It is always a treat when I can carve out a few minutes to focus on Work Matters. I think Bob's blog is one of the greatest value-adds out in the blogosphere, and I view it as an opportunity to get a view into what his conversations with his students might be like at the d.school.
In catching up on his posts he's written a nice piece on the recent airplane landing on the Hudson, with a focus on how the crew worked together in managing the crisis into a successful landing.
Thinking about group dynamics and effectiveness from a cockpit point of view and applying it to the everyday work of management teams scattered across the globe, currently navigating their businesses through the downturn, really hooked me.
From the work of Richard Hackman the data indicates:
1. 44% of errors that pilots make is on their first flight together, of which 73% of those errors occur on their first day
2. Fresh crews working together for the first time made more errors than tired crews who had been working together previously.
3. Good groups, who have experience working together, quickly divide tasks and create a division of labor, they focus on people's strengths.
4. If you are designing teams focus on bringing people who have worked together before. Yes, teams can get stale, but a core group who have worked together may be more effective. (of course, there are variables such as the notion of low-performing teams. Why would you bring them back together?).
There is a strong role here for facilitators of teams. This has gotten me fired up to read more around group effectiveness!
