The Red Arrows and The Americas Cup – team work to aspire to

By Steve Smith
on 24th July 2016
in Blog, Project Management, Staff, Team Work

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The Red Arrows and The America...

The Reds and The Americas Cup – team work To aspire to

Reds and Americas Cup – great examples of team work

I am always amazed whenever I see the Red Arrows. I have seen several other very good International Air Display Teams but none come up to the Reds in my opinion. You just know (UK weather permitting) they are going to give you a great performance.

“Within a few minutes of getting to the beach the Red Arrows arrived in their usual arrow formation…”

It isn’t every day you just casually arrive in a City to discover the Red Arrows are due to appear in 20 minutes followed by the first day of the Americas Cup off of Southsea Beach. Had I not been with my daughter in her wheelchair vehicle we probably would not have made it into the centre as it was pre-booked parking or park and ride only. As it was our blue badge gave us near VIP treatment and we were guided into a parking space by one of the excellent officials on hand within about 50 metres of a stand specially built for people with disabilities.

Within a few minutes of getting to the beach the Red Arrows arrived in their usual arrow formation, holding perfect position flying past at 400 knots. Within a minute or so more they commenced the first part of their display comprising all of the nine Reds in various formations including Apollo (after the space shuttle), Tornado and Typhoon and their amazing Hammerhead Break. Then onto the second half with the synchro pair, inversions, mirror, Heart and Spear, Gypo Break and more.

“The Red Arrows are surely the ultimate example of team work…”

The Red Arrows are surely the ultimate example of team work, yet they do not have unlimited resource. There are nine pilots in the team – Reds 1 to 9, plus the Squadron Leader – Red 10. Red 10 is the ground liaison officer making sure the display area is safe for the spectator and public and provides the commentary during the display. Red 10 is always a former Red Arrows Pilot and does still fly with the team to ensure there is a spare aircraft available. There are no reserve pilots so if a pilot is unfit to fly they fly an eight aircraft formation. If Red 1, the team leader is unfit to fly the team are grounded.

The team make up is very interesting as each pilot serves three years in the Reds with three pilots changing each year to ensure there are three pilots in their third year, three in their second year and three in their first. Each pilot undergoes months of intensive training before they can don the iconic red flight suit.

I have said this before and I will probably continue to say this ad infinitum – a team works best when everyone knows what their individual responsibilities are and they are prepared for their roles. This allows the team leader to be just that, a team leader ensuring every other team member is in sync with the task in hand. When one team member fails to take on the responsibilities the team leader inevitably has to cover the short fall or back fill with another team member who has fulfilled his or her obligations with time to spare. But is this fair? No, of course it isn’t.

“Can you imagine the Red Arrows working with one pilot not being prepared for their role?”

Can you imagine the Red Arrows working with one pilot not being prepared for their role? Firstly, they would not be allowed to fly and if they did spectator and pilot fatalities would be a regular occurrence. A Reds pilot cannot afford to miss any cues or be out of sync with the other eight pilots in the air as they may not even have a second to recover from a mistake.

This all sounds so painfully obvious. I know it is and I make no apologies for any pain caused as many projects fail because one or more of the team members has not taken full responsibility for their role and as a result they let their team mates down. In our industry it is not common for lives to be at stake but livelihoods certainly are. If a business suffers financially due to a project failing or running late people could lose their jobs.

Although it is not common for lives to be held at the mercy of our IT systems there have always been systems that are critical to personal safety and these will inevitably grow as the Internet of Things infiltrates our daily lives monitoring our health and even driving our vehicles. Ultimately, somewhere a team will be responsible for developing these systems and unleashing them on the population of the world. I hope these teams take a leaf out of the Red Arrows book to ensure our future IT controlled world is a safer place for all of us.

“The catamarans are engineering masterpieces with sails that are more like aircraft wings than traditional soft sails.”

With the Reds display over we were in for another great example of team work from the Americas Cup teams. The Red Arrows have a number of set pieces that may change depending on the location and weather. But as with any team sport, the Americas Cup teams had to be a lot more spontaneous to achieve their results.

The catamarans are engineering masterpieces with sails that are more like aircraft wings than traditional soft sails. This was the first time I had even seen one of these craft but from first impressions the technology seemed very advanced and the speed and maneuverability appeared to defy the laws of physics.

All six catamarans appeared to have similar specifications so team tactics and coordination made the vital difference between a winner and an also ran. On one occasion the team from Japan was heading for the final turn when the New Zealand team appeared along-side. From my viewpoint the NZ craft seemed to attach itself to the side of the Japanese catamaran as they approached the turning buoy with New Zealand on the inside. It was as if they were attached by velcro. As the two catamarans whipped around the buoy New Zealand literally tore away to the finishing line leaving Japan way behind. An amazing display of team work.

”…heat of the moment decisions and actions in their fight to win the race against formidable opponents.”

While waiting for the next race to begin I was considering the two exceptional examples of team work. The Reds with their formulaic set routines with no margin for error, and the Americas Cup teams with their heat of the moment decisions and actions in their fight to win the race against formidable opponents. I wondered what the similarities might be.

Training and experience are obvious qualities but the over-riding thought in my mind was there had to be absolute confidence in their team leaders and the other team members. There can be no doubt. The Reds follow the commands of their team leader – Red 1 – without question, and the whole team knows the other Reds are all going to be in the right place at the right time and break into the next formation when instructed.

Although the dynamics are different for an Americas Cup team, the whole team must have absolute faith in their team leader to make the right decisions and in their colleagues to carry out the instructions to the letter to get them to the finishing line first.

“Can we achieve this level of impressive team work in our IT project teams?”

But it doesn’t stop there. The Red Arrows must also have absolute faith in the ground support team to keep their aircraft in top condition. Immediately after the display at Southsea the Reds were landing in Bournemouth for a service before heading up to the North East for another display later that day.

The same applies to the Americas Cup teams. As each catamaran finished a race the support teams were on hand to carry out repairs and prepare the craft for the next race.

Two amazing examples of team work that go way beyond what is visible to the public. Can we achieve this level of impressive team work in our IT project teams? I believe we can but it requires the whole organisation to operate like a well-oiled machine, not just the project team. If the project team are not supported by the back office teams then gaps will appear and it will not be possible for the project teams to achieve excellence as a matter of course.

I cannot finish without a mention for Portsmouth City Council, the Port Authorities, Hampshire Police, the Royal Navy and a team of volunteers as their organisation and management of the event was also exceptional. The combined teams had to manage the road traffic, spectators and security on land as well as the marine traffic, spectators and security in the sea. They all made the event a fantastic and very enjoyable experience, made even better now I have just heard Sir Ben Ainslie and his team have just taken the lead in the Americas Cup by one point at Portsmouth.

Useful Links…

BBC News – Sir Ben Ainslie’s team top the leaderboard
The Red Arrows
The Americas Cup
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