Embrace Team Blue
Going to space requires a team, and leaders know this. Leaders derive energy from pulling people together and moving in the same direction while leaving room for healthy tension and dissent. Leaders develop their teams by giving timely, critical feedback in the spirit of helping others and strengthening Blue.
Porridge
Beta
Back to the universal principles
Calibration
Under, just right, over.
| Situation | Under | Just Right | Over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work that needs a group | Keeps the work to themselves, or leaves people nearby but unsynchronized. | Pulls the people who are needed, names the shared direction, and keeps them moving together. | Invites the whole org so nobody feels left out, and the work has no owner. |
| Two plans for one problem | Lets both run until the join-up fails. | Gets them onto one direction after the useful disagreement has been heard. | Kills the second plan before anyone can say what it knew. |
| Dissent in the room | Treats the disagreement as a problem to shut down. | Uses the useful part, then lands a direction the team can run. | Keeps the argument open after the call so nobody can start. |
| A note while the work can still change | Saves the critique for the review, when it is expensive. | Gives the specific gap now, in the spirit of helping the person and the team. | Critiques in real time so constantly that people stop showing unfinished work. |
| Feedback that could land as an attack | Softens it until the person cannot tell what to change. | Is direct about the work, not the person, and stays until the next step is clear. | Uses helping the team as cover for a public dressing-down. |
| A heavy week | Withdraws and lets the group guess the plan. | Shows up, names the load, and keeps the shared direction visible. | Needs a huddle before every small call, and the week is only meetings. |
| A teammate going another way | Ignores it until the two paths collide. | Pulls them back to the shared direction, or changes the direction if they are right. | Polices small differences of method that do not change the outcome. |
| A team that is only a set of jobs | Staffs the seats and hopes a team appears. | Pulls the people in those seats onto one direction, and judges the result as a group. | Blends every role so thoroughly that nobody is accountable for a piece. |
Further reading
Sources and essays on this principle.
- Blue Origin Work Culture
The published wording of this principle.
blueorigin.com
- About Blue Origin
The mission this principle is meant to serve.
blueorigin.com
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