Fractal-Based OD Experiments at Stanford University Medical Center — II
[Continued from ‘Some OD Experiments at Stanford University Medical Center — I’…]
Following the study circle Todd’s Team went through a half-day workshop on the Emotional Intelligence Builder software I had developed. They found it intuitive, and easy to use. Todd gave me the green light and made an introduction to the Suzanne Taylor, Manager of the Stanford Center of Education and Professional Development (SCEPD).
Suzanne was looking for courses that were out-of-the-box and over the next few years I created several custom courses that were to be offered at the Center. The very first course was a Fractal-Based Stress Management program.
This was an important milestone in Organizational Development, and marked the use of software-based tools to begin to manage fractals that emanate from the individual level. Such management allows individuals to more easily complete their individual flower journeys by more quickly moving through the seed (physical) and stalk (vital) levels
The program was focused on allowing individuals to become aware of their own stress patterns, along the physical, vital, and mental dimensions. In particular, two web-based tools were used — StressManager and EmotionalIntelligenceBuilder. These tools can be used by individuals, team and business units, allowing a deeper analyses into seed-patterns that are at the heart of dysfunctional team and corporate dynamics.
In this very first event at SCEPD, participants were interested in understanding the order underlying chaos. Decision-making can oftentimes seem chaotic, and so can the various dynamics at a team or business unit level. Yet, the chaos is just a veil, and behind it the inevitable journey through the physical, the vital, and the mental is taking place. In the fractal-based model the macro is a reflection of the micro, and pressing problems, whether of a failure to fulfill project-based ROI, or of lack of department productivity, can be addressed by changing seed-patterns at the individual level.
The participants were interested in the core question of the course — “What is the fractal imprint that shapes your reality?”, and what was intriguing was the appetite of the participants to know more about fractals and the system-behind-the-system, even though they had not necessarily been introduced to these concepts before. To me this reinforced that we are surely at some significant bridge-point in the scheme of things.
(To Be Continued…)
