Jonathans+Scripts+one

When a teams back is up against the wall and the mission that once was a goal takes a turn for the worst; panic can not be an option for a leader. Apollo 13 captures phenomenal characteristics of effective team leadership. Gene Kranz is performing a roll of the Mission control leader and Jim Lovell is the leader of the space craft while in space. When the mission to the moon soon becomes a mission to make it back to earth safe both men express astounding patients, courage, and determination which are key ingredient for effective team leadership. Throughout the Apollo 13 mission, Gene Kranz demonstrates effective team leadership by use of organizational groups, demonstration of being a strong leader, collaborative team work, and effective communication within the group. Team leadership is found among teams or organizational groups. The team or group in team leadership share common goals and are interdependent. These members all work accordingly to accomplish the one goal that the group has set. Two of the key elements to effective team leadership are monitoring the group and making sure the members concentrate on the things that are internal to the goal and to the group instead of personnel external issues. When there are problems within the group the leader has to diagnose the problem(s). This would require a monitoring and internal characteristics. If the leader needs to take action he or she must then first take action then use external characteristics. Throughout the Apollo 13 mission, Gene Kranz comes across a disturbing problem. He finds out that part of the space shuttle has lost gas and the astronauts may not make it back to earth. The goal of getting to the moon quickly changes and Gene is left responsible for getting them back safely. Gene shows tremendous confidence and shows no doubt in all of his decisions. The familiar quote is "failure is not an option." Gene tells all of the focus groups within the team to get together and start thinking of ideas. In effective team leadership there is one leader that all the group members mimic or look to for preparation. All though there is one leader in the group the members of the group are just as important as the leader. Apollo 13 demonstrates this characteristic very well. Gene has a meeting with mission control looking for ideas. Even though he is the leader he does not have all the answers, that is what he calls the meeting for; he needs advice and help from different perspectives. Gene decides to hear the voices of his group members and begins on with the new goal. There is one goal and that is to get the astronauts home safely. If a person were to walk into mission control and ask "What is the Goal?" Every member in mission control would have the same answer. That is the main characteristic of effective team leadership. One team one goal is an obvious trait that non-effective teams lack. Gene shows great amounts of patients during a time of which could have created chaos. The members of the team saw the patients and determination in the eye of Gene Kranz and it was passed on to them. The members would each relay their information to Gene who would then relay it to the astronauts. This is an effective strategy known as collaboration among a group. Being a good leader means listening to what other members have to say and taking into consideration their feelings and beliefs before making a final decision. Gene Kranz does this a various points through the Apollo 13 mission. The actions made by Gene were key to the return of the astronauts. He was quick with his decisions and precise. He used all of his resources. they all had a desire to accomplish their task. Unified commitment and a standard of excellence was also demonstrated. Gene replaces his needs with the individuals needs. Failure was not an option and Gene required excellence from himself and the members of the team. Within each focus group there were leaders and there was not just one leader, all of them were. This is the theory of principled leadership. Overall, Gene Kranz demonstrates several qualities that define him as an effective team leader. He is able to organize his groups in order to come together and reach a common goal. Kranz is also able to demonstrate being a leader and show his mission control team how to take action given the environmental changes that occurred throughout the mission. By using effective collaborative teamwork and strong communication among the group, Kranz was able to keep his team strong and fighting for a common goal the entire time. This mission shows how one leader can change an outcome of an event by being strong and considering multiple angles of a negative situation. Its is evident at the end of the mission how what they call a "successful failure" became known that based on the positive leadership from one man, Gene Kranz.
 * Apollo 13 Leadership**.