Personality Conflicts at Work? NASA Commander Chris Ferguson Explains the Importance of Teamwork

No matter how big your workplace, you may still feel occasionally cramped or crowded by your coworkers. But if you think fitting so many people into your office is tough, imagine trying to find breathing room in an airtight chamber where you live with your coworkers for weeks at a time.

For astronauts like NASA Commander Chris Ferguson, that’s just another day on the job. You might say it’s an experience completely out of this world.

Bad jokes aside, KnowHR had a chance to catch up with this award-winning astronaut before his Wednesday night presentation at the Franklin Institute. While there, Ferguson showed the audience photos and videos from his 15-day space quest last November aboard the STS-126 Space Shuttle Endeavour.

To prepare for inevitable skirmishes that may arise on board, Ferguson said all astronauts undergo extensive conflict resolution training prior to liftoff.

He likes to call these training opportunities and sessions their “How to play in the sandbox nicely with others” lessons.

“We try to identify a lot of those personal conflict issues so we can know what it’s like to live in close quarters with people for long periods of time,” Ferguson said.

That’s good advice, coming from a guy who’s not only an astronaut, but a Captain in the U.S. Navy. Here’s what else this Philadelphia native had to say about finding the job you love and working with people in the smallest of spaces. In outer space.

NASA Commander Chris Ferguson Explains the Importance of Teamwork at Work from iFractal on Vimeo.

Before leaving, I had a chance to ask Ferguson one other question burning in my mind: What does he think about that freeze-dried ice cream they always sell in science museum gift shops?

The verdict: They don’t even eat the ice cream in space! Oh, well. I didn’t let that stop me from bringing some back for the rest of the Fractals to enjoy, anyway. Maybe it’ll make our own space seem a little bit more…well…spacey.

About the Author

Bethany Marzewski

Bethany has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University, where she learned how to apply her writing and visual communication approach in writing and social media ideas at IFRACTAL.

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