Beau Brooks Josh Bullard Kyle Kapp Tony Kovacs Zac Smith SCM 3050 Team Building Movie

Analysis The film Twelve oclock High is a movie about the 918 bomber squadron based at Archbury during World War II. The squadron has a problem with production; in fact, many of the bomb missions were failures. Many pilots and crewmembers frequently break formation, or turn back early, giving up on the run. Many of the airmen are faking being sick in order to be excused from action. The group isnt really a group. The 918 was a squadron of individuals, worried about themselves. There is no clear, concise vision of who they are as a group. The majority of the individuals werent interested in where the group wanted to go, only that they were interested in their own well being not the groups. The Captain of the 918 had a problem with over-identifying with his men, meaning he considered himself equal to each of them. The 918th was lacking a true leader, someone with direction that knew what course needed to be taken, and how that was going to be accomplished. Captain Keith stated, I wish you would tell me what a maximum effort is! He clearly didnt have any idea how to get this group of individuals to become a cohesive team.

Col. Savage made numerous critical decisions during the film including: Reprimanding of Lt. Col. Ben Gately Choosing not to transfer the pilots Ignoring the orders to turn back Col. Savage reprimanded Lt. Col. Ben Gately for his sloppy leadership after the former Col. was relived of his command. It was important for Col. Savage to make

an example of a leading member of the group. Col. Savage also chose not to transfer the pilots right away to give them time to buy into his program; he could have allowed them to take the easy way out but throughout the process Col. Savage often said that the groups were made of boys who need to grow into men. Another critical decision came when Col. Savage chose to ignore the orders to turn back and proceed to the target. This shows that he understands that it was going to take something dramatic for the boys to have confidence in themselves and change into the men he knew they could be. Col. Savage also chose to fly more missions with the group, going through the process with the men of the 918th allowed them to trust in his ideas. The transfer of leadership was the initial event that led to the success of the 918th Bomb Group. The initial Colonel was not emotionally cut out for the difficult task of being a leader in such stress-full situations. Davenport was unable to disconnect himself emotionally from the men he led, in order to make the appropriate and difficult decisions that would eventually save the group. The group needed a leader that would take control and make them aware of their individual responsibilities. When Colonel Savage takes command, he quickly starts to make changes. He fixes problems as he sees them and he is strict in disciplining poor performance. Because of Savages stern leadership, the team starts seeing success in their missions. The success brings about a feeling of unity and brotherhood that was lacking initially Some of the key elements that the role of the coach provided were inspiration, training leaders, and creating order from chaos. He had a set of rules and stuck to them. He held the men to a higher standard than they were previously being held to and though it was painful, especially at first, the men eventually started to respond. Savage trained leaders through the example that he himself set. By pushing himself so hard he taught others to give of themselves their maximum effort, this pays off in a couple instances. Lt. Col. Gately, the leader of the airship "leper colony" started out as being a deadbeat. Everyone assigned to him was also considered a deadbeat, but he eventually went on to be committed to the team as evidenced by flying three missions with a torn vertebrae, an extremely painful injury. When asked about the injury from Savage he said it didn't hurt that bad. Savage had inspired the "deadbeat" to give his maximum effort. The second instance of this was shown by the ability of Lt. Col. Gately to be able to successfully carry out the leadership effort in the last mission of the movie. Col. Savage also held himself accountable above everyone else leading each mission except the last one. At the end of the movie through leadership, strict observance of rules and regulation the group became a cohesive unit. Having some success in missions that provided the confidence that the group needed to understand their mission and need for the daylight bombing. Col. Savage also made sure that each pilot had the opportunity to lead a mission. This allowed for accountability and to strengthen each soldier as well as provide a way to train future leadership.