Response to response--from one uppity old broad to another

• Welcome to a Dialogue on Whole-Scale™ Change with Kathleen Dannemiller by John Grohol, 11/14/97
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    • Oriental Medicine and OD - Response by Kathie Dannemiller, 2/28/98
      
      

Kathie-- Our physical paths have not crossed, but we've met in mind and spirit. My cubicle-mate sat next to you at an ODN session last fall. A second collegue(Jane Mayne) and husband of a third collegue (Ken Guarino) were at your NTL large systems change workshop this past summer. WE're using some of what they learned to design an intervention to help 120 operations executives translate our agency's strategic plan into their daily decision-making process. And some of your Washington-based Dannemiller-Tyson folks met with us a few months back to explore possible applications and techniques of computer assisted meeting and virtual work to doing large systems change. (Hosted at Chris McGoff's center in Rosslyn).

"We" are a loosely knit,tightly networked group of headquarter's based internal OD consultants at the Federal Aviation Administration. There are about a dozen of us, depending on how you count and who's doing what on a given day. We're networked with another 150 or so folks in FAA around the country who consider themselves "change agents" and who have some level of expertise in groups, change and collaborative problem-solving. Each of them has some portion of planning or managing change in their official job. We are hardly of one mind, but we work at developing and maintaining an alignment in purpose and values and sharing what we learn.

One reason I followed up on the connections between practicing OD, systems change, and the 5 Elements was the fact it "made sense to my body"...as well as my head. It also gave me a model to understand and work with the physical effects of doing complex, stressful work in a large organization had on my own body, mind, and spirit.

• Old Broad Conversation by Kathie Dannemiller, 3/29/98