Few words can describe the feelings evoked from witnessing the Chilean rescue this week.

As a leadership development professional, I could not help but witnessing some lessons learned and garnered from this remarkable rescue of 33 miners.

1. Investing time, money and planning on projects and personal safety does have an ROI (return on investment).

No expense was spared in finding a solution to getting 33 miners out of the collapsed mine.  Plans were clearly laid out, time to bore the hole, time to test the stability, time to engineer the capsule by which each and every miner was lifted slowly to safety. As the minutes grew to hours, then days, then months, the families and the rest of the world began to believe and trust a full rescue would be achieved.

Imagine if every effort was made in all companies by the leadership to ensure this kind of careful planning was done on the outset of every project – think of what disasters could have been avoided in the last 10 years.  Consider the ROI of not having to clean up after the Gulf oil spill, the toxic sludge in Hungary, or even recovery from the collapse of Lake Peigneur (pronounced pen-your); all avoidable had they ignored cost cutting and had careful attention been paid in the planning phases.

2. Innovation, collaboration and cross border cooperation are achievable when the stakeholders believe in the cause.

If you are a Calgarian, you are proud to utter the name ‘Precision Drilling’ these days; one of the companies that made a drill available in a valiant effort to reach those miners.  While theirs was not the drill that reached them, their CEO Kevin Neveu committed energy, time and money to contribute solutions to one of the greatest rescues any of us have ever witnessed.

Give your people something to believe in and then commit the resources to make it and you will learn the best about your employees.  Give them something to believe in, someone to collaborate with, something to cooperate on and they will truly surprise you. (Caveat here, running a company in chaotic and unorganized disaster-clean-up-mode is not what I am talking about.)

3. People will achieve remarkable things when they are given something or someone to believe in.

Give someone a leader, someone to truly follow and work with who ‘gets it’ and you will find a group that will out-perform everyone else.  33 Miners, 10 weeks, 622 meters, company and government collaboration, a President with a heart, and a shift leader who refused to leave until he’d seen each and every member of the team pulled out of the mine safely.

That kind of commitment did not happen without the people at the top of the decision-making heap making a firm stance to do “Whatever it takes.” But they did not do it alone.  The engineers, drillers, companies, families, employees all took part in this effort – because they believed in the decision.  33 Miners never gave up, because they were given something to believe in with each bottle of water that made it’s way through a tube the size of a grapefruit.

We have witnessed a miraculous rescue of 33 human lives.  We have witnessed humanity at its best filled with hope, faith, prayer, trust, desire and collaboration.  We have been introduced to a couple of true leaders who are worth using as examples for each of us in our lives, our work and our homes.

Thanks to Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Shift Leader, Luis Urzua for your example to the world of how one leads by following, one commits by sticking it out and for teaching us all that great things can be accomplished when all common sense tells us we are faced with the impossible.

Patti is a strategic advisor in Leadership Development, Customer Service and Culture through Mergers and Acquisition. You can book her to speak at her Speakers Page.

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