Letter From: Paul Larsen Membership Director-Let's Connect

Tuesday in June dawned with a cool mist draping over the boundaries of the ancient city of Hanoi, Vietnam. With a moderate temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit and a patchy blue sky, it looked to be another fair and quiet day in this serene capital of this southeastern Asian country. A sleepy town that takes awhile to wake up, you can stroll the city in the morning and not see anyone else or hear a car or scooter for hours on end.

AND THEN…I WOKE UP…!

In reality, the chaos and stifling heat and humidity that is summertime in modern-day Hanoi is a symbolism of life as a whole. Vibrant is too boring of a word to describe the street scene that is this metropolis of almost 7 million. Life is not hidden, it is lived right out in the open and on the jammed streets, alleyways and sidewalks for all to experience. Sights, sounds, colors, smells…there is something here to entice the curiosity of all of our senses.

I was in Vietnam to teach English at a SOS Children’s Village, a well-run orphanage outside of Hanoi. I was part of a small project team volunteering my time with a great organization called Global Volunteers, which provides community-based “volunteer vacations” around the world. Our task was to create and teach a full two-week summer school English workshop for about 50 Vietnamese children ranging in age from 8 to 14. And by-the-way, I do not know any Vietnamese.

Now, as an OD practitioner with solid some corporate experience as part of my legacy, I have often found myself in some uncomfortable, sensitive and unpredictable works situations. But as we have been trained to do, we follow our models, our agendas, our outlines and most importantly, our gut…and we eventually succeed with our purpose. But this past June, with 100 sets of “young” eyes watching my every move with extreme curiosity and eagerness…all of my models, agendas and outlines “flew out” the dusty window of the classroom and my gut found itself very much alone. And that is where the magic began.

In OD, we are blessed to be able to work with a wide-variety of experienced and incredibly talented colleagues. We are also lucky to work in a field that is ever-changing and deals with getting people and organizations to connect with their purpose, values, vision, principles, and ______(fill in the blank with a word of your choice). That day…in that Vietnamese classroom with those students, I learned the true value of connecting. I didn’t have a model, book or diagram. I didn’t have a laptop or smartphone or lcd projector. All I had was my years of experience as a person….one that has been blessed with many rich experiences…reaching out to connect with these young students of a distinctly different culture and life history. And isn’t that what we do everyday in od? Use our experience to assess and facilitate change…no matter how big or small?

In that hot and muggy classroom…a connection was made at a level that required no technology. We connected at a level that required no model or flow chart. We connected at a level that required no tweet, status update or online profile. We connected as humans who wanted to learn from and understand each other. And in doing so we made our global community a little smaller.

In today’s 24x7 world, we have every technological means available to us to connect with each other. But it seems that the more ways we have to connect, the less real connecting we are doing as people. We are so busy tapping into our BlackBerrys or “friending” someone on our iPhones, that we are losing the opportunity (and some would say) the true skill of connecting. It is this art of creating “simple connections” that was my biggest lesson from this experience. Here I was thousands of miles away from my “nest” in a completely different country with different values and norms, yet I was making an impact with these students and they were certainly making an impact on me. The roles of teacher and student were blurred at times, since I was allowing my true “od-self” to adsorb, evolve and learn as we progressed through the weeks. I came away from the project a more fulfilled person who can appreciate the need we have to connect as people and who will want to bring these lessons into my evolving practice as an od professional.

After my short tenure in Vietnam, it is no wonder organizations and their community members need our services, since we can help in fulfilling a very basic need for all…the need to connect. Connection leads to change. Change leads to progress. Progress is required for individuals and organizations to not become obsolete. You don’t need to go as far as I did to experience this art of creating simple connections….try it the next time you are home or in a client environment. It requires no technology or sign-in, all it requires is the thirst and willingness to explore…and as od practitioners, that is something I know we all are passionate to do. And we certainly have the capability.

I look forward to “connecting” with all of our BAodn members and the expanding OD community as your new Membership Director this year. Onwards and upwards...