· It all starts with the famous line “Houston, we’ve had a problem” – I just put
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· It all starts with the famous line “Houston, we’ve had a problem” – I just put this in because this has become a catch phrase now when organizations have serious problem.
· The rules of command at NASA were that the flight director can do anything they feels is necessary for the safety of the crew and the conduct of the flight regardless of mission rules – interesting – rules get suspended in times of the ultimate crisis – but since everyone knew this the line of authority was acceptable.
· Kranz’s (the flight director) first proclamation was “let’s not make it any worse by guessing” – a critical point – detail matters – this links to our discussions on leadership “rules” in week 2.
· In the midst of the problem developing, Kranz took the time to assemble the team he needed in the current state and the team he thought he would need for the worst case scenarios – so thinking steps ahead of others – he was able to see the way the incident could (and did) evolve.
· Kranz only spoke in the positive – spoke only of solving the problem –which led some to believe he was arrogant and delusional. The lesson here is that high standards and optimism will not guarantee a favorable outcome; but negative thinking will assuredly create the opposite.
· Kranz listened – but ended conversations with “I thank you for your input, the decision has been made – let’s move on”. His mantra was “listen” then “decide”. Employees can respect decision making – and authority.
· Kranz demanded everyone (except himself) get at least 6 hours of rest time every 24 hours – he felt being overly tired would lead to more mistakes (which is supported by data in the medical field which shows most all medical errors are made by health professionals working in their overtime period) – this links back to our balance discussions in week 2 – and to an article summary I will post later in the week.
· Kranz had prepared his team for this potential event by having them form baseball teams and playing each other – this way they learned each other’s silent signals when they needed help or needed to be left alone.
What do you think about the bolded point - would this make a team better?
Explanation / Answer
Answer: Yes by understanding the psychie of the team members, each team member can perform better by not encroaching on the others job and become more effective in dealing with people. This is the way to make the team perform and get the goals on the right track.
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