I’m a fan of the Apollo 13 movie on many levels, but today I’d like to highlight the scene where the team must recommend a change to the CO2 filter. Suddenly faced with the realization that the cabin filters in their disabled craft are not operating, the crew has a very short amount of time before the atmosphere will become unbreathable. The engineers on the ground are given a random box of parts that the crew has available to fabricate a filter with in space. The ground team gets it done, and this small win sets the stage for larger accomplishments to come.
The teamwork during this crisis rose to levels unattainable by many in the normal corporate environment. So what is it that leads small groups of people in highly constrained situations to such amazing outcomes?
In the final post in our six-part series on garage-based innovation (if you need to catch up, start here), we’ll take a look into the human connection that develops in a group of people who are set aside to complete an above and beyond task. What elements are present that create this powerful human bond towards a task?
1) Conviction – Admittedly, most of us will never know the urgency of rescuing a manned spacecraft that has gone south. However, lesser journeys can be plenty compelling, depending on how they are framed and formed as the project is kicked off.
Some recent examples in the news provide some clues:
- Nano Technology for Medical Diagnostics – Holding the promise of targeted cancer therapy
- Consumer-grade space travel via Space Ship One – Giving wings to our childhood aspirations of space travel.
- New vehicle technology by Tesla – providing the first no compromise all electric vehicle.
Each of these breakthroughs resulted from the work of a passionate leader and a small team, and each of them faced more than their share of skeptics.
2) T-Shaped People – “T-shaped” is a term coined by IDEO CEO David Guest to describe people who are functionally deep — as well as skilled — in reaching out to the other members of the group.
Much of the magic of these teams lies in the fact that they are populated by subject matter experts who can seamless cross academic and organizational boundaries. There is a very unique thing that happens when you have a PhD in one field working with an MD and a strategic accountant: they ask one another great questions, and come up with much better solutions than any of them could individually. The takeaway here? If you have tired solutions, increase the root DNA of the team.
3) Connections – The metaphor of the burning pier is overused, but apt here. When our outcomes are mutually assured through physical, financial or psychological adjacency, we quickly form a true team. There are many great examples of ordinary people rising to the extraordinary in these circumstances – one that comes to mind is the Shackleton expedition aboard the Endurance, where the team unexpectedly needed to spend the winter at the South Pole and survived to tell the story. The key point here, is that the human connection in constrained environments can lead us to rise to the challenge, rather than fall into despair and failure.
4) Constraints – For today’s post, let’s keep this to the human sense: we are the team – just us. We need to solve this with the human capital we have, right here, right now, with this much time. In both our example, and in real life, we see people rise to a challenge that is line of sight and compelling. They also quickly self adapt to the team at hand. It is remarkable how quickly we can gain an awareness of who is around us and what skills they have, even in an ad hoc environment like a tour group or on an elevator. When faced with a real challenge, their perceptual skills are further sensitized, and the standard norming, storming and performing phases of group formation are accelerated.
Become a practitioner of the above and you too, might earn the highest compliment given to a NASA support engineer – that of “a steely-eyed missile man.”
I’ve enjoyed bringing some focus to the dimension of garage effectiveness, whether in a corporate environment or a true backyard endeavor. I am truly interested in your feedback and thoughts. Please leave a comment below or send me a note.
