Movieclips Monday: RPO and rockets to the moon

Posted by: Alison Citti

If you’ve ever been in a high-pressure situation — whether work-related or outside the office — you know how difficult it can be to keep a level head. If you’re alone when disaster strikes, you must shake off any lingering initial shock, weigh your options, and start acting on what you believe is the best possible response.

When high-stakes situations arise when you’re working with a team, things are different, and not necessarily in a bad way. More minds mean more possible solutions, and more options mean you have a better chance of coming up with the right solution. Plus, experts can weigh in along the way. But in group situations, a quality leader needs to step up and orchestrate the team’s effort.

Take, for example the following scene from one of my favorite true-story movies, “Apollo 13.”

In this clip, Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris) handles the leadership role well. He breaks down a major catastrophe into its simplest form: How do we get the aircraft from point A to point B under X circumstances? Next, he trusts the person who comes forward with an out-of-the-box idea about shutting down the power supply. Even though he could have dismissed the solution because it’s never been done before, he chooses to trust the person who took the time to research the idea and propose it. Finally, he organizes his resources, motivates the team, and emphasizes the end goal: Failure is NOT an option.

Like the scenario in the movie, teamwork, creativity, fearless thinking, and a drive toward resolution are what make RPO programs successful. I recently wrote about communication in RPO partnerships and how it’s essential that clients and RPO companies work together and engage in open dialogue about issues that require course correction or resolution. Once an RPO team and its leadership understand what the issues are, thoughtful yet quick action is necessary.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Apollo 13″ or are familiar with the story, you know that the failure-is-not-an-option attitude pays off. Luckily, RPO is not life or death. However, we should keep this same mantra in mind every day because, no matter the industry, in challenging situations there’s almost always one more creative solution to try.