'Do you believe in miracles?' Published Dec. 9, 2014 By Lt. Col. Stephen Chartier 78th Dental Squadron commander ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The success of any organization centers on the ability of leaders at every level to promote and sustain a leadership model that drives efficiency, consistency, accountability and fosters an all-in teamwork approach. The Air Force Sustainment Center Leadership Model centers around a Common Goal designed to achieve our primary mission objectives by developing our people, improving our processes and being responsible stewards of our limited resources. This is the AFSC model and the guide to achieving the "Art of the Possible." There are many ways to explain the AFSC model, but I will use a sports analogy from U.S. Olympic history. A little hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1980 Olympics came to symbolize the "Art of the Possible" for an entire nation. Hockey is just a game, but winning requires employing the same basic tenets that make an organization successful. The common goal for the U.S. hockey team was to win the gold medal, but in order to do that they would need to defeat the best hockey team in the world. Against those imposing odds, they were able to accomplish this by proper use of their people (players), adapting their processes (game plan) and proper use of their resources to bring home an improbable victory. PEOPLE Following an exhibition game humiliation to the soviets three weeks earlier, U.S. coach Herb Brooks met with his staff to devise a new game plan to deal with the Soviets. His prior focus was on building his team around a couple of his best players with the rest of the team serving ancillary roles. He often held strategy meetings with the stars of the team that didn't include the other players. He found that as a result his team played like a bunch of individuals. His players were well skilled and motivated to accomplish the goal, but he had never fostered an approach that developed his players into a complete team. He changed the quality of his coaching philosophy and spent the next two weeks focused on his entire team and stressed to his players the confidence he had in them. His commitment to a new open and honest approach lent credibility to his mentoring, and as a result earned him a deeper trust and respect from his players. PROCESSES Once he had his players thinking like a team, he made a small tweak to his overall strategy and effectively changed the process of how his team positioned themselves defensively on the ice. He stressed accountability for their areas of responsibility. He continued to refine this defensive positioning throughout the five medal qualifying games. Changing the process by which they were used to playing defense was tough, but through continuous process improvement they gradually increased their ability to meet their mission. As a result of his new system he found his players rarely out of position defensively but not always in the best position to take the offensive. Coach Brooks made a calculated decision that this increased defensive pressure would be more valuable in defeating the Soviets than a free-wheeling offensive explosion. His team couldn't match the Soviets goal for goal in that style of play, so he implemented a process which would clog up the ice and keep their speedy, highly skilled offensive players from being able to move freely. It worked, and the Soviet players became frustrated and never adapted to the strategy used against them. RESOURCES The new defensive strategy implemented worked very well, but it required much more effort on the part of the U.S. players. They were constantly in motion, and it burned up their primary resource (energy) at a more rapid rate. During the games leading up to the medal round, the U.S. team was able to get early leads and not have to expend as many resources to win, but against the Soviets, Coach Brooks knew it would be a constant attack. The resources he needed to manage would be keeping his players healthy and rested as much as possible prior to the game and limiting the ice time shifts. During the previous games his players were shifting (time spent on the ice) about 50 to 60 seconds per shift, but Brooks knew that if he kept his players out that long, using his constant-motion defensive plan, they would wear down trying to keep up with the Soviets. So he shortened his player's shifts to 30 to 40 seconds. That may not seem like a big deal, but during the course of a game each player might be on the ice for 40 to 50 shifts, and the recovery time in between would keep their legs fresh and keep their output while on the ice at maximum effectiveness. Conversely, the Soviets were used to longer shifts of 60 to 90 seconds, and by the third period the constant pressure and fresher legs of the U.S. team took its toll on the Soviet players. To adequately confront the challenges of attaining his objective, Brooks fostered a true teamwork approach with his people, maximizing their strengths and limiting their weaknesses. He devised a Process to achieve the desired goals with a new defensive strategy and was able to complete the mission by implementing a plan to conserve his most valuable resources, his team's energy, at the exact time when he needed it most. By creating an environment for success and incorporating this leadership model, the fortunes of a hockey team and an entire nation changed that day from a culture of the impossible, and became the "Art of the Possible"... Do you believe in miracles?