An Open Organization Approach to Change

Change is core work in our field of organisation development. We’ve all faced the challenges of helping change happen, the joys and rewards when it works and the pain when it doesn’t - especially over the past few years! Come learn, refresh and energise yourself with our very special guest/s.  

Join Dr Barbara Mink, Dean, School of Leadership Studies at Fielding Graduate University USA, and Steve Camkin as they lead us through the Open Organization approach to creating change that maximises potential at the individual, team or organisational level. 

The Open Organization is a robust approach to create organisations that are both adaptable and stable, sensitive to the needs of constituents, and able to achieve goals productively. An "open organization’ is a system in its best or healthiest state – so how is that defined? Learn about this and see how action research helps us engage and deliver.  

Barbara and Steve will also share a case study of their work with the Navajo Nation, and many more stories along the way. It’s a treat to have such leading international consultants deeply experienced in large scale organization and community change join us at ODA – register and don’t miss out! 

Our Guests

Dr. Barbara Mink EdD, International Consultant, Higher Education Leader, Scholar-Practitioner-Advocate.

Barbara is currently Dean, School of Leadership Studies, Fielding Graduate University in California. She leads multiple doctoral and master’s degrees. Dr. Mink was a clinical professor, Department of Educational Administration, University of Texas-Austin. She developed Innovation and Service Management graduate program for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. 

Barbara has 40+ years of international consulting with clients in manufacturing, health care, education, government, technology, and financial services. Clients include: Alcoa, American Television and Communications Corporation, Arthur Andersen, BHP Steel, California Legislative Analyst Office, Catholic Health Organization, First Data Corporation, IBM, Intel Corporation, Johnson and Johnson, Joy Mining/Manufacturing Corporation, St. Luke’s Regional Hospital Network, The Bank of New York Mellon, Nova Scotia Power and Light, Regis University, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (now RMIT University), Save the Children Foundation, Telecom-Australia (now Telstra), and Time-Life. 

Dr. Mink has served on multiple Boards -- Human Resource Planning Society, ARC of the Capital Area, and Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrators. She is a life-time member of the Austin Area Urban League. As co-founder of Elected Women of Central Texas she brought together elected women to address issues facing Central Texas. As a volunteer with Global Austin, Barbara hosts state department visitors studying educational and human rights issues. In collaboration with the Navajo Nation, she convenes yearly conferences of Navajo educators to advance educational sovereignty of the Nation.  

Dr. Mink is serving a 4th publicly elected term on Austin Community College District’s Board of Trustees. She was Board Chair 2004-2006, 2010-2012, 2016-2018. When ACC first opened in the 1970s, she was a founding senior administrator. Barbara was the subject of a chapter in the book Indelible Austin by Michael Barnes titled: “Behind Austin Community College from Day 1”. 

Barbara is the author or co-author of ten books on leadership and organizational effectiveness.  

Steve Camkin, Senior Consultant, Three Peaks Consulting, LLC 

For over 20 years Steve Camkin has brought a high-energy, participant-focused facilitation style to working with all levels of employees in 18 countries. 

Steve has facilitated workshops for organizations as diverse as PayPal, BP, Disney, HP, Honeywell, and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Topics in these workshops have included leadership, management, strategy, change, conflict management, influence, ethical decision-making, and stakeholder management.  

In addition to his facilitation background Steve has managed global service delivery teams at Seagate, and Micron Technology. Whilst there he helped shape future strategy and provided tactical support to functional units and strategic initiatives such as leadership bench strength, talent and performance management, capital budgeting, and quality improvement. 

Steve’s degrees include an MA in Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems Design. 

Steve has also led dozens of global adventure expeditions of up to 65 days in length through his time in the Australian and New Zealand militaries, as a Chief Instructor for Outward Bound, and as a Mountain Search and Rescue Team member. In 2015 he completed the “Seven Summits” –climbs of the highest peaks on each continent, and in 2022 completed the first human powered traverse of Borneo.