NASA is freakin’ awesome (why science geeks are leading the way for engagement)

The other night, after being woken up by a particularly loud dog turning over in her crate, the TV was turned on and I ended up watching an hour long program on NASA’s Curiosity mission to Mars. It was awesome, and if you are not in awe of the things that human beings can do when focused on a common cause, shame on you. I’ve been a space nerd from a very early age. The Right Stuff is still one of my favorite movies. I really wanted to be an astrophysicist (then I hit ‘Intro to Complex Variables’. Oof.) and I watch documentaries all the time (hence the Science Channel on at 3:00am). I love that stuff.

As I lay there, not sleeping like I should have been, I was struck by how geeked (shout out to Steve Browne!) everyone was about the work they were doing. And I couldn’t help think that any corporation would be lucky to have such an engaged workforce, and how any workforce would love to be that excited about going to work every day. The NASA geeks obviously love that stuff, too.

I know NASA has come under fire in the past for their culture of cover up that resulted in deaths (Challenger, Columbia) and other leadership blunders. I’ll address that side of the culture in the future. But for those people working on the Curiosity mission, the culture gave them exactly what they needed in order to love their jobs AND be successful.

What is it that got these NASA people so jazzed (other than the obvious fact that they are working on AWESOME SPACE STUFF)? Here are a few things that I think contribute to the high level of NASA employee engagement that corporations can learn from:

People get to apply their skills and interests towards really cool work: Engagement surveys keep telling us that people want to be able to put their strengths to work on interesting projects. You’ve probably said once or twice in your career, “I just want to make a difference.” Well, these people are doing that – they get to use all their training and years of gazing up at the stars to help explore a distant planet.
Everyone is working toward the same massively difficult, but inspiring, goal: NASA is all about throwing down the gauntlet. It started with Kennedy’s assertion that we would get to the moon by the end of the decade in the ’60s, to Apollo 13’s shifted mission to bring the astronauts home, to landing the most ambitious rover safely on Mars to conduct science experiments. This singular focus drives all decisions and actions, keeping the teams focused on the common target.
Everyone’s role is well-defined: As you can imagine, a project like Curiosity has a LOT of different teams working on specific aspects of the mission. There’s the experiment team, the landing team, the communications team, the power team, the SAM (sample analysis) team, etc. Each person knows what their specific goals are, what the expectations are, the timeline required, and the potential impact of failure.
Everyone understands how their role contributes to the overall mission: I didn’t hear anyone say, “I don’t know why I do what I do – I just take orders.” These are people who are driven to succeed because they know the rest of the mission is relying on their success. They are given the big picture to provide context and truly believe they are a part of something greater than themselves.
They prepared…and prepared…and prepared…and were ready for anything: The level of testing and simulations the teams underwent before launch, during the journey to Mars, and right before landing meant the team felt they were able to handle any contingency. Leadership understood the importance of gelling as a team, practicing skills until mastery, and throwing in trouble scenarios so the team could learn how to handle them in a low risk environment. This level of practice lent skills and cohesion that resulted in a successful rover landing…even though the method used to land the rover had never been used before.
The work captures the hearts as well as the minds: One of the project’s scientists told the story of when he was a kid and the first Voyager photos from Mars were published in the ’70s. He said, “That’s the day I became a planetary scientist.” He basically is working on the project he dreamed about when he was little. The ability to emotionally connect with one’s work is powerful. Simon Sinek’s excellent TED talk and book Start With Why discusses the need to understand who you are as a company and then let all things flowing from there. The scientists working on Curiosity knew why they were there, and the long hours and stress were truly a labor of love.
They celebrate their wins: Just watch the reaction of the team once Curiosity safely touched down on the surface of Mars.

True, most of us will never get a chance to work on a project like landing a rover on another planet so far away that it takes 14 minutes for radio signals to reach it. But when you think about it, none of the things that make those NASA geeks so excited are really out of reach for companies. It’s about letting your people use their strengths to move the company forward on ambitious goals that everyone understands and connects to. Each person knows what their role is and why it’s important. They can be emotionally committed to the work. And everyone can celebrate their wins and learn from their mistakes.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

“Other duties as assigned” (why it’s a good way to work)

I had a streak of bad luck at one point in my career. Three of the companies I worked for either went out of business or closed the office of where I was working. I was the William H Macy of business. I could have been hired as a cooler for competitors.

After the third company went down and the job went away, I wanted to take a little bit of a mental break and just do some temp work until I figured out what was next. So I was assigned to a small company to do data entry. About a week into that, I started asking questions. Why were the forms all hand-written? What about a web form? Wait, you don’t have a web site? Well, why not? And who the heck is managing the network? And shouldn’t you have a single point of contact for general questions?

All of that question-asking led to a full-time position building the company’s web presence and setting some communication infrastructure that’s still in place today.

I share this story not because I want to brag about my mad skillz and the fact that I landed on my feet. I share it to illustrate that I landed on my feet as a result of asking questions that were outside of my assigned responsibilities.

All too often, I hear employees use the phrase, “It’s not in my job description.” Or I encounter managers who want a copy of the job description to prove to an employee that there is a task or behavior that they should be doing. And it sticks in my craw a bit because I find it SO limiting…and it’s so indicative of where a company’s culture currently is. Employees who think they aren’t responsible for the success of the company will limit themselves to the specifics of their job. Managers who can’t explain how an employee’s actions contribute to the overall success of an organization rely on job descriptions to “prove it”. It handicaps both parties…and hinders the business.

There’s a reason that other duties as assigned is included in job descriptions – because there are times when the unexpected happens and the business needs its employees to step up and do some things that are outside of their normal day-to-day. No business can promise exactly what your daily routine will look like (maybe some manufacturing jobs can get close, but there are still variables). The company needs some flexibility to succeed in an ever-changing business environment.

Other duties as assigned should be the way you approach your job every single day. Yes, there are actual job responsibilities you need to complete (duh). But this phrase is a license for innovation! You are responsible for adding value – if you can add value outside of your ‘job box’, you will be successful. For those of you who complain you’re getting burned out or want more development, here’s the phrase for inspiration. Look around you and find a problem to solve. If you’re always complaining that one department doesn’t seem to talk to another, call a meeting with the offending parties and see what you can do to help. Maybe it’s not “technically” your job…but if you see a way to add value by doing it, by all means – do it!

Now, there is some risk inherent in performing other duties all willy-nilly, so here are a couple of suggestions on how you might do it successfully:

Tie your other duties to a business need: It’s harder to fault an employee when you’re helping the business achieve its goals.
Target pain points: The others will thank you.
Don’t make it all about you: Sometimes the problem/pain point you’re solving benefits you…but what would benefit others?
Let people know what you’re doing: No one likes an end-around. Keep your manager up to speed on what you’re doing and why.

So when you’re tempted to grumble or make fun of other duties as assigned, change your mindset. You may just land on your feet.

Got an example of a time when an “other duties as assigned” mindset helped you? Share in the comments!

If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.
― Jeff Bezos

Leadership training gone wrong (and how to fix it)

Recently, I spent 3 hours of my life sitting in a leadership “workshop”. I use quotes, because it was more like a speech with limited table activities (big room, lots of people, blah blah blah). While the speaker did a good job, the content was nothing anyone hasn’t seen before – a couple of nice concepts sprinkled on a sundae of been there, done that. Ironically, I attended this on the same day my husband (who is more receptive to training than most because of what I do for a living) attended a mandatory training that was less than life-changing.

The confluence of these two sessions got me thinking about the state of leadership development out there. There is a LOT of crap that people are paying good money for that ends up being repackaged versions of successful books from the past. (The session I mentioned earlier wasn’t that bad…but it set off this train of thought…that, and this blog post by Laurie Ruettimann – if you’re not following her, you should be.) The laziness out there really chaps my hide because it perpetuates the myth that leadership training sucks. As a person with a pretty strong background in that arena (leadership dev, not sucking…I think), and as someone who has had to preview way too many awful training programs, I take it personally when someone knowingly puts out mediocre work.

The reality is, there are some truly amazing and effective programs out there, and some equally amazing organizations who can help you meet your development goals. The Center for Creative Leadership, Franklin Covey’s Speed of Trust, Crucial Conversations, Disney Institute, Situational Leadership…lots of great stuff. Sadly, few leaders (or L&D groups, apparently) know how to pick a good program. They sign up for whatever sounds good and hope for the best. And even more depressing is that there are a lot of training professionals trying to pass off sub-standard content as “groundbreaking”.

So in an effort to keep the development pool undiluted by “meh”, and to provide some guidance to those of you looking for a session/workshop/vendor/etc., I submit the following ways to make leadership training more meaningful:

Get on with it: I know context is important. But do we really need 45 minutes rehashing what “leadership” is? There’s a good chance everyone who has sought out leadership development already has their own ideas of what leadership is, so take a few minutes to get everyone on the same page as to how you’ll be referring to leadership in the session…AND MOVE ON.
What are the objectives? If the session description can’t articulate the expected learning outcomes, you’re in trouble. And if you as a learner can’t articulate your expected learning outcomes, you’re in trouble. And this might just be my soapbox, but don’t trust an objective that uses “understand”. Can you measure “understanding”? Yes? Then say how, and use THAT word instead. Which leads into my next point…
Awareness is not actionable: Let me be clear – awareness is a vital component to development and change; however, it is not in and of itself a solution. What are you going to DO with that awareness? Too many trainings spend the bulk of the time on making you aware of stuff, but then gloss over HOW to affect real change. People probably know they need to talk to their team better. So how do they do it? Share some concrete steps, not just high level concepts and pretty pictures.
Make sure the learner is a willing participant: Nothing makes me sadder (in a training context) than hastily developed generic mandatory leadership training. It’s out there. I’ve even implemented some (don’t judge me too harshly). Look, I get that this one is tough. It’s kind of a “lesser of two evils” decision sometimes. So if you have to mandate training to ensure evil managers let their people attend training, mix it up a bit. Do what you can to let the learner pick the topic/session relevant to them. Structure the content in a way that allows the learner to co-create the experience. Be a good enough facilitator to be able to adjust the material to the needs of the audience.
Results matter, not your words: This is for the instructional designers out there. As long as the learning objectives are met, does it really matter that the facilitator didn’t say every word you wrote? A good facilitator knows how to get the most put of your material – let them. Work with them to explain your choices, outline non-negotiables, and then let it go. The learners will appreciate it, and you won’t go crazy trying to reign in those diva trainers. 😉 (I say that with great respect – I have had the privilege of working with some amazing facilitators. I’m talking to you, Jim Unger!)
DO SOMETHING: Development without supported practice or real world application isn’t development. It’s lip service. Nuff said.

We who believe in the power of leadership development need to hold our fellow practitioners accountable. And we who want our leadership development to make a difference should demand better.

I could go on and on and on (and some of you would say I already have!). As you may have surmised, I’ve got some opinions on this topic and could probably fill a book with them. But I want to hear from you – what do YOU think leadership development should include? Do you have a horror story we could all learn from? Share in the comments below or send me a note!

Almost anything can become a learning experience if there is enough caring involved.
– Mary MacCracken

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