If we stand a chance to deal with the massive challenges facing us to create a positive future, we will need to become highly skilled at connecting and collaborating.
FutureSmart working and leading will require extraordinary levels of connection and collaboration. One key application of this is in getting technical experts working together for solutions to the challenges facing our planet.
In a recent interview, Charlie Pellerin – ex-Director of Astrophysics for NASA and President of 4-D Systems – talks about both his passion for helping teams be effective, and his system for helping to do just that.
NASA is an example of an institution that has had some extraordinary technical successes that could only be done by teams of highly talented and skilled people working together – sending a man to the moon, exploring Mars, Hubble…
NASA also provides some spectacular examples of how badly things can go wrong when leadership fails and when team work falls short of what is needed.
How much does the soft social side contribute to team performance and effectiveness? Consider that in every spectacular NASA failure a review board has pointed to leadership and other “soft” factors as the root cause.
Since 2003 I have had the privilege to work in 4-D Systems, created by Charlie Pellerin – to help high level technical teams and the leaders of those teams become more effective. Charlie is an extraordinary person who has been responsible for one of NASA’s massive failures – sending the $1.7 billion Hubble space telescope into space with a flawed mirror. He is also responsible for a daring rescue mission to correct the flawed mirror – and as a result Hubble ‘s science is widely cited as one of science’s greatest accomplishments.
Charlie took the lessons of Hubble mission to heart, and devoted himself to understanding what it needed for technical teams to function at a high level. The result: A 4-D dimensional framework, with simple, high-impact and rigorous supporting assessments, workshops, and coaching, to help teams enhance the critical soft factors that are essential for effectiveness and success.
