“I have known and worked with Valerie for over 40 years.  She, at Deere and Company’s Worldwide Learning and Development function, was a pioneer in all things related to Organizational Development.  Literally thousands of executives and employees were influenced by her intervention skills.  As a team builder, she showed compassion, patience and an extraordinary ability to bring the theoretical down to the practical level.  She knows OD!  She’s an incredible communicator, able to relate to all levels of an organization.  She may be a ‘magician’, but more importantly, she has the tools, ability and professionalism to help make major changes within an organization.  There are no better OD professionals in the business.”

Harry Litchfield
Principal consultant, Riverbend Associates

“I have known Valerie Dhanens for more than 20 years.  We met in an Organizational Development classroom, and it changed my life.  She taught me everything I know about teams, human interactions and conflict resolution.  She gave me my first experience in teambuilding, and I still use her methods to this day.  Her knowledge of group dynamics and facilitation is equally impressive and could be another book.  I am proud to call her my mentor and very dear friend.”

Brenda Green
Delivery Management Manager
Acccenture

“I believe Dr. Dhanens provides an excellent Teambuilding overview, summarizing tasks the consultant/Magician needs in organizing a Teambuilding workshop.  She focuses on employee participation in problem identification, potential actions and decision recommendations.  Effectively managing a Teambuilding event is an ‘art’; the book discusses basic Teambuilding pre-planning steps, provides a variety of Team Exercises and includes examples of potential pitfalls in the process.  With early-on upper management support and mentoring, the new Consultant/Magician should be effective in their new role.”

Patrick Pontes
Former Team Builder and Retired US Forest Service District Ranger and Forest Fire Chief

“During Valerie’s tenure with Nestle she supported the Nestle Prepared Foods factories.  Her primary focus was upon 2-3 specific sites but she was continually asked to lend her expertise to the broader organization.  The techniques and tools offered in this book were put to the test in our factories.  We were not only somewhat resistant to change but generally resistant to participative learning environments.  Valerie skillfully used her talent to create the business case for change and then guided the participants through learning through experience exercises.  Production leaders and managers expressed amazement at what they had learned about themselves.  Further, their willingness to apply the new learnings to their teams at work produced very positive results.  A key learning for her students was that the resistance within themselves created the barrier previously attributed to the organization.  Magically, with barriers removed, progress could be made.”

Mickey Durmick
Head of Human Resources.
Nestle Professional

© 2010 Holistic Teams That Work