Category: Leading People

This week’s focus on “Systems” is a good place to consider the importance of Teamwork. At NASA, systems engineering and systems thinking are crucial to our success. To us, mission success requires an uncompromising commitment to: Safety, Excellence, Teamwork, and Integrity.

We describe teamwork as NASA’s most powerful tool for achieving mission success, through a multi-disciplinary team of diverse competent people across all NASA locations (9 other field Centers besides the Johnson Space Center where I work in Houston, Texas). Our approach to teamwork is based on a philosophy that each team member brings unique experience and important expertise to project issues. Recognition of and openness to that insight improves the likelihood of identifying and resolving challenges to safety and mission success. We are committed to creating an environment that fosters teamwork, collaboration, continuous learning, and openness to innovation and new ideas.

In 2001, John Maxwell wrote The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork.

Click here to learn more about those laws.

Tomorrow is Labor Day—a day we take away from work to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. It’s an annual national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Workers contribute most when they are “engaged” in what they do. In fact, last week I spoke with a group of 25 Senior Managers from the Internal Revenue Service, sharing why NASA is a “Best Place to Work” in the Federal Government. Our formula is relatively simple. Trust our employees by designing policies to the 95% of the population (instead of the 5% who will take advantage of the system); listen to their inputs and perspective; and focus on 2-3 target areas for improvement each year based on the results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The IRS Managers rightly recognized that recipe for success was something they could replicate.

Speaking of employee engagement, recently I finished Dave & Wendy Ulrich’s The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win. This best-seller is filled with tips you can use to increase engagement and abundance for your employees and teams.

Click here to learn more.