Organisation development practice can be a lonely place at times. You may be trying to influence business leaders as a freelance consultant or employed by your organisation as an OD specialist and often find yourself asking ‘Why am I the only one who is seeing this?’ Using real-life client projects, Emma du Parcq, Head of Consulting at Roffey Park Institute, will share her experiences – good, bad and ugly – and lead a session to generate ideas on how to approach sticky and difficult challenges at this year’s annual OD Conference.
Emma’s Journey
Ever since Emma’s first job in a shoe shop at the age of fourteen, she has been fascinated by what makes workplaces great places to work – or not. Emma’s early career was as a Chartered Management Accountant in several large retail organisations before joining IBM where she worked for eleven years in service sales and progressing to large-scale digital transformation projects. Emma then ventured into education where her thirst for personal development was a constant feature, qualifying as a business and executive coach before teaching and assessing in higher education institutions.
The golden thread throughout Emma’s career is transforming workplaces for the better. She is a strong advocate for the power of social learning and since joining Roffey Park in 2023 as a Programme Director is excited about the possibilities for enabling and encouraging future generations of leaders operating digitally and globally in times of unprecedented pace of change, ambiguity and uncertainty.
Emma’s journey in OD started before even she realised. She told us, “I hadn’t heard the term OD until I picked up a book in a shop authored by Mee-Yan Cheung Judge and Linda Holbeche, who are legendary in OD circles. On reading it, I realised I’d been doing OD for some time as part of major change and transformation projects as an operational leader. It was so exciting to learn that OD is an academic discipline and that there’s a huge body of theory underpinning the practice.” Since then, Emma has worked as an internal and external consultant and extended her practice into organisation design.
Emma and OD
Emma is convinced that the way work is designed and organised not only affects performance and outcomes but organisational culture too. She understands that life as an OD practitioner can be lonely at times and assures us that it is normal to feel that way. At the upcoming OD Conference, Emma will provide examples of situations that she has faced whilst having some fun in predicting the outcomes. Ultimately, the purpose of the session is to co-create fresh ideas on how to approach tricky challenges, relevant to all contexts.
Emma co-facilitated a session at last year’s Conference and now takes to the main stage. She said, “Last year I loved how energised, supportive and curious everyone was. It was a vibrant and inspiring environment, exactly as a conference should be! I’m looking forward to having some more fascinating conversations, hearing new perspectives and learning what’s new in the field. And of course, enjoying Roffey Park’s first-class hospitality.” Emma firmly believes that there’s nothing more powerful and life-affirming than being in a room of smart people who share the same interests. She wants to build on the excitement that everyone will be feeling, help them to forge new connections and reinforce my beliefs that the work we do is incredibly valuable in creating healthy and sustainable workplaces.
In preparation for the Conference, Emma would like to invite everyone to consider how you can contribute to others’ understanding to the field of research and practice. She explained, “It’s natural when we’re investing our time and resources into a conference to think, ‘What can I get out of this?’ Whatever stage in your career you are at, there is something of value that other people can gain from your experiences so throw yourself right in and get involved!”
Are you ready for extraordinary, insightful and robust conversations? This October, academic rigour meets real-world practice insights. Join Emma and the rest of the keynote speakers and continue the ground-breaking discussions at the home of Organisation Development, Roffey Park Institute.
