Page 134 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

Collaborating With a Community College in Post-Katrina New Orleans 103

Change goals and standards that are fine you have to do that for an educational
institution. But, if I don’t have a classroom, or my overhead doesn’t work, or I
don’t have computers that work, all that stuff doesn’t make a difference.
Rather than a linear progression from one stage to the next, both aspects
of strategy development may need to be addressed in parallel, with each one
informing the other. If participants want to and need to surface operational
issues, it may be important to draw on that energy and input. Participant
energy and engagement was critical to the quality of the strategy develop-
ment effort. This implies that operational ideas should be captured, honored,
and used in ways that make it possible to work back to strategic concepts.
Conversely, if participants are offering up strategic concepts and ideas, then
they should be grounded in real-world organizational implications. Strategic
ideation and strategic planning need to work in an ongoing dance, each one
informing the other. The real world is not so simple as to allow strategic
thinking to start and stop before strategic planning begins (Daniels, 2007).

Conclusion

In conclusion, when working within an organizational system, we are
working in two worlds: the organizational world and the personal world.
While these two worlds are usually separated by time and place, they do
influence each other. In an organizational system that is traumatized by
a regional disaster, it is extremely difficult to maintain the separation of
these two worlds. Individuals are dealing with issues surrounding their
safety and basic necessities and are also challenged to be contributors to
their organizational survival.
Shaped by both circumstance and style, individuals can and do react
differently within organizations during the aftermath of a disaster. Some
individuals become totally absorbed in their personal situation and are
fairly absent in the day-to-day organizational efforts. Others become
totally absorbed in the organization, finding a venue for creating positive
change. Other individuals occupy a middle ground dealing within both
worlds. As an outsider working within the system, I needed to pay atten-
tion to this dynamic. There is no right way for individuals to respond, but
it was important to take notice and understand the capacity of individuals
to be responsive to organizational needs.
It was important to take notice and understand individual and group
orientations and capacities as they relate to serving critical organizational