The words on this page are the answers we discerned together. This is a living, evolving document, and so we think of it as our maniflexo.

We hope you will join us in our ongoing commitment and learning. This conversation needs diverse perspectives and contributions if we are to find our way to wisdom. And we are going to need each other if we are to find the courage to do what is truly needed. 

Image by Sean Pollock

For too long and with too much harm, human organizing has been guided by principles of efficiency more than effectiveness. Of speed and scale at all costs. Of extraction rather than empathy. And of domination and disdain for the human spirit. The outcome is toxic workplaces and devastated ecosystems. It is rising addictions and despair. It is divided and depleted communities. And it is the looming threat of civilizational collapse.

With this declaration, we are stepping forward together in courage, humility and care because we recognize that we have an essential role to play in the changes humanity needs to make.

Group walks_edited.jpg
WE CAN
NO LONGER
BE NEUTRAL
in how we use
the core skills of our work:
  • Helping people join together in service of something bigger than themselves. 

  • Enabling ongoing leadership and learning.

  • Facilitating collaboration and new possibility. â€‹

  • Equipping people and organizations for meaningful change.

Image by Abdul Kayum

IT MATTERS

to what end we do these things.

IT MATTERS

if we stop short of what is truly needed.

And so we choose to be guided by a narrative that says:

what we are developing in our organizational development work is life’s ability to thrive.

Our lives, the life of our organizations and communities, life within the more-than-human community.

 

This, above all else, must be at the center of our every engagement and every conversation.

Through our projects and our clients,
our actions ripple out across the world.

This vast sphere of influence gives us
enormous responsibility as practitioners,
as a field, and as human beings.
Campfire ready for us.HEIC

Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to making that ripple

a tidal wave of thriving and integrity

that responds to the true level of crisis at hand

and the full depth of care in our hearts.

PXL_20220505_121022718.PHOTOSPHERE.jpg

We have many questions about

what this will look like and what it will take.

 

Already, we are confronted by paradoxes

and by the shadow parts of ourselves and our profession.

But one thing is clear:

by committing also to each other,

we will find our way

into the learning and the transformation

that are needed.

 

Together, we are nourished with

a deep sense of hope and belonging.

We are the ones we have been waiting for. 

IMG_6281.jpeg

Signed:

Ana Arrabe_edited.png
walter bertolini_edited.png
monica_edited_edited.png
Vienna autumn edited _edited.png
stefan_edited.png
IMG_4630_edited.png

Ana Arrabé

Spain

Walter Bertolini

Austria

Monica Boos

Germany

Stefan Faatz-Ferstl

Austria

Alexander Evatt

Austria

Ramona Fricke

Lebanon

onno_edited.png
javier gras_edited_edited.png
Pict Claudia Gross_edited.png
2 kl_edited_edited_edited.png
Michelle Holliday_edited_edited.png
joeri kabalt_edited.png

Onno Geveke

The Netherlands

Javier Gras

Spain

Joeri Kabalt

The Netherlands

Michelle Holliday

Canada

Din van Helden

Austria

Claudia Gross

Egypt

Alice_edited.png

Alice Hahn

United States

Janet_edited.png

Janet Frood

Canada

dorothe_edited.png

Dorothe Liebig

Germany

diane van m_edited.png

Diane van Marrewijk

The Netherlands

dave pendle_edited.png
andres_edited.png

Dave Pendle

The Netherlands

Andres Roberts

United Kingdom 

Pict Tom_edited_edited.png

Tom Mansfield

United Kingdom

Marc van Roon_edited.png

Marc van Roon

The Netherlands

Katherine _edited.png

Katherine Long

United Kingdom

Matthijs S_edited.png
Margriet_edited.png
Cees Sprenger_edited.png
NinaThuellen_Portrait_edited.png
Screenshot 2023-02-04 at 05.24.24.png
anne weber carlsen_edited.png

Matthijs Schilder

Italy

Margriet Schut

The Netherlands

Cees Sprenger

The Netherlands

Priscilla Verwoert
The Netherlands

Anne Weber Carlsen

Denmark

Nina Thüllen

Austria


Will you join us?

By signing below you are endorsing the OD for Life Maniflexo and adding your voice to what we hope will become a growing movement.

Thank you for joining us!

Ways we are living out this commitment together

PXL_20220506_144513024.PORTRAIT.jpg
PXL_20220505_102509399.PORTRAIT.jpg
PXL_20220506_144530103_edited.png

Stewarding different forms of 'knowledge'

gathering and exploring principles, frameworks, methods, and practical stories, as well as experiences of nature and our own bodies 

Learning as a community 

connecting through a newsletter, a LinkedIn group and physical and online convenings, as well as an online community platform for those who have participated in an in-person gathering

Strengthening the ability to respond to what's needed

taking action through inquiry, forming an informal incubator together that leads to courageous action

Coming Up Next

We hope you will join us at one of these upcoming events.

  • OD for Life North America gathering 2025
    OD for Life North America gathering 2025
    Wed, Mar 26
    Earthdance & NineMountain (Massachusetts
    Mar 26, 2025, 5:00 p.m. – Mar 29, 2025, 10:00 a.m.
    Earthdance & NineMountain (Massachusetts, 252 Prospect St, Plainfield, MA 01070, USA
    In the spirit of co-creation, shared contribution and emergent learning, we will gather to deepen our collective inquiry and find friendship and courage in each other.
    Share
  • OD for Life European gathering 2025
    OD for Life European gathering 2025
    Wed, May 07
    Wir Bauen Zukunft (Nothern Germany)
    May 07, 2025, 5:00 p.m. – May 10, 2025, 10:00 a.m.
    Wir Bauen Zukunft (Nothern Germany) , Holzkruger Straße 1, 19258 Gallin, Germany
    In the spirit of co-creation, SHARED contribution and emergent learning, we will gather to deepen our COLLECTIVE inquiry and find friendship and courage in each other.
    Share
IMG_5098.HEIC
Ways to stay engage.png
Subscribe to receive our newsletter and event invitations

Thanks for subscribing!

Group walks_edited.jpg

Thank you for your message!

bottom of page