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What does an organizational development specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Michael Baker

An organizational development specialist is responsible for identifying the operational challenges of the organization, developing strategic procedures to improve policies, and ensuring the efficiency and accuracy of business processes. Organizational development specialists address the employees' inquiries and concerns with operational procedures and develop comprehensive training and programs to maximize their productivity and skill knowledge on the production. They may also recommend changes in the organizational structure, depending on operational demands and required support. An organization development specialist creates progress reports, designs assessment materials, and analyzes training survey data.

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Organizational development specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real organizational development specialist resumes:

  • Lead experiential learning in supervisory skills, conflict management, leadership, team building and organization process effectiveness.
  • Perform ADDIE model on management courses (change management, coaching, etc.
  • Create and implement training modules on PowerPoint presentations to impart state regulations to both new and season staff members.
  • Prepare statistical information in form of PowerPoint to management and board.
  • Develop windows service or windows console application to automatically send out emails base on the business requirements.
  • Develop an in-depth diversity train-the-trainer program for facilitators that provide legally-based fundamentals, facilitation skills, facilitator assessment, and testing.
  • Assist in building all new eLearning modules for sales support center new hires and team members.
  • Serve as administrator for the eLearning tool and are responsible for the transfer of employee data to this vendor.
  • Provide oversight for the CMS compliance and quality requirements, policies and procedures.
  • Initiate major ROI for clients including a $1million cost savings for one client.
  • Maximize availability of training documentation by creating and maintaining an electronic training documentation library using SharePoint.
  • Improve MBTI team development program and introduce advanced workshop for leaders.
  • Provide executive oversight and leadership for HR/Payroll best practices driving organizational change.
  • Develop and facilitate performance management initiatives including defining accountability and measuring results.

Organizational development specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 13% of Organizational Development Specialists are proficient in Organizational Development, Project Management, and Human Resources. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Instructional skills, and Analytical skills.

We break down the percentage of Organizational Development Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Organizational Development, 13%

    Provided organizational development consulting to several large-scale technology/organizational transformations

  • Project Management, 7%

    Lead project management for integral Leadership Development for entire organization.

  • Human Resources, 7%

    Consulted extensively with business leaders and human resources to identify the leadership and professional development needs of the organization.

  • Organizational Effectiveness, 5%

    Facilitated the implementation of organizational effectiveness interventions.

  • Employee Engagement, 5%

    Featured speaker at various business networking events on topics ranging from strategy execution and employee engagement to work-life balance.

  • PowerPoint, 5%

    Prepared statistical information in form of PowerPoint to management and board.

Most organizational development specialists use their skills in "organizational development," "project management," and "human resources" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential organizational development specialist responsibilities here:

Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an organizational development specialist to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "specialists should be resourceful when developing training materials." Organizational development specialists often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provided creative organizational change management consultation services in diverse workplace environments. "

Instructional skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling organizational development specialist duties is instructional skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "training and development specialists deliver employee training programs." According to an organizational development specialist resume, here's how organizational development specialists can utilize instructional skills in their job responsibilities: "created professional development trainings targeting 15,000 non-instructional staff members with average audience approval ratings of 4.85 out of 5-point scale. "

Analytical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of organizational development specialists is analytical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday organizational development specialist duties, as "training and development specialists must evaluate training programs, methods, and materials and choose those that best fit each situation." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "served as administrator for the elearning tool and was responsible for the transfer of employee data to this vendor. "

Communication skills. organizational development specialist responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "training and development specialists must convey information clearly and facilitate learning to diverse audiences." This resume example shows what organizational development specialists do with communication skills on a typical day: "managed planning, logistics, and communication for training events and meetings, including management development programs and new hire orientation. "

Collaboration skills. Lastly, "collaboration skills" is an important element of what an organizational development specialist does. Organizational development specialist responsibilities require this skill because "specialists need strong interpersonal skills because delivering training programs requires coordinating with instructors, subject-matter experts, and trainees." This resume example highlights how organizational development specialist duties rely on this skill: "re-designed total quality management training into more interactive and collaboration focused approach. "

Most common organizational development specialist skills

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Organizational Development Specialist Resume
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Compare different organizational development specialists

Organizational development specialist vs. Trainer lead

As a training lead, you are responsible for overseeing a company's employee training and development activities. You are also expected to perform various tasks that may include identifying training needs for the organization, supervising trainers' work, and developing effective employee training programs. Other duties and responsibilities may be conducting a readiness assessment, maintaining training information, and coordinating and reviewing the logistics of training materials. Also, you are expected to organize safety training and develop conflict resolution modules and diversity appreciation.

We looked at the average organizational development specialist salary and compared it with the wages of a trainer lead. Generally speaking, trainer leads are paid $387 higher than organizational development specialists per year.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between organizational development specialists and trainer leads are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like organizational change management, training programs, and continuous improvement.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an organizational development specialist are more likely to require skills like "organizational development," "project management," "human resources," and "organizational effectiveness." On the other hand, a job as a trainer lead requires skills like "customer service," "product knowledge," "punctuality," and "cpr." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

The education levels that trainer leads earn slightly differ from organizational development specialists. In particular, trainer leads are 16.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an organizational development specialist. Additionally, they're 1.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Organizational development specialist vs. Training consultant

A training consultant's job is to prepare, evaluate, and execute an organization's employee education programs. Their duties and responsibilities may include developing instructional materials, identifying knowledge and skills gaps, and organizing learning activities. Other duties include selecting educational methods such as online courses and on-the-job coaching, organizing management training, and assessing the impact of this training on employee performance. The skills and qualifications for this role include a bachelor's degree in human resources management or a relevant field, previous work experience as a training consultant, and knowledge of learning management software.

A career as a training consultant brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of an organizational development specialist. In fact, training consultants salary is $15,028 lower than the salary of organizational development specialists per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both organizational development specialists and training consultants have skills such as "project management," "organizational change management," and "training programs. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real organizational development specialist resumes. While organizational development specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "organizational development," "human resources," "organizational effectiveness," and "employee engagement," training consultants use skills like "training delivery," "product knowledge," "training curriculum," and "presentation."

Training consultants earn a lower average salary than organizational development specialists. But training consultants earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $67,693. Additionally, organizational development specialists earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $82,786 annually.In general, training consultants achieve lower levels of education than organizational development specialists. They're 6.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for organizational development specialists in the next 3-5 years?

Michael BakerMichael Baker LinkedIn profile

Founder & Partner, m3 Development

The non-profit sector, like every sector, has been impacted greatly by technology. I believe innovation and disruption from technology is a key tool for making non-profits more efficient and effective. AI is already being used by the big non-profits and will become more common throughout our sector in mid-sized and small non-profit organizations when it is more cost-effective. The current, future and recent graduates are mostly Generation Z. This is the generation that was born into and has grown up with the internet and technology. The most important technology is and will continue to be online and mobile. Non-profits need to continue developing and investing in technology, tools, and support systems to meet the needs of their mission. Technology has brought us the internet, social media, the cloud, cashless forms of payments, automating work, evaluation tools creating dashboards that automatically monitor performance, electronic health records, and will continue to evolve. I believe machine-based learning and artificial intelligence are technology now and for the future. Technology that supports transparency, engagement, impact, and data analytics will be what is important in the next 3 to 5 years for non-profit organizations.

Organizational development specialist vs. Train operator

The Train Operator ensures the train gets to and from destinations in a timely and safe manner. This person is responsible for the train's operation, maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. The passengers' safety and convenience fall on the train operator's shoulders, and it is the operator's obligation that trains always depart and arrive on time. Add responsibilities of a train operator is to ensure the security of all passengers and to report all irregularities observed during one's duty.

On average, train operators earn lower salaries than organizational development specialists, with a $32,599 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on organizational development specialists and train operators resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "powerpoint," "training programs," and "professional development.rdquo;

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an organizational development specialist is likely to be skilled in "organizational development," "project management," "human resources," and "organizational effectiveness," while a typical train operator is skilled in "safety procedures," "ladders," "dod," and "sme."

Train operators earn the best pay in the transportation industry, where they command an average salary of $43,593. Organizational development specialists earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $82,786.train operators typically earn lower educational levels compared to organizational development specialists. Specifically, they're 19.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Organizational development specialist vs. Corporate trainer

A corporate trainer is someone who essentially works as a teacher in a corporate setting. Daily duties include training employees with new company systems, skills, and strategies. They monitor the engagement levels and performance of the training participants. Also, they collaborate with project stakeholders to create training content and design. Corporate trainers must have high interpersonal skills to connect with trainers easily and to get them to participate actively in the training sessions. Preferred candidates for the job are those with a bachelor's degree in human resources or those with relevant job experience in the same field.

Corporate trainers typically earn lower pay than organizational development specialists. On average, corporate trainers earn a $12,985 lower salary per year.While both organizational development specialists and corporate trainers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like powerpoint, training programs, and learning management system, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "organizational development," "project management," "human resources," and "organizational effectiveness" are skills that commonly show up on organizational development specialist resumes. On the other hand, corporate trainers use skills like customer service, hr, corporate training, and account executives on their resumes.In general, corporate trainers earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $58,663. The highest-paying industry for an organizational development specialist is the technology industry.In general, corporate trainers hold lower degree levels compared to organizational development specialists. Corporate trainers are 16.5% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of organizational development specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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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