The Great Escape… A Classic Case Study in Teamwork Great Challenges require great teamwork!

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Transcript The Great Escape… A Classic Case Study in Teamwork Great Challenges require great teamwork!

The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
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The Great Escape is a popular 1963 war film about 250 Allied prisoners of war
escaping from a German POW camp during World War II
Produced and directed by John Sturges, The Great Escape offers some of the
finest lessons in TeamWork.
The film is based upon the factual book of the same name by Paul Brickhill, who
observed the actual events as a prisoner.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• Year 1944
• Place: Stalag Luft III, a Nazi Prisoner of War Camp
one hundred miles Southeast of Berlin.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• German High Command concentrates the most-determined and
selected prisoners to a new, high-security POW camp that the
commandant proclaims escape-proof.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• Within the camp was a core group of prisoners determined to
escape.
• In fact their goal was to facilitate the escape of about 250 men in
one night.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• An escape so daunting had never been tried before.
• Something that would require the utmost collaboration among the
prisoners.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• Getting men out of a German prison camp was a very complex task.
• The core group plans the greatest escape attempted:
Digging a tunnel to exfiltrate 250 prisoners.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• Teams of men are organized
• Jobs delegated includes: Survey, dig, dispose the soil,
manufacture clothing, forge documents, procure contraband
materials, keep records of soldiers movements, distract
security guards, supplying fresh air in the tunnels with hand
made bellows, and to provide lighting in the tunnels.
• The worst of the work, noise of digging, was covered by the
men singing in chorus.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• The list of supplies needed for the job was unbelievable: 4000
bed slats, 1370 battens, 1699 blankets, 52 long tables, 1219
knives, 30 shovels, 600 feet of rope, 1000 feet of electric wire,
and more.
• It took an army of prisoners just to find and steal all the
material required.
• Several prisoners continually scrounged for anything that
might aid them.
• Others worked systematically and relentlessly distracting,
bribing and blackmailing the guards.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• Each person had a job. There were tailors, blacksmiths,
forgers, pickpockets & camouflage artists.
• The security teams kept record of every movement of every
guard. They used an elaborate yet inconspicuous set of signals
to warn other security men.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• On March 24, 1944, after more than a year of work, 220 men
prepared to creep through the tunnel into the woods outside
the camp. The plan was to send out one man per minute until
all had made their escape.
• German speaking prisoners would board trains and pose as
foreign workers. The rest would lie low during the day and
travel at night hoping to avoid German patrols.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• When the first prisoner popped up out of the tunnel, he
discovered that its exit was short of the woods. Rather than
getting out a man per minute, they were barely able to get
out a dozen per hour. In all, eighty six men escaped before the
tunnel was discovered.
• It created chaos for the Nazis, who ordered a national alert to
deal with it. Eighty three of the prisoners were recaptured,
and forty one of them were executed by order of Adolf Hitler.
Only three made it to freedom.
• Though the attempt failed in accomplishing its objective but it
offered the world a historical example of collective endeavour.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
• John Sturges, the man who directed the 1963 movie, The Great Escape,
based on this event, said of the prisoner’s efforts,
• “It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than 600
men- every single of them, every minute, every hour, every day and
every night for more than a year.
The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
Never has the human capacity been stretched to such incredible
lengths or shown with as much determination and courage.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 1
Teamwork is birthed when you concentrate on “WE” instead of “ME”
Ask yourself:
• Does your ego stops you from being a good team player.
• Are you able to judge the size of the team challenge.
• Does it benefit others as well as myself.
• Is it worth dedicating part of my life to.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON:2
Be Mission Conscious
The Goal is more important than the role
Always remember:
• If you don’t know where are you going, you will end up somewhere
else.
• Vision inspires team
• When you see the big picture correctly, you serve the team
effectively.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 3
Collaboration is Multiplication
All union is strength, all discord is danger
Always remember:
• Complementing one another is more important than competing with one
another.
• True team members see themselves as a unit working together and never
allow competition between teammates to get to the point where it hurts
the team.
• Effective Delegation divides efforts and multiply results
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 4
Committed and Consistent
There are no Halfhearted Champions
Always remember:
• Ordinary people with commitment can create an extraordinary team.
• You don’t have to be really gifted or talented to be committed.
• Commitment is usually discovered in the midst of adversity.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 5
Consolidating Communication
A team is Many Voices with a single Heart
Always remember:
• Open and candid communication fosters trust.
• The more difficult a situation, the more important is to communicate.
• Don’t let more than 24 hours go by without addressing a conflict.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 6
Consolidating Communication
A team is Many Voices with a single Heart
Always remember:
• Open and candid communication fosters trust.
• The more difficult a situation, the more important is to communicate.
• Don’t let more than 24 hours go by without addressing a conflict.
Great Challenges require great teamwork!
Lessons from The Great Escape…
A Classic Case Study in Teamwork
LESSON: 7
T-Together
E-Everyone
A- Accomplishes
M-Miracles
Enjoy the process, give it your best and never forget that no matter what
you want to do in life,
“It takes teamwork to make the dream work”
Great Challenges require great teamwork!