September 7 2019 was India’s date with history. Vikaram Lander was scheduled to make the historic landing on the South Pole of the moon. The lander was part of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) second lunar exploration mission – Chandrayaan 2. The ambitious orbiter-lander-rover mission is a culmination of over a decade of scientific research and engineering development. However, just 400 meters above its touchdown on the lunar surface, Vikram lander went silent. ISRO lost contact with the lander.
Through Chandrayaan 2, ISRO aims to conduct a host of experiments on the moon. The orbiter will circle the moon and provide information from about 100 km. above the lunar surface. The Vikram Lander was to make a soft landing on the moon and roll-out the Pragyaan rover. The rover was scheduled to explore the lunar terrain for one lunar day or 14 earth days.
Since the launch of the mission in July this year, it was surging ahead with textbook precision. The anti-climax was a disappointing moment. Although the mission had not failed entirely, the Vikram lander’s touchdown on the lunar surface was a moment anticipated by over a billion Indians. Subsequently, the orbiter of the Chandrayaan 2 located Vikram not very far off from its intended landing location. But, the hope of re-establishing contact with it is diminishing with every passing minute.
The journey of Chandrayaan 2 has been thrilling. As Indians, we are all proud of what the mission has achieved. In my view, it has also demonstrated some crucial lessons for the corporate world to encapsulate:
1. Don’t give up, even when the chances of winning are slim
Vikram lander was assumed to have crashed in its attempt to land on the moon. Later, the lander was located intact by the orbiter. The team at ISRO is relentlessly trying to re-establish contact with the lander ever since. They are fighting against time since the lifespan of the lander, and the rover is just 14 days. However, this fact hasn’t deterred ISRO’s efforts.
Similarly, any business witnesses phases during which their projects or their organization’s objectives seem untenable. However, the fear of failure should not deter us from putting in our greatest efforts. Perseverance is known to turn failure into success.
2. Don’t lose the big picture by focusing on partial failures
ISRO has so far been unable to establish contact with Vikram lander and roll-out Pragyaan rover as per plan. However, both these payloads, although critical to the mission, were only a part of it. Chandrayaan 2 remains largely on track because most of the mission’s experiments will be conducted on the orbiter.
Even in the corporate world, projects often go off the trajectory at some phases. While it is essential to fix the broken, it is more important to focus on the things that are going right. In case of Chandrayaan 2, for instance, the lifespan of the orbiter has been expanded from the original one year to seven years owing to significant fuel savings. While the failure of Vikram lander is disheartening, it is hardly the end of the mission itself.
3. Don’t let your team feel let-down
The image of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi hugging a tearful ISRO Chief K.Sivan pictorializes the sentiment of the nation towards the entire team. As the in-charge of Department of Space, the Prime Minister was with the team at its most critical phases. And when Vikram lander didn’t touchdown as per plan, he did not rebuke the engineers. Instead, he took the opportunity to stand by their efforts. He showed the world the larger picture when we addressed the media soon after ISRO’s announcement of the failure.
The negative impact of leadership and employee stress on overall performance is well-documented. On the other hand, leaders who are adept at managing stress are more highly regarded among their employees. Increased confidence in leadership augurs well for employee output and by extension, the organization’s performance.
While India’s scientific progress will bear results in the long-run, the critical lessons of such short term setbacks should not be lost, especially to the corporate world.
