It’s Rocket Science! Another leadership lesson from a mission of Captain Hanks

Prefer to watch rather than read?  Click here to watch the video. (This one is much better on video)

Remember Apollo 13?  The time when Tom Hanks got together with Kevin Bacon and the other guy and tried to fly to the moon?  Then the spaceship went BANG! and they had to try to get back.

To save power, they had to move to a smaller area of the craft, which created an issue as the carbon dioxide filters weren’t designed for that situation.  Too much carbon dioxide in the air is not conducive to being alive, so the obvious solution was to take the one from the bigger area of the craft and use that.

Don’t Bother the Barista – make any work system better

Prefer to watch on video than read?  Click here, 6 mins with captions.

If you’ve been with me for a while, chances are I’ve run through this with you.  The purpose of this is to put it all in the one spot.

This is about understanding the focussing point required to get any system (any system) to work better.  And by ‘better’, I mean better for customers, better for those working in it, and better for the bank balance and purpose of the organisation too.

How to make your organisation more adaptable WITH your hierarchy.

(Would you prefer to watch me explain this on video?  Just click here!)

This time we’re going into “fluid, flexible, task-based structures”.  Very fancy sounding words.

First, a quote.  This is from a KPMG report on the things that will change from COVID that was titled with great importance: “Our New Reality: Predictions after COVID-19”.

Remote work will break traditional management structures

As we shift from managing inputs to managing by outcomes, current organisational hierarchies won’t make sense. A shift to flatter and more fluid task-based structures will follow and require new management skills and changes to performance measurement and reward programs. Company culture will also need to be re-examined.

Hierarchies “won’t make sense”.  Come on!