Apollo 13: Gene Krantz's Team

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After the accident, Gene Krantz relied on the skills and expertise of his people. A successful leader builds a strong team, but a leader must be able to separate himself/herself from the team to make the best decision. In Apollo 13, Gene empowered his team to come up with a solution for the air scrubbers. By addressing the most critical problem first, he afforded the team time to work on the other problems. The scrubbers were the most critical or they all would have suffocated. By encouraging the team to share expertise and professional opinion and separates himself by taking it all into consideration when making the decision. In the shuttle, Lovell managed to tend to his own responsibilities while managing the various situation that occurred. …show more content…

He said “Let’s get it right” During the classroom scenes, emotions were high and the mood was tense. Kranz kept his composure and remained calm. He stated the mission had to be improvised to get the crew home. He opened the discussion for debate. He kept the classroom calm and pointed out the facts about the situation. He stated that he didn’t care what the equipment was designed to do, he cared about what it could do. He deflected negative feedback. He pushed the team to get a layout of the plan. In the second scene, he listened to his experts and considered his deadlines and firmly established that they must succeed. Lovell made the right choice to leave Mattingly behind because if the crew were to become sick, they would not have been in the best position health wise and mentally to handle the accident. This falls under using the right people… Mattingly at risk of getting measles disqualifies him as the right person. Lovell put his personal feelings aside for the right choice for the whole mission and the entire …show more content…

At this time, he set the tone for importance of effective communication which also set the tone and importance of effective communication for the success of the mission. He set his expectations and the seriousness of the issue for the team. He deliberately and consciously, empowered the teams to come up with the best solutions and then used those recommendations to make the best decisions when trying to save the space craft. He made it very clear how each person’s expertise was crucial for all of the others’ Krantz stated “Failure is not an option” and Lovell told his crew “I intend to go home.” By clearly stating their ideas and vision, they expressed the end goal and the mission. Their positive mind set show the crew that they would not accept anything short of success. They envisioned a successful voyage home and made it clear to the others to keep them motivated and focused. The also show their ability and exemplified the ability to drastically change course and adapt to critical

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