Decoding the Miracle on the Hudson

Our Belbin Forum watched this breathtaking 12 minute video where Captain Sully gives a minute by minute account of how the decisions he made and his connectedness with his co pilot Jeff saved the lives of every passenger onboard flight 1549 on 15th Jan 2009.

There comes a time in everyone's life when the decisions he/she makes creates destiny not only for himself/herself but also others.

We had a deep sharing on what were the key Leadership Insights that struck us, make or break behaviours that enabled collaboration and saved the day and Belbin Team Roles that we could spot in Capt Sully and Jeff.

A big thank you to Thomas Lobo, Diksha Fouzdar, Priya Nair, Fr Joby Mathew, Andrea Stone and Steve Correa for the conversation and the insights shared here

1. Leadership Insights:

‘Embrace the unknown with the known’. Sully took calculated decisions. It was his embracing of the unknown with the known that enabled him to respond fast and think keeping everyone in mind. Reflection question: What is an unknown that I embraced today as it unfolded?

'Clarity about Priority.' Sully's decision to 'choose' to do the highest priority items and his discipline to "ignore" things that he didn't have time to do (distractions) was critical. The need as a leader then to be clear about what is priority and focussing on them. Reflection question: Am I clear about what is priority for my day?

 'Ownership and Accountability.' Capt Sully was the last one to leave the aircraft (even though following protocol), after ensuring the safety of all passengers. His ‘relaxing only 4 hours later’ again demonstrates strong ownership and accountability. Reflection question: What was my most recent example of demonstrating ownership and accountability?

2. Make or break factors that enabled collaboration:

Knowing one’s job well and being ready to step up. This is shown in Jeff taking on the role of calling out air speed and altitudes, the air hostesses immediately shouting out the commands. All of this really gave Sully the assurance and the support he needed. 

Trusting and reinforcing each other.  Sully demonstrated complete trust in all the team members' ability to do their roles. The readiness to listen, asking questions, becomes an important outcome/ demonstration of trust and reinforcement. This level of trust comes from everyone's experience and experience of working with Sully. 

Sully says Jeff made critical suggestions and stepped in to check Sully’s performance if he thought he was making an error. This can happen only when there is a culture of trust, respect and collaboration.

3. Belbin Team Roles spotted

Sully:

Monitor Evaluator (ME): weighing all the odds evaluating the options and making the right judgement of landing on the river.

Specialist (SP): He knew everything he could possibly know about landing the aircraft! He even describes the engine in such an appreciative way ‘finely balanced machinery spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute’. He was on autopilot - whilst he used Monitor Evaluator (ME) to decide the plan of action, he knew intuitively what was possible- quite an ME-SP combination!!

Coordinator (CO): the way he communicated- calm and composed, instilling confidence in other’s ability

Teamworker (TW)- readiness to listen, being perceptive. 

There seems to be elements of the Implementer (IMP) too- discipline of not getting distracted, being realistic about what he should do. 

The Completer Finisher (CF)- the diligence, double checking to ensure all are safe, the 4 hour wait before he could fully 'relax'- due to the question of 'had he executed perfectly'?

Shaper (SH)- conviction and delivering in a high pressure environment, also particularly in the investigative board interrogation scene in the movie ‘Sully’- him sticking to his ground

Behaviours from about seven team roles spotted, hopefully we've covered his preferred and manageable roles! This does bring out how we can demonstrate a range of behaviours. It would hold us in good stead to hone our preferred and tap into our manageable roles.

Jeff

Jeff seems to have also demonstrated Specialist (SP) and Teamworker (TW). More than 20000 flying hours put in by both Sully and Jeff. Knowing the aircraft well all point to SP. Taking on the role of supporting and providing Sully the assistance he needed. Wordlessly they were able to collaborate showing the ability to be perceptive to the need- strong TW qualities.

This exchange of thoughts also got us reflecting as Steve reminded us that as human beings we have so much potential to tap into and the possibilities that we can impact. So important to remember then that we have in our armoury more than one or two team roles. To be conscious of the impact we can create when we are fully present to a situation- ready with our armoury of strengths. Andrea sums it up well, it was a miracle on the Hudson cause miraculously Sully was the pilot on that aircraft. We are reminded of examples of individuals who seem to have been born to do a very specific role, which comes to them after years in training for that defining 'moment'.

May we all train well and be ready for our own miracle moments ?

This article is the outcome of a rich exchange of ideas on the Belbin Forum of Accredited Participants at PrePearl. The conversation idea is the brainchild of Leslie. While I may have penned the article format and structure, the author of the thoughts shared are Thomas Lobo, Diksha Fouzdar, Priya Nair, Joby Mathew, Andrea Stone and Steve Correa. We'd love to continue the conversation, tell us what insights you got from the video in the comments below..