DOEC in the field: Andrea Galambos
DOEC would be a perfect fit for you if…
…you're looking for a fresh approach to cracking organizational challenges with agility and innovation front and center.
My name is Andrea Galambos Souza, she/her. I am a Senior Staff UX Manager at Google. I’ve been in this role for a year and a half, and I’ve been a Googler for thirteen years in different roles.
Given that background, what motivated you to apply for the DOEC program?
I’ve always had an interest in understanding the human side of business: how can I create cultures and teams centered around psychological safety and encourage effectiveness and well-being at work. My favorite undergrad class was the Sociology of Work, which first sparked my interest in organizational development. I started MSLOC to dig into that long-time intellectual curiosity.
For DOEC specifically, I was interested in the organizational design aspect. I had restructured teams and been part of big reorgs, but I didn’t have any formal training in org design. It was important to me to explore ways to set the stage for teams to be effective and productive while keeping high morale and avoiding burnout. Thus, I wanted a program that would provide new frameworks, tools, and approaches to drive that effectiveness.
How has participating in MSLOC impacted your career?
One major takeaway was learning how to apply design thinking to organizational issues. I’d used design thinking in my early career in advertising and marketing—facilitating workshops to generate product and marketing ideas. I loved it, but I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to use that methodology for team and people-oriented challenges. That was a big unlock for me: how could I use design thinking—discovery, rapid ideation, prototyping—for organizational issues? I’ve already been putting ideas from DOEC into practice. When I recently stood up a new team, I drew on so many of the program’s learnings: co-creating our team’s values and norms as a strong foundation, developing shared processes and rhythms, and centering our work around each individual’s strengths and how they apply to our business needs.
I’m in UX, not an org development practitioner. But one of the key frameworks we learned, Galbraith’s STAR model, looks at different levers within an org—rewards, people, processes—to understand how to optimize for effectiveness. I use that lens in my UX world to examine internal team processes and figure out how we can be more agile. It’s a tangible tool I applied right away. Learning frameworks like this through DOEC has helped me be a more well-rounded leader.
How has being a part of the DOEC community benefited you in terms of connections and collaborations?
Being part of the MSLOC community and DOEC has broadened my horizons and enriched my life. I’ve spent 13 years at the same company, and I’m proud of the network I’ve built there. Now, being a part of the MSLOC community has helped me see how many other organizations work, how they’re structured, and how they tackle problems. I can bring these learnings and connections from MSLOC back into my own organization. The people in this program are amazing, and the professors are top-notch and deeply involved with students. It makes you feel part of a thriving, diverse group of people with so many different experiences. I’ve learned so much from everyone I’ve met, and I hope to continue learning from them for many years.
DOEC’s capstone was a client project, and the company we worked with gave us an incredible opportunity to immerse in their culture. At the end, they gave us a token that reads, “show up, smile, and support.” Eight months later, I still keep it on my desk as a reminder of how that company encouraged employees to live their values—something I want to do every day.
What advice would you have for someone who is hoping to apply to DOEC?
Absolutely go for it, without hesitation. It’s applicable for people at so many different points in their career. What I loved about the community is that there are people who are relatively new graduates, all the way up to 30-plus years in their career, and you learn so much from everyone across the board. It will give you a new approach—and a new way of looking at things within your organization—no matter where you are along that spectrum, even if you’re not an OD practitioner.