James W. Tamm - Radical Collaboration, 2nd Edition: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

(From the first edition)

Being only occasional authors, we never know when well have another opportunity to thank so many people who have played an instrumental role in the development of our work in general, as well as in this book specifically.

We start with our families and thank them for all the time we werent available to them. Weve learned from our childrenRyan, Janelle, Nola, and Franciethe true value of a good relationship. Kathy Tamm, a gifted psychotherapist and courageous wife (of Jim) and mother (of Ryan and Janelle), has been the most ardent supporter of our work. If the world could tap into her power of persuasion, energy, and belief in what we do, there would be no need for the words economic downturn. We especially thank her for her encouragement (i.e., pushing, prodding, and holding our feet to the fire), as well as collaborating with us to articulate the concepts in Chapter 9 and the notion that defensiveness is related to the body-mind connection.

We wish to thank Business Consultants Network, Inc., and Shogo Saito, chairman of Business Consultants, Inc., for graciously giving us permission to quote from the works of Will Schutz and FIRO theory, including material used in their workshop titled The Human Element. Roy and Florence Tamm are the finest living example of a wildly successful collaborative relationship. As a couple, they have been a wonderful guiding light for family, friends, and community for more than sixty years.

Dr. Gary Chapin, P. Michael Hunt, Vance Kennedy, and the late Dr. Patrick Williams have gathered with Jim every January for almost thirty-five years for several days of intense personal growth. The collective wisdom of that group has been powerful guidance. The group is a living reflection of the value of truth, choice, and awareness in action and has been a marvelous place to try out new ways of living and theories of collaboration.

Steve Barber, senior partner in the consulting firm Barber & Gonzales; Janet Walden, CEO of the Center for Collaborative Solutions; John Glaser, superintendent of Napa Valley Unified School District; Les Chisholm, Sacramento regional director of the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB); and Kathleen Stanbrough, executive director of the Sacramento Mediation Center, are probably more responsible than anyone else for the exponential growth of the Interest-Based approach to problem solving in the public sector. They lead a small band of skillful entrepreneurial revolutionaries infiltrating the public sector. They took great ideas and gave them wings. It was the ride of a lifetime to be on the same airplane.

Mark Smith, a gifted and generous mentor, and the late Jan Abbot were also instrumental in the success of the California labor-management relationship project thats the basis of much of this book. They also both played a positive role in Jims decision to leave the law and start a new chapter in his life by going into consulting. Anita Martinez, San Francisco regional director of the California PERB; Jerilyn Gelt, labor relations specialist at PERB; Fred DOrazio, chief administrative law judge at PERB; and Ron Blubaugh, former chief administrative law judge at PERB, not only offered Jim tremendous encouragement and support, they also covered his real workload while he was off having fun settling strikes. The support and friendship they gave Jim made twenty-five years at PERB worth twenty-five years of his life.

Ailish Schutz and Jerry Miller were the heart and soul of Will Schutz Associates when we first sought to partner with them. They fully embraced the concept of a collaborative relationship with us, allowing us the opportunity to spread this work internationally, and have offered continuous encouragement and support for this book project. Marian Pastor, Dorothea Hamilton, James Cusack, Kathy Tamm, and Jo Saia, all staff of the Institute for Personal Change, have for twenty-five years been Rons colleagues and friends. Theyve made major contributions to our understanding of human behavior and the psychology of unconscious programming that are reflected in this book.

Norm Brice and Dick Gould of California State University, Chico, were also a positive influence on Rons life direction. A number of key individuals not only encouraged us but also added great individual efforts to spread the concepts throughout the world. Dr. Jorge Diaz, president of Quidam International in Boston and Mexico City; Sune Almkvist of Kommunikator A&W AB in Bornby, Sweden; Susanne Gorander, Leif Cervin, Christian Rudquist, and Marianne Lidgren, principal consultants and partners at Right Sinova AB in Stockholm, Sweden; Keijo Halinen of GDC Group Oy of Finland; and Alain Duluc, senior manager of CEGOS Corporation in Paris, were primarily responsible for the growth of this work in Mexico, Scandinavia, and Europe.

Al Beck, professor of management at the US Department of Defense, Defense Systems Management College; Don Pomraning, former senior manager of organization development for Boeings Commercial Aircraft Group and corporate development leader, Idaho Power Corp.; Sandra Sell Lee, organizational development consultant and executive coach for Boeings Business Operations and Process Management Group; and Gary Copeland of Copeland Consulting, LLC, were all early supporters of this work in the United States. Their support made it much easier to hang in there during the early lean-growth years. The early support of Peggy and Conrad Smith also served as the foundation for the development of much of our collaborative work. Don White and Thomy Barton are exceptional organizational consultants who have continuously deepened our understanding of the concepts of truthfulness, accountability, and friendship.

David Murphy, superintendent of the Davis Unified School District, has, through the years, generously offered us opportunities to present our ideas to his various school staffs. Michael Rossiter has given us an opportunity to present self-knowledge-oriented training experiences to major corporations around the world.

Weve had the privilege of working with several organizations giving us an opportunity to field-test many of the Radical Collaboration practices: the Corporate Development Department at Idaho Power Corp., including Don Pomraning, Anne Smith, Vikkey Soderman, Kevin Wartman, and Dave Armstrong; the Management Development Department at Mt. States Employers Council, including Robin Zwisler, Harriet Chaney, and other members of the department who exemplify a collaborative working environment; the Alliance Management Team at Eli Lilly and Company, who have adopted Radical Collaboration practices and have been willing to share their practical experiences with us; David Le Sage and then Jan Moore at NASA, as well as the many men and women on various NASA teams who, for the past twenty years, have been engaging in interpersonal exploration as well as exploring the galaxy.

Judy Teng, dean of contract and continuing education at City College of San Francisco, not only offered encouragement but also opened the doors of China and Peking University for Jim and introduced him to the joy of one of the most interesting places on earth, the Beijing Flea Market at Panjaiyuan, where its possible to rapidly test out any theory on negotiation or collaboration.

The wisdom and friendship of Eileen Roach, Donna Jennelle, Phil Bliss, Jack Downing, and Cheryl Duvall have added immeasurably to a more compassionate understanding of the human condition.

Barbara Courtneys relentless support and encouragement for writing this book fed the seeds of fantasy long before it really seemed like a possibility. Paul Hamiltons initial editing of our book proposal forced us to be more articulate. Paul used more red ink than Arnold Schwarzenegger used on all his California budgets.