Prior to Sean O’Keefe’s resignation
from NASA in 2010, he led a transformational change over the organization. Sean
O’Keefe was NASA's 10th Administrator nominated by President George
W. Bush. As Administrator O’Keeffe
focused his efforts to improve financial creditability, introduced innovative
management practices, budget reforms and worked to implement the President’s
Management Agenda that increased government responsiveness. In addition to all
of his accomplishments at NASA he also was responsible for proposing a change over
NASA’s culture at a time of tragedy and loss. On February 1, 2003 the world
watched as seven astronauts lost their lives as the shuttle re-entered Earth’s
atmosphere. O’Keefe and his leadership team worked to evaluate and diagnose what
could have led to the events of the shuttle explosion, and their findings
concluded that NASA’s culture was at fault. The assessment highlighted that the
concern for safety was not the number one priority and there was a lack of
respect or support from upper management.
O’Keefe addressed employees at NASA in a town hall meeting
in which all employees were able to ask questions and voice their concerns
directly to the executives. The culture at NASA in general was not as strong as
it needed to be in order to prevent future disasters and this had to change
immediately. Sean O’Keefe held the meeting with his employees at NASA to
discuss the need for change and make it known that he was willing to be the
first one to start changing. Some of the issues confronted was the
understanding that many employees felt their leadership failed to communicate
with employees performing operations, and employees also felt they were not
able to bring their safety concerns to their management. O’Keefe presented his
plan of change in order to increase awareness and to align NASA”s values with
individual values to create a better understanding for everyone of how they
were going to change and why it was needed. Gathering everyone allowed him to
gain their support and their commitment to make the changes needed.
In O’Keefe’s presentation to his employees I feel that he
was perceived as believable; however there were probably many skeptics in the
audience as past experiences had shaped their current views of how NASA handled
business. He was good at reinforcing the message of change and the way they
were going to begin reshaping how people communicated and approached future situations.
For example O‘Keefe asked everyone to respond with “Yes, if” instead of “No,
because” when an idea was presented. By responding with “Yes, if “employees
would be able to critically assess every idea with a more optimistic positive
thought process. Beginning to think and speak to fellow coworkers this way
would also enhance employee relationships, how they communicated and respect
could begin to form. Some other aspects O’Keefe touched on was the need for
leaders to get out of their offices and make time to talk to all of their
employees to empower them with respect, resources they need and to let them know
they see the work they are doing and its appreciated.
O’Keefe spoke about NASA’s values throughout the
presentation in order to align his vision of change with the morals and values
of the organization. This provided insight into how he was going to expect his
employees to behave and respond in the future to other employees and the work
they performed. It is important when approaching a change effort of this
magnitude that leaders “establish moral principles in a means of determining
the core values which should guide the organization” (Values and Ethics, (2013).
In doing this everyone is in the know of why the change is needed, how the
change will be implemented and how future change will guide the organization
towards success. Having everyone gathered together as one team reinforced the
idea of support and communicated an urgency for the need for change.
After reviewing NASA’s organization
assessment and approach to positive cultural development a good lesson I learned
was the importance of communication. NASA employees failed to communicate critical
information, which ultimately was to blame for seven people losing their lives.
When approaching a leadership role in any situation whether it is a project
assignment in my current position, or as a manager one day I will remember to keep
an open mind to what others have to say. This will be important for me because
as I learned other people will be able to offer some extremely important information
that could affect the outcome of the objective. I have a tendency to freak out
and close my mind to situations I find difficult, and in doing this I allow
them to defeat me. I intend to use O’Keefe’s advice and start to think more
positively with “Yes, if”. This will give me an opportunity to think about the issue
from every aspect and then come to a well thought solution.
NASA Cultural Changes - C-SPAN Video Library [Video
file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SACu
NASA - Administrator O'Keefe Resigns. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/aok_resigns.html
Values and Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch15.html
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