A630.5.4.RB_SienkiewiczRaymond

The talk by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe certainly made for some interesting observation of not only how the findings of the BST survey was conveyed to the rest of NASA, but also showed indications of how NASA leadership was taking the suggestions to heart.

O'Keefe's presentation to NASA employees seemed to be twofold in purpose. First and foremost, it very publicly brought to mind the issues that NASA was looking to fix in terms of their organizational culture based upon the BST findings, and it laid out some initial thoughts on what they intended to do about it by promoting communications and the like. Second, but still equally important, I think O'Keefe getting in front of his organization like that represented a sincere demonstration of his intent to break down the perceived communication barriers between different levels of the organization, as well as demonstrating that senior leadership was paying attention to the survey results and intended to act upon them.

Something else O'Keefe succeeded in where leaders of big organizations could just as easily fail was in how believable he was in his presentation. At the very least, his presentation style seemed very extemporaneous rather than tightly scripted, certainly somewhat more conversational in fashion. The fact that he also entertained a bit of self-deprecating humor on occasion by commenting on his age and referring to himself as an example of "managerial interference." O'Keefe came off as a reasonably genuine individual that was comfortable with his audience, and he seemed sincere in what he was saying.

As for why he discussed NASA's values, that seemed to be a major pillar of the entire conversation. Speaking strictly from the point of view of diagnostics, discussing these values did seem to set the target for where he wanted to take NASA as an organization, in effect setting a goal and giving people an idea for where NASA should be when they've undertaken full organizational development in their culture. If I recall correctly, I think O'Keefe also discussed where NASA stood at the time with relation to those values, effectively setting a baseline and then in effect stating where they were and were they could be.

Having seen this, I do think there are some takeaways to be had. Among other things, like it was alluded to in his talk, leaders need to be getting out there to get the on-the-ground perspective and see where things are going. I would say this is important not just for the stated reason of checking on the condition of the organization and the workforce, but also to demonstrate a visible display of the leader being interested in the lower echelons and putting themselves out there. I also think it might be worthwhile to at some point give pause during the day and give thought to where my actions out and about with the troops on a daily basis serve to build up the stated values of our organization, and maintain the line of communication between the lower echelons, the higher level leadership and myself.