Principles for Successful Teamwork | Alan Mulally | Knowledge Project Podcast 151

The fifth principle is 'Expect the Unexpected and Deal With It,' meaning the organization must share the reality of its situation every week—both opportunities and issues—so everyone knows what needs special attention and can work together to solve problems, and team members must understand that 'red items are gems' that should be celebrated when surfaced, not hidden.

“they moved to the some more demonstrations the lab so expect the unexpected and expect to deal with it and so we're going to share the reality of our situation every week so that everybody knows what the opportunities are but also what are the issues that we need to deal with and that everybody knows the plan the product to process the people that work in the other plant they know what the status of it is and also shame they know the areas that need special attention so think about with that respect for people means when you share these things I mean many people many Believers if they have a red item first of all that embarrasses them they think they're not doing their job as opposed to that red item is a gem we I clap when you have it read because you're not the you're not red it's your items red thanks for sharing that now we all can work together to help you and us turn the red seals green”

Following Mulally's applause and the team's immediate offer to help solve the red item (Kuzak offering engineering data, Fowler offering quality expertise, Hendricks offering manufacturing support from Oakville), the issue turned from red to yellow to green in two to three weeks, and the following week instead of all green, the slides looked like 'a rainbow' of colors—proving that the working together process actually worked.

“and there kuzak was leading engineering worldwide 70. I've seen a problem like that before we'll get you that data uh Benny Fowler who's leading quality worldwide had a similar comment and Joe Hendricks who's leading manufacturing worldwide said you know we're gonna figure this out you're gonna need some manufacturer Engineers up in Oakville Canada I'll get him a dentist all right and get them up there so when we have a solution we could switch out the parts and get the production going at a time there that took you know 10 seconds 12 seconds we were on to the next chart green green green green green Green next week saying next week only one red chart that was Mark's again”

About 80% of the time, people who said they didn't think they could change decided to commit to the working together system after thinking about it overnight, often because they realized they had been violating their own values for years

“and 80 80 of the time that it happened they moved in the direction of staying and making a commitment and making great proper Zone working together because it goes back to the just basic fundamental human values that are that are powerful”

The Ford business plan review revealed a critical turning point: after several weeks when all 300 charts remained green despite losing $17 billion, Mulally stopped meetings to ask whether anyone had red items, realizing the team didn't understand that surfacing problems was safe under the new culture—they still operated under the old culture where bringing an issue without a solution meant disappearing.

“so we start our process the behaviors are getting really good um we have about 300 charts with the entire team and uh and we've also shared with them now for the first time that we lose 17 billion dollars and all 300 charts Shane or colored green all 300 charts why and so this is the essence of the point so here's this new person we get we've shared a new culture uh working together and transparency and timeliness and supporting each other and respecting each other uh and all 300 charts are green so I I stopped the meeting a few weeks in a row and said you know um is there anything in any of your areas responsibility that's not going well we are losing 17 billion dollars of course the eye contact goes down to the floor because they don't know me and they know that the culture that they ran is a you bro like a lot of companies if you brought an issue to your supervisor your boss the CEO uh and you didn't have an a solution then you seem to disappear because a lot a lot of cultures are you only bring the shoe if you have an answer and so and that's not that doesn't allow working together”

The distinction between 'being' and 'doing': the working together system is designed so that people gradually align their internal being (beliefs, values, mindsets) with their external doing (behaviors, actions), because consistent right behavior over time reshapes who you are

“you don't know anything about that Shane is that it um about the B and the do is that because this is so visible on the behaviors and the process is so reliable that uh that everybody keeps moving forward with their beliefs and their values the things you can't see you can't see those you see their behaviors and and everybody tells me this that no matter how they arrived however they grew up what their training was that the things that went well the things that were horrible in their life that once they join this environment and you and you have these expected behaviors and they're the right expected behaviors and you start acting this way then you start being this way so gradually your mindsets and your beliefs and your values they all start to move this Direction”

An integrated life means consciously aligning all domains of your life—work, family, spiritual, community—within a unified whole, using the same core values and principles across all circles, and regularly reviewing your calendar to ensure daily decisions reflect what you truly believe is important rather than allowing one domain to dominate and sacrifice others.

“my parents made a drawing and they had a circle and inside the circle it'd have a smaller Circle and the circles would be your work life uh your family life your spiritual life your community lives all your different lives you could put as many lives in there as as we chat and then on the top of the circle if said one life and then underneath the bottom of the circle it said uh life's work and remember work to me and my parents was the same as service so my life's work is service and I'm going to integrate all of those components”

The second principle is 'Including Everybody,' meaning that strategy development and decision-making must include all stakeholders—employees, suppliers, certification agencies, cities where products are used, investors, bankers, and representatives from all disciplines—so that diverse perspectives, voices, and suggestions are incorporated into planning and execution.

“the second one is including everybody so when you're designing an airplane we include not only the airlines but we include of course all the employees all the suppliers all the certification agencies around the world all the cities in which the airplane is going to be used and all the investors and all the bankers all the people that are participants that are actually represented on the leadership team so their voice and their thoughts uh and their suggestions are included in the development of the strategy and the plan and the accomplishment of the objectives so include everybody”

Mulally and his wife Nikki implemented a family version of the working together system with their five children: weekly family meetings after Mass on Sundays where they (1) picked up the house together, (2) folded laundry together, (3) reviewed each person's weekly calendar and commitments, (4) reflected on behaviors and suggested improvements, and (5) handled allowance distribution

“so I said to Nikki uh I mean you know this has been very uh more complicated with our size of our family we need to do a business plan review every week and Shane she goes Alan this is not Boeing this is our family uh and and so uh I waited for a week to to reflect on this and that ball made sense and then so I said the next week okay what if we have a family meeting every week and she said well what would we do in a family meeting I said well um my suggestions and I welcome yours would be after we come back from Mass uh on Sunday morning that we have an agenda for our family meeting and uh the first agenda I would propose is that all of us including you and me we go around the house we pick up all of our stuff we take them back to our cubby or back to our room”

When Mulally arrived at Ford, the company was on pace to lose $17 billion, was fragmented into regional 'houses of Brands' (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo) with 78% of business still being Ford, making it impossible to be world class at too many things simultaneously, and the core issue preventing recovery was the inability to get people working together effectively.

“they've become a house of Brands and purchased Aston Martin and jaguar and Land Rover and Volvo and it's still 78 of the business was poured and which as you know it can't be world class too many things at the same time and so they uh they're going to lose 17 billion dollars and uh and he and he said that the biggest issue he had was was uh getting people to work together around the world to use all these fantastic smart and talented people”

When you meet a person, you always have three fundamental questions to assess their character: (1) Is this about 'I versus we'—are you self-focused or service-focused toward the organization's vision? (2) Where are we going?—do you understand and articulate the strategy? (3) Do you see me?—do you demonstrate presence, respect, and genuine interest in the other person?

“when you meet a person you always have three questions one who will argue as a person is this about you is it about I versus we is about me versus service are are you about what we're trying to accomplish here this compelling vision for the organization or is it about you the second question is you're the leader uh where are we going and I really want to know I mean where where are we going what's that strategy what's the what's the BPR what's the creating value roadmap then you know what the third question is same yes do you see me do you see me”

Service to live was the strategy Mulally chose to guide his early decisions, working multiple jobs (newspaper routes, lawn mowing, grocery store) and continuing service work through university and into Boeing to develop capability and character

“I decided that I can remember deciding this that if I were going to be able to get those genes or those uh or those we just use I would or even go maybe get a a car and go to the University of Kansas someday that the service to live was going to be my my strategy so I started my service work with the TV Guide routes newspaper routes a lawn mowing business I was a bagger a checker and then a night manager at the at the Dillons grocery store I was a carpenter and a ranch hand and a farmhand and then when I uh started school at the University of Kansas I also for the the entire time I was there working on my uh my degrees in their nautical astronautical engineering I continued to work and serve the engineering department at the University of Kansas”

A family principle was that if you planned to do something that could embarrass the family or make them proud, you had to tell them in advance, and this principle caused children to think carefully about their choices without the family needing to enforce rigid rules

“and one of the family meeting principles was if you're going to do something that could embarrass the family or make us really proud either way you have to tell us ahead of time can you imagine that scene so uh they didn't share everything that they would do they would embarrass us but they sure thought about it because that was a principle in practice”

Mulally has been on the design team for every Boeing commercial airplane (707, 727, 747, 757, 767), served as chief engineer for the 777 and 787, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world use these airplanes for safe and efficient transportation

“I've been on that design team for every Boeing airplane 707-273-747-5767 I was asked to serve as a chief engineer for the Triple Seven airplane and then the 787 and 70 of the sea surf flying around the world are on these fabulous Boeing airplanes saving efficient transportation”

People who experience the working together system and then leave find that when they try to join other organizations, they quickly recognize if those organizations lack the fundamentals (clear process, transparent communication, expected behaviors) and choose to leave, because once they've felt the warmth of this way of working, they won't tolerate the old dysfunctional culture

“and in the later they told me that they thought that sign I clapped in that the two large doors behind us in the Thunderbird room the world headquarters were going to open up two large human beings were going to come in they're going to extract mark from the meeting we have to take care of that so the so I said so if any any initial thoughts from from the team on how we can help Mark and there kuzak was leading engineering worldwide 70. I've seen a problem like that before we'll get you that data uh Benny Fowler who's leading quality worldwide had a similar comment”

When Mulally clapped in response to the first red item, people initially thought he was making a mistake or that Mark (the person surfacing the problem) would be removed, because the cultural expectation was that problems without solutions lead to punishment

“at that point I started to clap and I mean the all the eye contact with went to the floor I could feel it air dissipating and they're they're kind of looking at me and they're looking at the floor and they're looking at at the at Mark the speaker and and they're in the later they told me that they thought that sign I clapped in that the two large doors behind us in the Thunderbird room the world headquarters were going to open up two large human beings were going to come in they're going to extract mark from the meeting we have to take care of that”

Behavior change happens almost immediately when someone commits to the working together system because they are sitting at a round table every week with their peers reviewing red, yellow, and green items, and could not possibly say 'I was busy this week so ignore my red item'—peer presence and the work being visible creates behavioral accountability

“because you're nervous that just keep remembering you're on the team and every Thursday you're sitting around a round table and you're also looking at monitors inside the table of all the people that around the world and now every member of the team's there and uh you've just gone through all your Reds and yellows and greens that week before you would never you wouldn't possibly be able to uh have a red and say to the team can you imagine saying I was really busy this week y'all I didn't have time to work on that to hell with all of you I don't think so can you imagine what that conversation would be like out on the playground”

The consistency and discipline of the working together process is essential to its success: Mulally conducted the business plan review every single week at 7-9 AM with all stakeholders connected globally for 45 years, missing only about 10 meetings, creating a reliable rhythm that allowed the culture to develop because predictability enables trust.

“we're just just imagine you're on the team and every week 7 A.M 7-9 a.m everybody's connected around the world and we're gonna go through this I've gone through my introduction to the vision strategy and plan for 45 years every week I think I maybe missed 10 meetings because wherever you are uh you phone in or you link in and the kids used to link in with me if we're somewhere because they just love watching the colors and watching them all change and watching Everybody try to help each other”

Mulally's parents taught him five foundational life lessons through daily repetition: (1) The purpose of life is to love and be loved—in that order; (2) To serve is to live; (3) Seek to understand before you seek to be understood; (4) It's nice to be important but more important to be nice; (5) By working together with others you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.

“one day my mom would say now remember honey I had the purpose of life is to love and be loved I'd say oh wow that's great I remember I think that's good and she said but remember in that order okay thank you the next day my mom or my dad would say again when I was getting ready to go to school well now the serve is to live honey thank you Dad that's great then next day one would say seek to understand before you seek to be understood”

The first principle of the 'Working Together Management System' is 'People First—Love Them Up,' meaning that appreciating talented people as human beings, acknowledging their contributions, thanking them, and including them in decision-making is foundational to organizational success because all participants are motivated by feeling valued and seen.

“the first one and these are written down um people have them uh on the card they they carry around they're in the offices at and one of them the first one is uh people first love them up and the reason is that these are talented people that are that are working uh on these programs I'll just use the triple seven airplane isn't as an example of a of a major program project in business and so uh yeah hundreds of thousands of people that are working on this airplane to design it all around the world they're talented they're motivated they believe in the vision of getting people together so they can work together around the world so appreciating them as a human being and appreciating their talent and thanking them and including them”

The fourth principle is 'Clear Performance Goals and One Plan,' meaning that most companies fail because they have multiple conflicting plans and people don't know which to follow, so clarity requires everyone to share the data and facts behind their conclusions so the team can collectively turn red issues to yellow to green.

“the next one is having clear performance goals and one plan most companies have many plans and most people are trying to figure out what the plan is as as we all know vaccine data really important we care what you think but we also want to know what's what are the facts and data that you're looking at to draw your conclusions because as we go forward especially on working on a yellow or red we all want to know those specs of data so that we together can turn the Reds to yellows to Greens”

The sixth principle is establishing 'Expected Behaviors' with zero tolerance for violation: proposing a plan, being positive, finding a way, respecting each other, listening to each other, helping each other, appreciating each other, and maintaining emotional resilience. These behaviors must be observable, not just aspirational, so team members can help each other improve through feedback aligned to clear expectations.

“and the attitudes are really the attitudes the police and the values are really important and what we really look at are the behaviors because that's what we can see and so we have these expected behaviors that that uh we have zero tolerance for violating them so a proposing a plan being positive having to find a way attitude uh respect in each other uh listen to each other help each other appreciate each other you can see very sophisticated words shame very sophisticated but we can see this and we can help each other in our personal development plans always be moving forward and growing in all of these behaviors the way we treat each other then emotional resilience uh this is a creative process it's Innovation we're going to have issues along the way and so we're going to trust this process of working together and we're going to trust the process of turning the Reds to yellows and green”

The leader's role in the working together system is twofold: (1) hold the team accountable for following all five elements of the process, and (2) lead by example through their own behavior, specifically by facilitating and coaching rather than directing

“the most important thing is to hold the team themselves and the team uh responsible and accountable for following this process all five of those elements we just got to follow the process and so holding ourselves accountable for that on the other is leading by example like I uh over the years I mean I started out as an engineer working on on commercial airplanes and as you as you are asked to take more and more um on a service and responsibility As you move in that direction when I when I found just because of who I am and what I learned at Boeing on on large-scale projects assistance integration is is that you're going to move to the place where you're facilitating and you're coaching”

When Mulally arrived at Ford and introduced the working together principles, he spent several hours per day for the first few weeks making himself available to the entire team to answer questions about what the principles and practices meant, because people coming from a command-and-control culture had never heard language like 'People First, Love Them Up' and needed help understanding the shift.

“I could tell by licks on their faces and they're from all around the world they and I could tell in their faces that well I'm gonna have to it's gonna be really important I spend a lot of time sharing with them what these mean and about that Zero Tolerance policy if you're if you in in the commitment to commit to them so uh I've been I I spent a couple of hours a day for the first few weeks uh making myself available to the entire team and individually as they they wish to answer their questions about these principles and practices”

A few people who left Ford later approached Mulally asking to rejoin, and those conversations were 'phenomenal,' suggesting that once people experience the working together system and leave it, they recognize how valuable it was and want to return

“we had a we had a few that as we were growing uh we had opportunities that could use their skills and they approached uh usually me or one of the senior people and people tell me that those are some of the most phenomenal conversations they've ever had but just and we and the we'd make a judgment call uh and usually it was if somebody comes and does that then we know it's going to be okay”

The seventh principle is 'Have Fun and Enjoy the Journey and Each Other,' meaning that creating phenomenal products and services must be accompanied by genuine enjoyment, daily expressions of appreciation and offers to help, and mutual support, so work becomes fulfilling rather than merely transactional.

“and the last one uh that everybody absolutely loves is have fun and enjoy the journey and each other and as I mentioned uh every day uh we would wake up and every every business player we would get together and would say you know thank you uh how can I help and then enjoy each other and also enjoy the journey of creating these phenomenal products and services”

The working together management system is visualized as a Venn diagram with five overlapping circles: (1) Principles and Practices at the top, (2) Governance Process to the right, (3) Leadership Team at the bottom right, (4) Creating Value Roadmap at the bottom, (5) Business Plan Review to the left, all creating a culture together

“uh that's a really neat way you said it too uh saying because their their elements of a system and uh you know as an engineer I my whole life is is around systems because there are lots of different uh pieces of a system and they all work together to contribute to the to the uh the greater the greater good and so the first element and think about a Venn diagram another Circle just like the when life lives work so you draw a circle and um and that's the work in the other management system is what's inside this circle so at the top put a circle that says principles and practices then put another Circle going around to the right and put another Circle and put governance process in there then put go down a little further and put another Circle and put leadership team then go start going back up put another Circle and it says creating value roadmap then go one more your last Circle then is business plan review okay and so if you add all this and then it in the bottom of the circle put our culture”

When Mulally selected the global leadership team at Ford, he looked at every discipline (engineering, manufacturing, procurement) and chose the best talent from around the world, many of whom had never worked together, and started the business plan review process immediately

“we selected uh the team from all around the world because which is really relatively easy because everybody knows who the leaders are in each of the disciplines whether it's engineering manufacturing or procurement so I talked to everybody looked at their Performance Management 360 system and so we had the best of the talent all around the world some of which had never worked together started our business plan review”

Mulally was asked by Bill Ford to join Ford Motor Company, initially declined, but his five children convinced him to accept the role because Ford represented a chance to serve a second American and global icon that needed transformation, and he felt called to help save an important institution rather than remain at Boeing where he was already successful.

“one day Bill Ford called I'm going bills Ford the great grandson of Henry Ford and I had a Ford vehicle when I was growing up and uh and like and I also I just I followed forward a lot because as I learned more about history and especially uh World War II and Ford and Boeing working together I'm just always very interested in it”