Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

Originally published in LLL US Western Division’s Connections #89, May/June 2000

Last spring my family visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A highlight of that trip for me was a visit to the site of the Wright brothers’ first man-powered flight of 1903.

I was fascinated to learn about the Wrights’ perseverance. They didn’t make that first flight in the warm breezes of summer. They went aloft on December 17 in the biting wind and cold during the precious hours of solstice daylight. They weren’t on a groomed runway. They took off on a rail placed in the shifting sands of the dunes of Kitty Hawk. They were not staying at a nice beach hotel. They slept in burlap hammocks in an uninsulated wooden barracks. They weren’t eating shrimp pasta dishes at casual little seafood restaurants or playing miniature gold like we were either!

Orville and Wilbur Wright weren’t successful with their first powered flight design. They made hundreds of glider flights from a huge nearby dune in 1902. Dragging the glider back up the dune with the help of the men from the nearby ship rescue houses after every test, they modeled commitment, patience, and perseverance. They went back home to their bicycle shop in Ohio and spent most of 1903 drawing and testing.

The 1998 TEAM Meeting was the Kitty Hawk of our team management system. Some may have felt that the system was clumsy, unsure, and untried. Many worried that it was going to be too heavy with consultation, that the steering wouldn’t hold, that the warp and weft controls of the wings wouldn’t be able to keep us straight, that it wouldn’t fly. The design needed testing and refining and heart.

Many Areas have been improving and customizing their team management system. They are trying further designs and permutations of team management that use the principles and ideas of those early “flights” in Kansas City. We look forward to hearing about how Areas are using teamwork and pursuing their dreams at the TEAM 2000 Meeting in August.

As we gather together to share and review our progress at TEAM 2000 in Denver this summer, please also consider sharing your insights, strategies, and successes with Connections readers. We look forward to your articles, items for “Team Tips,” and other contributions.