NASA and the Culture of Grit (#107)
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win…”
John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) goal was to land humans on the moon during the Apollo Program which lasted from 1961 to 1972. At a cost of $25.4 Billion ($156 Billion in today’s dollars), the program landed six missions and 12 astronauts on the surface and returned them safely to Earth. The program developed a better understanding of the moon, the challenges of spaceflight, and large project management concepts. It also led to the creation of 1,800 spinoff products including semiconductors and integrated circuits. In the end, the Apollo program, in both size (over 400,000 people) and cost, rivaled the building of the Panama Canal or the Manhattan Project’s efforts to construct the first atomic bomb.
President Kennedy during the speech at Rice, September 12, 1962
Critical to aligning the 400,000 people both in NASA and its contractors was the purpose articulated by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and reinforced in 1962. Once aligned with the purpose, NASA’s culture helped keep the program focused, gritty, and able to overcome obstacles. NASA’s organizational culture revolved around maintaining and improving its in-house, world-class, technical capabilities; utilizing systems management techniques to control schedules, track costs, and ensure the highest levels of performance; and leveraging incredibly tight relationships with hundreds of contractors. NASA’s in-house culture drew upon tough accountability for successes and failures, an incredibly high standard for competence, and perseverance to overcome obstacles and keep everyone aligned. Over its 11 years, NASA’s organizational culture ensured the Apollo Program met its purpose of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Culture is defined as the beliefs, values, and behaviors that determine how an organization’s people interact and behave both inside and outside the organization. It’s not something an organization says or tries to be. It is something an organization does. Culture influences organizational performance, innovation, agility, engagement, and competitiveness. Research shows that a toxic culture decreases productivity by 40%, while an effective culture increases productivity by 20%. It’s clear that having a great culture gives you and your team a competitive advantage.
In my opinion, a great organizational culture is built upon three principles — purpose; values; and a safe, connected, and engaged environment. It’s worth taking a deeper look at the meaning of each of these terms.
Purpose — the why for your company or your organization.
Values — the principles or standards of behavior that drive the organization.
Safe, connected, and engaged environment — an environment where the group is engaged, each individual talks and listens, members talk directly to each other, and it is safe to provide feedback.
Whether you are NASA, a military organization, a non-profit, a corporate group, or a sports team revisiting or developing your purpose, values, and environment is critical to building the group’s culture and grit.
Organizational Values
Drafting organizational values in a vacuum rarely works. Instead, it must be a team effort. Once you have determined your organization’s purpose, it is important to bring the group together and discuss the values that you practice, the values you want to eliminate, and the values you aspire to have. Getting the group’s buy-in makes it much easier to get the group to live the values.
Six steps are helpful in developing or refining your values. I find that this exercise works best in a room with a large wall and dozens of post-it notes for every participant.
First, what is our organization’s purpose? If you don’t have one, use the exercise in Chapter 13 to create one. If you have one, write it down and put it up on the wall with post-it notes. Ensure the group still finds the purpose relevant.
Second, set a stopwatch for 10 minutes and have everyone take post it notes and answer three questions:
What values have contributed to our success to date (or in the last 12 months)?
What values do the people in the group share in common?
What values should govern how we interact with each other and our customers in the next 12 months?
If you are struggling to come up with values, typical ones are integrity, creativity, customer service, boldness, trust, fun, passion, quality, teamwork, growth, innovation, responsibility, and simplicity. Gritty values are work ethic, accountability, and constant improvement. Have everyone write their answers on post-it notes and put them on the wall.
Third, designate one person to organize all the core values in to groups. For instance, if three people have written integrity, or something similar, they should be grouped together.
Once all the values are organized into groups, it is time to whittle the list down to the top five core values. Why five? I find that it is the most that members of the group can remember. You may need to vote to trim the number of values down to five.
Fifth, discuss implementing the values into the organization by asking these series of questions to the group about each of the five core values:
What does the value mean to us?
What does it look like in practice?
How might it be misinterpreted?
How will we evaluate how well people follow the value?
How will it change our organization’s relationships and interactions?
Now, take a break – you deserve it after all the hard work. A week later, circulate a draft of your purpose and your five core values along with the answers to the five questions to the team. Solicit feedback. Then, revise, revise, revise your values.
The more thoughtful and intentional the process is, the better. After the team has had some time to digest the established purpose and values, bring the group back together to talk through them one last time. If the group is aligned and has buy-in, publish the values. You, as the leader, then need to communicate the values to the leaders and the team until you are tired of hearing them.
History and Culture
Stories are powerful. An organization’s history is a formidable story too. Once you have determined your purpose and values, you can gain an advantage in growing your culture by looking back at and drawing from your organization’s history. Dan Coyle in The Culture Code argues that organizations with great cultures celebrate their history and use it as a foundation for where it has been, what it stands for, and where it is going. I agree.
The Army’s personnel system makes everyone’s assignment to a unit temporary. Soldiers typically serve in one unit for two to three years and then move on to another unit. To help build the culture of the organization, the unit relies on its history. Every Army unit — companies, battalions, brigades, and divisions — you visit will have a portion of their offices dedicated to the history of that outfit. Not only is the history on display, but the soldiers and leaders of the unit are required to know its history, such as what battles it fought in, the heroic actions of its soldiers, and what awards the unit received.
For instance, the battalion I led — 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, known as the Iron Rakkasans — was founded in 1943, fought during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Over those campaigns, the battalion conducted three airborne assaults, fought the battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam, cleared Saddam International Airport in Baghdad in 2003, and had two Iron Rakkasans earn the Medal of Honor. The walls of the battalion headquarters building, the conference rooms, and the company offices were covered with historic images and tokens from battles fought around the world over the last nine decades.
Yet the history on the walls wasn’t just there for aesthetics. It was a way for the organization to tell its own story — that tough training enabled the Iron Rakkasans to overcome adversity and accomplish the mission. It also reminded the constant influx of new members of what the team that came before them represented. Finally, it helped to create the unit’s direction forward as it trained to meet its next “rendezvous with destiny.”
I recently did some work with Love’s Travel Stops. Their walls were covered with pictures from their history: the first store, the 200th store, its acquisition of other companies, and its charity work. Each picture reinforced to the team their humble beginnings, their corporate culture centered on family values, and their strong desire for dramatic growth over the next five years.
One of the aspects that companies could borrow from the military and Love’s is using their corporate history as a way to enhance their culture. What historic events are important in your company and support your purpose and values? Does your entrance, hallways, and conference rooms celebrate this history? What recent events should be added to the history? How are you using the history to reinforce your purpose and values?
Recognizing and getting the history on the walls is the easy step. Take the next step and figure out how to use it to complement your organization’s purpose, values, and culture.
The After Action Review
Organizations have used the debrief, the post-mortem, and the After Action Review as ways to learn and grow from experiences both good and bad. These techniques are the strongest means of creating a safe, engaged environment where real bonds and trust grow between the members. Developing your organization into a learning organization from both positive and negative events is critical in building culture and grit.
During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) pursued daylight bombing of Germany’s industries to attrit military production. In 18 months, the 8th Air Force grew from 7 people to 185,000 people and 4,000 planes. Flying B-17 Flying Fortresses from bases in England, the wings and squadrons struggled to put bombs on their targets while suffering almost 27,000 fatalities. For example, on the second Schweinfurt Raid in October 1943, 198 B-17s out of 291 were damaged or destroyed. To make matters worse the bombs failed to destroy their target, ball bearing factories. In early 1944, Major General Jimmy Doolittle took over and turned it around. The 8th Air Force played a critical role in the bombing of Berlin, damaging railyards before D-Day, destroying the German oil industry, and defeating the Luftwaffe.
One of the key means that the bomber organizations improved their performance was through the use of an interrogation or debrief, an event that happened after every mission in World War II. When the B-17 Flying Fortresses landed, aircrews were taken to a building, given food and coffee, and then seated at a table with a debriefing officer. The debriefing officer, using a preprinted Interrogation Form, thoroughly questioned the crew about what happened during the mission, what went right, and what needed to be done differently in the future. Everyone got to talk and contribute. The debriefs were compiled and the lessons learned used to improve the effectiveness of the next bombing raid. Over time, the interrogations improved the USAAF’s performance and hastened the end of the war.
Flash forward to today and the U.S. Army uses a similar tool called the After Action Review, or AAR, as a way to provide performance feedback for units after training events and combat operations. Corporate groups have adopted it as well. I’m convinced it is a great tool for your organization to use to build a safe, engaged environment, as well as enhance your culture and grit.
So, when should you do an AAR as an organization? After every big event, a new product roll-out, a response to a pandemic, or poor crisis communications, among many others. The AAR should happen as close to the event as possible, so the experience is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Your organization needs five things before trying to do an AAR:
An hour to two hours of time when the group can gather
A facilitator (not the leader, but typically a senior person in the organization)
Data and facts about how the organization performed during the event
Motivated participants
A note taker
The facilitator will gather the group in a room, reduce external distractions, and use four questions to guide the AAR’s conversation:
What was the plan? (Typically, this question is posed to the leader who takes the team through the plan. This usually takes 5-10 minutes to talk through.)
What happened? (The facilitator tries to get as many participants to talk about what happened at their level. What did they see or do? What didn’t they do? Breaking the events down by day or week is helpful to energize the discussion. Once the entire event is discussed then move to the next two questions. This usually takes 15-20 minutes to talk through)
What is one thing I should sustain, in my role or at my level, the next time a crisis occurs? (Asked to every participant. The last two questions are the real secret to the power of the AAR. These two questions should take 30-60 minutes to talk through.)
What is one thing I should improve, in my role or at my level, the next time a crisis occurs? (Asked to every participant.)
After the AAR is complete, the note taker and facilitator should publish the notes. Future plans should be updated based on the results of the AAR.
Whether you call it an interrogation like the bomber pilots of World War II or an After Action Review like the modern U.S. Army, the goal is the same: get the team to learn together what happened, identify what went right and commit to repeating it, and have accountability for what needs to be done better the next time. Your organization will benefit from you implementing the AAR as part of your normal operations.
Organizational Culture Examples
Culture is what an organization does, not what it says it does. It exists in every organization, such as military units, corporations, and sports teams. Examining examples of each type of group, both good and bad, can provide insight into how to build and grow your organizational culture.
The U.S. Army is a global organization of 450,000 people. It has an annual budget of $178 Billion. Its culture could be described as:
Purpose — be prepared to and, if called upon, fight and win our nation’s wars
Values — the Army’s stated values are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. In addition, its unofficial values/behavior include physical fitness in the morning, extensive use of PowerPoint, hurry up and wait, and timeliness. One method that groups use to reinforce these values is by using the history of the organization to tell stories that reinforce the desired values
Safe, connected, and engaged environment — the Army’s safe, connected feedback method that encourages group learning is the After Action Review
A company that is well known for its superb corporate culture is Pixar. Pixar is a computer animation studio and subsidiary of the Walt Disney Corporation that has produced 22 outstanding animated films over its 34 years of existence, including Toy Story, Brave, The Incredibles, and Coco. The films have earned approximately $14 Billion at the box office. Pixar is known for cultivating a creative culture.
Pixar’s culture could be described as:
Purpose — Make great films with great people
Values:
Great people are a priority
Collaboration amongst the team
Take risks
Have fun
Safe, connected, and engaged environment — Pixar utilizes open office spaces, constructive feedback mechanisms to develop their films, postmortems to discuss their failures, and open communication throughout the entire organization to encourage a creative, collaborative environment
While it’s easy to praise companies that have great corporate culture, it’s important to also look at companies that struggleron. Enron was an energy, services, and commodities company whose stock value made it the 7th largest company in America at one time. However, the company moved liabilities off the balance sheet and hid the fact that it was booking revenues for multiple years ahead. These actions hugely inflated profits and Enron’s share price. Once its deception was revealed, Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001, causing the disbandment of the Arthur Anderson accounting firm as well. Many of Enron’s senior leaders were prosecuted for their roles in the deception. If you want to learn more, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a fantastic documentary about the company’s rise and fall.
Looking at Enron’s cultural shortcomings provides another perspective on culture:
Purpose — To become the world's leading energy company, creating innovative and efficient energy solutions for growing economies and a better environment worldwide
Values — Enron’s stated values in its’ 2000 Annual Report were:
Communication – We have an obligation to communicate
Respect – We treat others as we would like to be treated
Integrity – We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly, and sincerely
Excellence – We are satisfied with nothing less than the very best in everything we do
However, the actions of the company demonstrated that it prioritized greed and pushing the boundaries as far as possible over respect and integrity. The values can’t be just words — they have to be what the company does every day
Safe, connected, and engaged environment — Enron’s policy of eliminating the bottom 20% of the employees every year created a very competitive environment and limited the building of trust and safety. It also stifled candid feedback
The 2014-2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football team won the College Football National Championship under Coach Urban Meyer by beating Oregon 42-20. Over the course of the season, the Buckeyes were 13-1, only losing to Virginia Tech early in the campaign. Overcoming adversity, the team won the Big Ten Championship, the Sugar Bowl, and the National Championship with its third string quarterback, Cardale Jones. What set the team apart and made them special was its incredibly strong culture.
Purpose — The OSU Buckeyes purpose was “Nine Units Strong.” That motto meant that all nine facets of the team -- quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, defensive linemen linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties – had to operate at the highest level and in-sync
Values — The team’s stated values were:
Relentless Effort – Go hard as you can for 4 to 6 seconds from Point A to Point B
Competitive Excellence – Constant focus on mental repetitions and physical repetitions
Power of the Unit – Uncommon commitment to each other and to do the work necessary to achieve our purpose
Safe, connected, and engaged environment – Coach Meyer created an environment where both players and coaches strove for knowledge and improvement. If there was a better way to do it everyone was encouraged to speak up
These are just a few examples of how organizational culture plays a role in a group’s success or failure. While your organization is unique, it can draw lessons or ideas from these examples.
Building Culture
Culture is never static in an organization. It is always growing or receding. Once you have your purpose, values, and engagement established it takes hard, intentional work to build it. There are many ways to encourage growth, but here are the six best that I have seen:
Lead the conversation — Being intentional and creating the space as a leader to get to know your colleagues and help your team get to know one another helps strengthen connections within your group and promotes your culture. One simple and engaging way to do this is by beginning your next meeting with interesting questions. Here are three questions to use:
How did you support the organization’s purpose last week?
Can you tell a story about how you exhibited one of the organization’s values from last week?
What is one thing a peer or co-worker has done for you since the crisis started that you really appreciated?
Regularly revisit the concepts of your culture — Include in your meeting slide deck a slide that summarizes your organization’s culture. Revisit one of the values or behaviors during each weekly or bi-weekly meeting
Make others feel seen and valued — Continue to grow the safe, connected, and engaged environment by showing appreciation and celebrating successes of any size. Look for opportunities to do:
Peer recognition — Have a peer recognize another peer’s outstanding performance
Hand-written note — Send a letter (not an e-mail!) to someone who has exceeded expectations
Zoom social get togethers — Host opportunities for personal interaction help build the engaged environment
Use the AAR after large and small events to discuss, learn, and grow together
Use the organization’s history to reinforce concepts around the group’s purpose and values
Revisit the organization’s purpose and values annually -- doing the purpose and values exercise every year ensures that as your team changes you ensure the new members understand the values and the values are reinforced with the veterans
The B-17 squadrons of the 8th Air Force used four of these techniques to build their gritty culture. First, their leaders, like Jimmy Doolittle and Curtis LeMay, epitomized the culture, led from the front, and led the conversations about their culture. They used military medals to recognize outstanding members of the team – 17 aviators earned the Medal of Honor while serving with the “Mighty 8th.” Although a new organization, they used their brief history in the mission art in the officers’ club, the nose art painted on the bombers, and the mission symbols painted on the plane for each successful bombing mission to help tell the story of their culture. Finally, of course, they used the debriefs to connect the crews, build the gritty culture, and make themselves a better organization.
Obstacles
One of the toughest challenges in building a gritty culture is mixed messages. Leaders say one thing, but reward another. For instance, if the company says it values its people, but promotes a manager to district manager who treated his people poorly but got results, it sends a mixed message across the organization. The team is confused. Does the company want results or to treat its people well? Make sure you, as well as your other leaders, are living the values and rewarding the values you say are important. If that isn’t happening, it’s time to revisit the values and make sure everything is in alignment. Don’t send mixed messages.
Conclusion
Fighting a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, bombing Nazi Germany, making great movies, and putting men on the moon all needed gritty organizational cultures that enabled amazing accomplishments. The beliefs, values, and behaviors were different for each of the groups, yet, each adhered to their purpose, got the group to understand and live their values, and learned and grew as an organization. Your group may not be pursing manned space flight, but the principles are the same: develop a gritty organizational culture and your team can accomplish the impossible.