Week 9 Post by Will

Interview with Robert Francis, Hilltop Rescue

I’ve known Robert since 1989 when I accompanied him on a humanitarian trip to Honduras, pouring concrete-slab floors for village homes.  Humanitarian work has been a passion for him, and it was no surprise when he’d made a little money as a vice-president for Hilton Hotels that he would start a nonprofit relief organization, Hilltop Rescue. 

Hilltop is a bit atypical in that when tragedy strikes, it gathers relief volunteers from the scene of devastation, forming what Majcharzak, Jarvenpaa, and Hollingshead (2007) would term “emergent response groups.” These volunteers are kept in a database for just such an eventuality. They typically don’t know one another and so interesting dynamics take place as far as leadership and teambuilding are concerned.

You guys had your first call to duty during Hurricane Katrina. What was it like trying to coordinate group dynamics during such a crazy time?

You learn right away who your leaders are going to be. You could think of it in terms of sheep and shepherds. There has to be leadership. But the “sheep” all have unique skills that need to be mobilized in times of tragedy.  We don’t have time to sit around and delegate tasks. It’s interesting to see the sort of unique skills people come out with in times of crisis. During Katrina, everything was down, no communication anywhere, so we had to rely on these individual groups to do their thing and do it well.

And how did that work out?

At first, volunteers are in panic mode like everyone else.  But in a few hours in one location they get a feel for what’s needed, they get to know each other, they start cooperating and this instant team dynamic starts to form. There’s no time for squabbling. We’ve got a job to do, and you watch these retired people or these college students working together with the skills at their disposal.

But what’s the difference between Hilltop Rescue and, say, the Red Cross?

Well, scale, for one thing.  We’re pretty small.  And we’re also pretty spontaneous. When disaster strikes, we go through our database and start calling people from surrounding counties. Twelve hours later the first volunteers start arriving. During Katrina, our focus was house-to-house rescue by boat. During the Alabama tornadoes we were improvising shelters for displaced homeowners. Again, we just put these groups together on a wing and a prayer. Right away we get a feeling for where the leadership is, and people fall into line. There’s no time for vanity in that kind of situation.

[Here I told him a little about the difference between heterogenous and homogenous teams, per Hill (1995).]

So would you call these teams homogenous or heterogenous?

A little bit of both, I think.  They’re homogenous in that most of them share common values in terms of helping the poor. Most are Christian who know each other from church. But they’re heterogenous in that they come with a wide variety of experiences, which we’re happy to tap into. Once you scratch below the surface you realize that people come with all kinds of buried talents. This old guy may have been a plumber, but back during the war he worked as a medic, and suddenly he’s remembering how to dress wounds and that sort of thing.

What about leadership? Do you ever have any mutinies?

None so far. That’s one of the things about these just-add-water rescue teams. You’ll find that most people would rather be led than do the leading. It’s a lot easier to follow orders. But then you’ve got these type-A people who think they know best what needs to be done. Somehow it all works out. People spend a few days together, become best friends, help those in need, then go back home and never see each other again.

Have you ever thought about putting together permanent teams that you can train and fly in as the situation warrants?

For one thing, that’s way outside of our budget.  For another, it’s a different way of doing things; you’re getting into Red Cross territory. What sets us apart is our way of building instant teams and being ready to respond to the call just about anywhere. It’s a happy coincidence that most of the people in our database are in the south, which is where most calamities seem to be happening. We’ve got something that works for us, so why change it?

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The conversation shed light on a number of different points in the week's readings regarding team formation, emergent leadership and inter-group dynamics. While Majcharzak, Jarvenpaa, and Hollingshead are looking more at emergent response groups that happen spontaneously among crisis participants, it was interesting to see some parallels in how Hilltop's teams are formed. In the interview we didn't speak about Hill's "five conflicting forces or tensions at the heart of team life" (the process of "managing paradox") but afterward I saw some parallels there as well. I remember how these teams must manage both cooperation and confrontation. Even when leadership roles are clearly defined, there's a startup period where conflicting personalities must be worked through. Also, the collective identity must share space with individual differences. The group must be able to function as a team, but one that harnesses the strengths of its individual participants.

 

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References

Hill, L. (1995). Managing your team, Harvard Business School, pp. 1-22  (CMGT500 course pack)

Majcharzak, A., Jarvenpaa, S., & Hollingshead, A. (2007). Coordinating expertise among emergent groups responding to disasters. Organization Science, 18(1), 147-161.