The field of organization development is based on a set of principles that recognize people as assets to an organization's success. It is also a set of practices that when applied effectively lead to the commitment and accountability of people to actions and behaviors that support an organization's purpose and goals, and consistently drive results. Finally, OD is the product of a broad theoretical foundation that helps us understand the relationship between organization structure and human behavior, subsequently influencing the design of processes that enable leaders to jointly optimize the relationship between people and structure; social and technical systems.

To this end, Left Lane Consulting LLC serves to:

Redesign organizations, processes and jobs that are aligned with the direction of the organization and address the needs of people to insure they are engaged and committed, accountable, clear about what is expected, and feeling as if they play a meaningful role in the success of the enterprise. Practices utilized to this end include:

• Socio-technical systems
• Empowered work systems
• Participative management
• Work process improvement
• Quality of Work-life and Corporate Social Responsibility
• Board development

Manage Change in a way that efficiently and effectively aligns and commits people to the change and increases the speed of change and the likelihood of doing what you say you want to do. This is accomplished through:

• Action Research
• Strategic Planning and Visioning
• Developing organization capability
• Developing commitment and ownership to change using participative technologies/processes
• Parallel structures to focus on the management of change
• Problem solving
• Addressing the politics of change
• Coaching and development; helping leaders make decisions in consideration of the future

Facilitate Cultural Change by influencing how decisions are made. How decisions are made defines the culture of an organization (top-down, based on strategy, value based) and influences the feelings and behaviors of people. Cultural change is influenced by all of the points made above and by:

• Defining the desired culture based on business direction and need
• Developing the right competencies
• Building HR related structures that influence behavior 

• Organization Theory
• Management Theory
• Leadership
• Social Psychology
• Sociology
• Group Development
• Adult Development and Learning
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Action Research
• Anthropology

Successful interventions are guided by a dynamic set of practices engaged in by Organization Development consultants. These practices influence the quality of the relationship between a consultant and client and the quality of the desired outcome. A general framework for the OD process is:

1. Enter; determine the fit between the organization's needs and the consultant's capabilities
2. Define need; learn what is working and what is not working; what to build on and what to change 
3. Diagnose; develop and test hypotheses
4. Plan; strategic and change management
5. Act; execute plan
6. Sustain; work with the end in mind and build the organization capability to replace the role of the consultant
7. Evaluate; done throughout the process

Underlying these steps are a set of principles important to Left Lane Consulting:

• Build relationships with clients based on openness and trust
• Continual contracting insures the client and customer are always aligned
• Say it when you feel it; be transparent and be the one to share what others might withhold
• Treat everyone as an equal
• Data belongs to the people who provide it
• Meet the client where they are
• There is no one best way to do things
• Reflection and learning are critical parts of the process
• "No" is the beginning of the conversation