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Organizational development manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Michael Baker,

Caryn Beck-Dudley

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical organizational development manager skills. We ranked the top skills for organizational development managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.2% of organizational development manager resumes contained organizational structure as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an organizational development manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 organizational development manager skills for your resume and career

1. Organizational Structure

Here's how organizational development managers use organizational structure:

Worked with culturally diverse communities and maintained organizational structure to support organization, including e-mail, phone and in person.
Worked with senior managers to determine needs and then design processes that compliment organizational structures and business unit product/service flows.

2. Human Resources

Human resources is a set of people in a business or a corporation that are designated to locate, interview, and recruit new employees into the company. They are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the employees and help them sort their problems out. They try to introduce and manage employee-benefit programs.

Here's how organizational development managers use human resources:

Provided support to Managers by offering training and direct coaching on Human Resources Processes and Organizational Development initiatives.
Collaborated with human resources and leadership to assess organizational and individual learning and development needs.

3. Project Management

Here's how organizational development managers use project management:

Project management of survey launch, analysis, employee communication, manager education and intervention support.
Provided project management support for initiatives driving operations process standardization and new phones implementation.

4. Organizational Effectiveness

Here's how organizational development managers use organizational effectiveness:

Provided Talent Management and Organizational Development solutions that enhance enterprise-wide organizational effectiveness and performance.
Joined this leading manufacturer of consumer paper products with the charge to help reinvigorate its internal business processes and organizational effectiveness.

5. Organization Development

Organization Development refers to a strategy used to better a company's or organization's efficiency and capability through aligning the goals of a workplace's employees, workflow, and organizational structure. The strategy is also a field of study where individuals analyze a company's work and hypothesize how to better the company's capabilities.

Here's how organizational development managers use organization development:

Provided expertise and process consultation to businesses on effective change management of organization development interventions in a matrix organization.
Managed and/or consults with internal clients on organization development activities including organizational level assessment and designs cultural change initiatives.

6. Employee Engagement

Here's how organizational development managers use employee engagement:

Developed and implemented various Employee Engagement initiatives to include an employee recognition program and buddy system.
Developed methods of measuring performance management alignment with organizational goals leading to increased employee engagement.

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7. Succession Planning

Here's how organizational development managers use succession planning:

Incorporated strategic change management and communication-related processes to succession planning, talent management, performance management, and employee retention efforts.
Integrated succession planning and leadership competencies into talent acquisition process and implemented metrics to track internal talent mobility of high potentials.

8. PowerPoint

Here's how organizational development managers use powerpoint:

Prepared statistical information in form of PowerPoint to management and board.
Created PowerPoint presentations for customer events and for internal training.

9. Training Programs

Here's how organizational development managers use training programs:

Worked with Loan Servicing Management to develop strategic plan that guided in producing training programs that supported corporate training initiatives.
Provided foundation wide training opportunities; conducted needs assessments, selected vendors and evaluated training programs for effective employee development.

10. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how organizational development managers use continuous improvement:

Developed concise reports and strategic recommendations related to HR, procedure management, operations, and continuous improvement.
Establish continuous improvement systems for knowledge transfer and behavioral development to respond to a changing marketplace.

11. Employee Development

Here's how organizational development managers use employee development:

Designed and delivered employee development activities and resources through classroom training, mentoring, e-learning, and job rotation assignments.
Lead multiple strategic Human Resource projects and employee development programs for 1500 salaried employees across the U.S.

12. Career Development

Career development is a term referring to the process and idea of furthering one's career or otherwise altering its path by a number of processes and methods. A career development plan can be unique to the individual and might simply be to continue working the job one does in a singular company and moving up, in terms of positions and salary. Or it might be an entirely different plan, such as moving on from the position, the company, and perhaps even the industry as a whole, and doing other work somewhere else.

Here's how organizational development managers use career development:

Developed strategies to positively impact employee retention, training, and individualized career development across multiple areas of the business.
Set up career development assessments and counseling; facilitated career development planning for employees; improved the performance management system.

13. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how organizational development managers use professional development:

Improved performance with a supervisory training curriculum, conducting individual professional development, career planning, and coaching sessions.
Designed the professional development of technical employees toward career goals, including professional development plans and needs assessments.

14. Business Strategy

The decisions and plans formulated by businesses that help them in achieving their business objective and milestones are referred to as business strategy. It allows companies to secure a competitive status in the market against other contenders. Companies form business strategies for longer terms such as 5 - 10 years, that helps staff in working towards a unified objective.

Here's how organizational development managers use business strategy:

Re-organized the organization structure to support revised business strategy
Prepared employee training plans with determining needs from functional leaders/managers to align with training and business strategy.

15. Organizational Change Management

Here's how organizational development managers use organizational change management:

Delivered 40+ organizational change management resources to 50,000+ users via website that automatically identifies tools specific to user needs.
Generated proactive employee relations climates and implemented processes and procedures that optimized workforce effectiveness through leadership coaching and organizational change management.

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What organizational development manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Michael Baker

Founder & Partner, m3 Development

I am a big fan of graduate's taking a gap year to help get themselves set-up for success in their career. I recommend finding what you're passionate about that is employable. For example, if you want to work in the non-profit sector and have a specific area that has impacted you in your life, find an organization you can volunteer with that aligns with your specific area of interest. Some organizations will offer internships to recent graduates; if you have an interest in the cause, go for it. Those internships will help you determine if this is the direction you want to go, or not, for your career. Also, take advantage of career counseling services offered by the institution you just graduated from. They can help you by providing guidance and assessment tools to help you identify your skills, interests, and areas you need to develop. Good assessment tests are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DISC Assessment, and others.

I also think those taking a gap year use the time wisely to develop relationships with fellow graduates, alumni, potential employers, friends, and family. Have an introductory networking conversation with someone in an interesting field you might want to work in. Taking the initiative shows you are resourceful and seeking others' advice. All should be on LinkedIn and take advantage of networking. Look for, and join, professional association young professional groups in your area of interest. When able to participate in webinars, Zooms, online conferences, professional development seminars, graduate test preparation courses, training, networking events, and other opportunities to learn and build your network. Gap year graduates should be focused on acquiring the skills you need for your next step, whether it is going to work or graduate school. For everyone, the skills needed are different. I always recommend graduates enhance their interpersonal communication abilities, learn to listen to others, develop writing skills, focus on developing task-oriented habits to actually get things done (For example: Making a to-do list for every day and sticking to it; repetition will build this habit and needed skill set), take the time to learn what the dress-code looks like in the professional environment you want to be in, be aware and knowledgeable of the latest in technology, and continue to ask questions. This is a great time in your life; take advantage of it.

What type of skills will young organizational development managers need?

Caryn Beck-Dudley

President and CEO, AACSB International

The workforce has changed drastically in the last year, and these shifts pose new challenges and opportunities for young graduates. The difficulties these students and business schools faced in 2020 have shown us the importance of agility and adaptability in the future of work. Young graduates will need to hone their skills in managing a crisis and responding quickly to a changing situation. New graduates will also need to develop their "soft skills," in terms of building relationships virtually and navigating online platforms for work and team collaboration. With disruption as the new normal, these skills will set new graduates apart from their peers and help them serve their future teams, employers, and employees effectively. AACSB-accredited business schools prepare future workers to lead and excel in these uncertain situations, as well as provide high-quality, discipline-specific knowledge in fields such as accounting, marketing, and finance, among others.

Do you want to know more?

List of organizational development manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for an organizational development manager resume and required skills for an organizational development manager to have include:

Organizational Structure
Human Resources
Project Management
Organizational Effectiveness
Organization Development
Employee Engagement
Succession Planning
PowerPoint
Training Programs
Continuous Improvement
Employee Development
Career Development
Professional Development
Business Strategy
Organizational Change Management
Performance Improvement
Assessment Tools

Needs Assessment
Process Improvement
Learning Management System
Strategic Direction
Organization Design
Business Objectives
Leadership Development Programs
Organizational Culture
Management Initiatives
Organizational Performance
Emotional Intelligence
Subject Matter Experts
Performance Management
HRIS
Business Results
Sigma
Direct Reports

Conflict Resolution
Staff Development
Strategic Plan
Leadership Training
ROI
Blended Learning
Management Training
ELearning
Organizational Development Training
Management Development
Payroll
Communication Strategy
ISO
Individual Development
Training Materials
KPI

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Organizational Development Manager Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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