Cross-functional team: Learning From the movie, The Great Escape

What Is a Cross-Functional Team?

A cross-functional team is a unit in which the members have different skill sets but are all working towards a common goal. These teams are mostly self-directed. They are allocated tasks, which are then uniquely approached because of the diverse expertise of the team members. Each participant can display their own perspective, leading to a more “out of the box” solution. This creative approach can lead to innovation, which can be a substantial market advantage over the competition.

•       Cross-Functional Team Establish the Purpose
•       Cross-Functional Team Develop Shared Goals
•       Cross-Functional Team Establish Clear Roles
•       Cross-Functional Team Build Relationships
•       Cross-Functional Team Inspect and adapt

All these points you will get the reflection in the movie, The Great Escape.

The Great Escape is a 1963 American epic war film. The film is based on Paul Brickhill’s 1950 nonfiction book of the same name, a firsthand account of the mass escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from German POW camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan (now ?agań, Poland), in the province of Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany. 

The prisoners mount an audacious plan to tunnel out of the camp in order to break out 250 men.

Cross functional team members were:

Led by RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, “Big X” of the camp escape committee, 

and senior British officer Group Captain Ramsey, the men organize into teams. 

• American Flight Lieutenant Robert Hendley is “the scrounger” who finds needed materials, from a camera to clothes and identity cards. 
• Australian Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick, “the manufacturer”, makes tools like picks for digging and bellows for pumping air into the tunnels. 
• Flight Lieutenants Danny Velinski and William “Willie” Dickes are “the tunnel kings” in charge of the digging. 
• Flight Lieutenant Andrew MacDonald acts as an intelligence provider and Bartlett’s second-in-command. 
• Lieutenant Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt of the Royal Navy devises a method of spreading soil from the tunnels over the camp, under the guards’ noses. 
• Flight Lieutenant Griffith acts as “the tailor”, creating civilian outfits from scavenged cloth. 
• Forgery is handled by Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe. 

The prisoners work on three tunnels simultaneously, calling them “Tom”, “Dick”, and “Harry”. 

Daily planning meeting:

Cross functional team at work

Harry tunnel :

The working noise is covered by the prisoner choir led by Flt. Lt. Dennis Cavendish, who also serves as a surveyor.

In total, 76 men crawled through to initial freedom, but the 77th was spotted by a guard.

Of the escapees, three made it to safety, 73 were captured, and 50 of them executed.

Wonderful movie to watch and learn how cross-functional teams achieve a shared goal.