As Organizational Development practitioners and learning strategists, we bring deep expertise in people, teams, and systems—helping the university grow a culture of learning, leadership, and belonging. We ensure that every development initiative supports the university’s EVP by fostering purpose, growth, and inclusion.

The Organizational and Professional Development (OPD) team partners with HR Business Partners and campus leaders to advance USC’s talent strategy and bring the EVP to life. Whether your unit is navigating change, closing skill gaps, developing leaders, or strengthening team culture—we’re here to help you move from insight to action.

Our consultation services align with USC’s workforce planning, leadership development, and learning ecosystem to provide a connected, scalable, and inclusive approach to employee development. We co-create practical, data-informed solutions that enhance performance, culture, and capability.

We partner across the university and system to strengthen culture, build talent pipelines, and advance strategic goals. Our work is grounded in USC’s values and the EVP promise of belonging, purpose, and growth.

To support this mission, we lead and collaborate through two key groups that serve as drivers of talent and learning strategy:

• Enterprise Learning and Culture Council
  This cross-functional advisory team works in close partnership with our office to shape and guide a comprehensive learning ecosystem. Together, we align development initiatives with institutional priorities, ensuring USC cultivates the skills, mindsets, and culture needed to thrive.
• Learning and Development Network
  A vibrant network of learning and training professionals across campus who collaborate to bring the university's talent strategy to life. This group co-creates learning experiences, shares best practices, and amplifies development resources across colleges and divisions.

These partnerships enable us to translate strategy into action—fostering inclusive growth, capability-building, and a strong culture of learning across USC.

 

• Culture transformation and alignment
  Embedding institutional values into programs, onboarding, recognition, and daily behaviors—including inclusive meeting practices that reinforce psychological safety and equity.
• Team development and effectiveness
  Facilitating team assessments (DiSC, Strengths), resolving communication breakdowns, and helping teams adopt inclusive meeting structures and decision-making practices that improve engagement and outcomes.
• Leadership development at all levels
  Designing and delivering scalable, values-based leadership programs, providing executive and managerial coaching, and administering individual assessments (e.g., EQ-i 2.0, 360 feedback) to support leadership insight and growth.
• Skill gap analysis and capability mapping
  Using data from listening strategies, assessments, and performance to identify development needs across the system.
• Competency framework design and implementation
  Creating behavioral frameworks that align talent development with institutional priorities, performance, and EVP.
• Succession planning and workforce strategy
  Supporting leaders and HRBPs in identifying critical roles, readiness pipelines, and long-term development strategies.
• Career Growth and mobility initiatives
  Empowering employees to grow their career through learning pathways, personalized development planning, and skill-building aligned with advancement and internal mobility goals and the EVP.
• Employee engagement and retention strategies
  Using data to inform meaningful development, recognition, and culture improvements that reflect and reinforce the EVP.
• Rewards and recognition strategy and consulting
  Helping teams align recognition with values and the EVP by creating inclusive reward systems that celebrate impact and foster belonging.
• Inclusive meeting and decision-making practices
  Helping teams adopt practices that foster equity, psychological safety, and engagement in how they collaborate and communicate.
• Organizational change and transition support
  Facilitating change readiness, transition planning, and cultural integration for reorganizations, leadership shifts, or process changes.
• Strategic planning and facilitation
  Guiding departments and leadership teams through inclusive planning processes with measurable, mission-aligned outcomes.
• Program evaluation and impact measurement
  Developing ROI frameworks (Levels 1–4), dashboards, and feedback loops to assess learning effectiveness and inform strategy.
• Learning ecosystem strategy and infrastructure
  Managing LMS tools, digital learning, learning technology, and platform integrations to support a scalable development infrastructure.
• Custom training and development consultation
  Designing tailored learning experiences based on departmental needs, goals, and data insights.

Whether you need help designing a team workshop, identifying skill gaps, or aligning efforts with the Employee Value Proposition (EVP), we tailor our support to your needs and goals.

 

When you submit a service request, we follow a structured yet flexible process to ensure our support is tailored to your team’s needs and goals:

1. Discovery & Consultation
   We begin with a conversation to understand your goals, challenges, and desired outcomes. This may include reviewing engagement data, team dynamics, or skill gaps.
2. Diagnosis & Recommendations
   We assess the root causes of the issue or opportunity—whether it’s related to culture, leadership, team effectiveness, or development needs. We’ll then recommend the best course of action based on evidence, frameworks, and your context.
3. Design & Co-Creation
   Together, we design a strategy or solution that may include workshops, assessments (e.g., DiSC, EQ-i, 360), coaching, or skill-building programs. We align efforts with your college/division priorities and university-wide goals.
4. Implementation & Support
   We deliver the solution—whether a team session, learning pathway, or change initiative—while partnering with you to engage participants and sustain momentum.
5. Evaluation & Next Steps
   We measure outcomes and gather feedback to understand impact and identify ongoing needs. Where applicable, we provide tools, resources, or follow-up sessions to support continued growth and alignment.

We'll first partner with you to determine whether an assessment is the best approach for your goals. Most services are free, with only the assessment cost applied when relevant.

We offer a variety of assessments to support team and individual development. Some tools are self-service, while others are guided. We’ll first partner with you to determine whether an assessment is the right approach for your goals. Most services are free, with only the assessment cost applied when relevant.

Guided Assessments:

Administered in partnership with our team to uncover individual and team dynamics. When used with groups, we can facilitate conversations that surface areas of dysfunction and guide teams toward greater understanding, trust, and performance.

• 360 Assessment (CARS and BARS)
• Change Style Indicator
• CliftonStrengths
• Conflict Style (TKI and Kraybill)
• Everything DiSC Workplace
• EQ-i
• FIRO-B
• High Performing Teams Assessment (60 questions)
• MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator)
• Psychological Safety
• Team Player Style

Self-Service Assessments: COMING SOON!

Use individually or with your team to spark reflection, uncover growth opportunities, and guide development conversations.

Additional resources:

For additional support beyond development and consulting services, you may also find help through the following university resources:

Division of Human Resources, Employee Relations
Staff Ombuds
Faculty Ombuds
Faculty Civility Advocate
Office of Civil Rights and Title IX