The Best Teambuilding Experience of My Life
The greatest teambuilding experience of my life occurred at a presentation held at Kennedy Space Center. Captain Al Haynes, one of the three pilots who, as a team, grounded United Flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa in a controlled crash situation with a surprising number of passengers surviving, was the guest speaker at a team building seminar. Learning how this team of pilots managed to land a disabled DC-10 jetliner which, based on the situation, would likely have crashed killing all aboard was amazing and made everyone think differently about working as a team.
At 29,000 feet, a part cut all the hydraulic lines to the control surfaces of the airplane. This caused the pilot and co-pilot to be unable to control the airliner normally. When it became known that Captain Haynes was aboard, he was allowed into the cockpit and, by adding himself to the team, each of the three pilots now on the flight deck were able to take a key part of controlling the jet by the means which remained available. Captain Haynes used the throttles to adjust engine speeds to help balance the flight, allowing the pilot and co-pilot to focus on other functions needed to maintain flight. Had there not been exactly the right number of capable, skilled people on the aircraft, disaster would have been certain.
By building a team from the available skills, these three men were able to create an environment in which the stress levels were reduced exponentially. Instead of panic, each of the men were able to keep calm and focus on the team goal of keeping the jetliner in the air until they could reach an airport where they hoped to land as safely as possible, saving as many lives as possible.
While their team effort was not 100% success in that the aircraft broke apart and some lives were lost, they were able to save many lives including some of the members of the crew, Captain Haynes included. Without the team efforts of these men, the aircraft would have spun into the ground, killing everyone onboard.
The emotion of Captain Haynes and the concepts presented changed my entire thinking about teambuilding and the process through which a team achieves goals. While there has to be a leader, the key is that each team member must be permitted to contribute the skills and ideas with which they can work toward accomplishment. I have implemented this change in thinking in all my team efforts since hearing Captain Hayes’ story.
For the next teambuilding we are planning to go to Croatia, maybe at Adriatic and do some fun stuff on the sea. Currently I am browsing thru accommodation Croatia website http://seeyouincroatia.com/