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Organizational Development Modernization

A large Canadian public sector organization engaged Sellar Strategic Advisory to redesign its Organizational Development function for the future. Through stakeholder engagement, operating model design, and implementation planning, the project established a clear enterprise mandate, modern ways of working, and a practical roadmap that positions Organizational Development as a strategic enabler of business performance rather than a traditional program delivery function.

Building a Modern Organizational Development Function

Helping a large Canadian public sector organization redefine Organizational Development as a strategic business capability.

Overview

Many organizations recognize that Organizational Development (OD) must evolve, but struggle to define what that evolution should look like. Traditional OD functions often become known for delivering programs, facilitating workshops, and responding to tactical requests, leaving limited capacity to influence enterprise strategy or build long-term organizational capability.

Sellar Strategic Advisory partnered with a large Canadian public sector organization to reimagine the role of Organizational Development from the ground up. The engagement focused on creating a future-state vision for the function, supported by a practical operating model and implementation roadmap that positioned OD as a strategic enabler of organizational performance.

The result was more than a new organizational design, it was a comprehensive blueprint for how Organizational Development can create measurable value by strengthening leadership, enabling strategy, building organizational capability, and improving organizational effectiveness.

The Challenge

The organization recognized that while Organizational Development delivered important services, the function had gradually expanded to support a wide variety of activities with varying levels of strategic impact. Demand for OD expertise continued to grow, yet priorities, service boundaries, and ways of working were not always clear.

Like many large organizations, leaders wanted Organizational Development to contribute more directly to enterprise priorities while continuing to support complex organizational challenges across the business.

The project was designed to answer several fundamental questions:

What should Organizational Development exist to accomplish?
Where does the function create the greatest organizational value?
Which services should Organizational Development lead, enable, or transition to other areas?
How should work be prioritized when demand exceeds capacity?
How should Organizational Development partner with Human Resources, Learning, Change Management, Project Management, and business leaders?
What operating model will allow the function to sustain this shift over time?

Our Approach

Rather than beginning with solutions, the engagement started by understanding how Organizational Development was currently experienced across the organization.

The work combined extensive stakeholder engagement, service mapping, benchmark research, collaborative design sessions, and operating model development to build a future-state model grounded in both organizational needs and leading practices.

The engagement progressed through five interconnected phases:

Discovery and Current-State Assessment

A comprehensive review of the existing Organizational Development function, including stakeholder interviews, service mapping, operating practices, and organizational challenges.

Future-State Design

Development of a clear enterprise mandate that redefined Organizational Development as a strategic capability focused on organizational effectiveness, leadership, enterprise change, and strategy execution.

Operating Model Development

Translation of the future-state vision into practical ways of working, including governance, demand management, service delivery, partnership models, consultant expectations, and decision-making frameworks.

Implementation Planning

Creation of a detailed implementation strategy and work breakdown structure to support transition from the current model to the future state, including governance, communications, capability development, and legacy service transition.

Knowledge Transfer

Development of implementation guidance, operating documentation, and project close-out materials to support long-term adoption after project completion.

Key Deliverables

The engagement produced a complete suite of strategic and operational deliverables, including:

Current-State Assessment and Service Mapping
Stakeholder Research and Interview Summary
Future-State Organizational Development Mandate
Future-State Service Model
Demand Management, Intake, and Prioritization Framework
Organizational Development Operating Manual
Implementation Strategy
Implementation Work Breakdown Structure and Roadmap
Executive Gate Review Materials
Final Project Report and Implementation Handoff

Together, these deliverables provide both the strategic direction and the practical guidance required to implement and sustain the future-state Organizational Development function.

Outcomes

The project established a clear future direction for Organizational Development by:

Defining a focused enterprise mandate aligned with organizational priorities.
Clarifying the role of Organizational Development as a strategic internal consulting function.
Establishing practical governance, intake, and prioritization processes.
Improving clarity around partnerships with Human Resources and other enabling functions.
Providing a practical operating model to guide day-to-day work.
Creating an implementation roadmap that supports sustainable adoption.
Equipping leaders with a clear understanding of where Organizational Development creates the greatest value.

While implementation remains the responsibility of the organization, the engagement concluded with a comprehensive set of tools, frameworks, and implementation guidance designed to support a successful transition.

Why This Matters

Organizational Development creates the greatest value when it moves beyond delivering individual programs and becomes an enterprise capability that helps organizations execute strategy, strengthen leadership, improve organizational effectiveness, and build the capacity required for long-term success.

This engagement demonstrates Sellar Strategic Advisory’s approach to Organizational Development: combining strategic thinking with practical implementation to help organizations build functions that are designed not only for today’s challenges, but for tomorrow’s opportunities.