Organization development (OD) and change management (CM): whole system transformation Roland L. Sullivan, William J. Rothwell and Mary Jane B. Balasi N anotechnology, globalization and healthcare will be leading stimulants of more change occurring during the remaining years of our lives than since the beginning of recorded civilization thousands of years ago (Sullivan et al., 2013). The new normal response to this dizzying rate of change, predominately by CEOs, is to want OD interventions that will facilitate transformation towards organizational agility – i.e. speedy, flexible and proactive responses to changes in the environment. Continuous step-by-step change is no longer adequate. In this article, we share a brief summary of our ten-step OD methodology (see Figure 1) for Whole System Transformation (WST). It is derived from our collective experiences over the last 40 years with over 1,000 organizations, ranging from 100 to 140,000 employees. Transformation means re-thinking the fundamental principles on which you are basing the why, what and how of the ‘‘whole’’. This produces a quantum leap toward the aspired future state. It is common knowledge that 70 percent or more of change initiatives fail. Our view is that such failure occurs when one or more of the following ten practices are absent. 1. Internal change agent (ICA) transformation A highly competent ICA using a proven OD methodology is key. We boldly say that ultimately the most powerful person in a system is the ICA. That person can be positioned to facilitate the change process while the CEO controls content. A great way for the ICA to learn is to be ‘‘velcroed’’ to an external consultant with a proven methodology to engage all aspects of the system. The external consultant facilitates setting up the structure and political relationships to support the change so the ICA is effectively positioned. 2. Executive team transformation The first intervention in a WST effort ideally focuses on the CEO’s team. If readiness is not present, a pilot effort to demonstrate the value of the change is sometimes first. OD efforts can be impaired because the top leaders do not walk the talk. Modeling change at the top inspires others to embrace becoming positively different. Each executive must transform: the executive team must transform. An aligned blueprint to transform the whole system is articulated. The executive team develops ‘‘one brain and one heart’’, setting the tone for enterprise-wide change. The executive team comes to understand transformation by experiencing a group and individual quantum leap in the way they relate intra-personally, to each other and the system (Donnan and Sullivan, 2011 p. 206). This includes external relationships. PAGE 18 j DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS j VOL. 27 NO. 6 2013, pp. 18-23, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282 DOI 10.1108/DLO-08-2013-0060 Roland L. Sullivan is the founder of Sullivan Transformation Agents, USA. William J. Rothwell is Professor of Workforce Education and Development, based at Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA. Mary Jane B. Balasi is an organizational change consultant at Sullivan Transformation Agents, USA.