REGROUPING 85 2:30p.m.: Al returns to his desk after several meetings, and begins reading through the fifteen e-mail messages awaiting him. He comes to Tom's response and has no clue what it means. He asks himself, "What does my availability have to do with sending the slides over e-mail?" Al looks back at his sent message to remind himself of the context. Still puzzled, he sends this reply: From: Al To: Tom Subject: RE: Presentation slides Date/Time: Sept. 8th, 2:35pm Tom, are you asking what time I'd be available to pick them up? I was hoping you could just e-mail the document. Thanks, Al p.s. What is "r/"? From: Tom To: Al Subject: Presentation slides Assuming you want to go over the presentation Al reads this and thinks, "What's with the cryptic answers? Could this guy make it any harder to get this done? Forget it; I don't have time to go back and forth on this." Al walks away from the exchange with a feeling of exasperation and annoyance with Tom. Date/Time: Sept. 8th, 2:37pm Closing Thoughts Successful regrouping means an individual has toned down the DRUMS enough to hear and see what's happening outside of him or herself and modify behavior based on external clues about the new environment. I have seen a set of characteristics common to service members who have moved through the regrouping stage. They: ! Have a healthy respect for the unknown and err on the side of caution vs. assumption. ! Feel energized by their own new ideas and those of others, includ- ing staff. American Managememt Association · www.amanet.org