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Two pairs of aircraft, a narrow valley, a target in a mountain bowl. The first jet marks the target, the second drops the bomb, and immediately afterward the second pair has to do it all over again. That is the mission at the heart of “Top Gun: Maverick.” Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film opened in German theaters on May 26, 2022, starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Val Kilmer. An example of the Team Principle of Attunement.
A Mission No One Can Fly Alone
Situation
More than 30 years after graduating from the “Top Gun” flight school, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell works as a test pilot. He is ordered back as an instructor. The mission: destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant. It lies in a mountain bowl and is protected by surface-to-air missiles, jamming systems and superior fighter jets. The plan calls for a low-level flight through a narrow, winding canyon and a pinpoint drop of laser-guided bombs. Two pairs of F/A-18s will fly it. In each pair, one jet marks the target with a laser and the other drops the bombs.
Connection to the team principle
The Team Principle of Attunement says: a team becomes good when everyone knows what the others know, what they can do and what they will do next. The mission is designed so that individual skill isn’t enough. Whoever drops the bombs depends on whoever marks the target. The second pair depends on the first. In low-level flight there is no time for questions. Everyone has to know what the pilot ahead and the pilot alongside will do in the next second.
The Best – but Each on Their Own
Situation
Maverick is to prepare a group of young Top Gun graduates for the mission. Each of them is among the best. In dogfighting exercises, Maverick earns their respect. There is tension among the pilots, especially between Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw and Jake “Hangman” Seresin. Hangman is considered gifted but arrogant.
Connection to the team principle
It begins with a group in which everyone knows what they can do themselves. No one yet knows what the others can do or how they will react. So the exercises aren’t just about flying. Through them, the pilots get to know one another – who takes risks, who goes off on their own, who can be relied on. A team grows out of this knowledge, not out of the sum of individual performances.
An Old Grudge
Situation
Rooster is the son of Goose, Maverick’s friend who was killed in an accident. He resents Maverick for once blocking his application to the Naval Academy. Instructor and student have a score to settle.
Connection to the team principle
Anticipating what the other person will do requires trusting them to do the right thing. As long as Rooster and Maverick distrust each other, they cannot fly together blindly. The film thus shows a condition of attunement that appears in no procedure or checklist: an open grudge has to be resolved before two people can attune to each other.
The Same Course, Again and Again
Situation
The crews practice the approach on a training course. The mission is considered next to impossible. After the death of Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Vice Admiral “Cyclone” Simpson removes Maverick as instructor and eases the mission parameters. This makes the approach easier but the crews’ survival less likely. Maverick then flies the course himself without authorization and proves it can be done. He is named mission leader and selects his crews.
Connection to the team principle
Two things stand out. First, attunement develops here through repetition of the same sequence until everyone knows it – their own part and the others’. Second, Maverick demonstrates the sequence. A team finds it easier to attune to something it has seen done in full. And he puts the crews together himself – basing his choices on what he learned in training about each individual and about how they work together.
The Strike
Situation
On the mission, the strike succeeds in the rehearsed sequence. Phoenix marks the target for Maverick. The second pair, led by Rooster, hits it immediately afterward. On the way back, things turn dramatic: Maverick sacrifices his jet to cover Rooster, and Rooster turns back against orders. Both escape in a captured old F-14. Hangman, who stayed behind on the carrier as the reserve pilot, steps in at the last moment.
Connection to the team principle
The strike itself is the payoff of the practice: four jets do, one after another, exactly what they rehearsed, and each can rely on the others to do their part. The rest of the film relies more on courage and individual heroics than on attunement – it’s only fair to say so. For the principle, the core is the training and the strike, not the escape.
Key takeaways
Key Lessons
- Design tasks so that your team can only accomplish them together – and say so openly. Individual stars only attune to one another when they have to.
- Rehearse the real thing as a whole sequence, not just the individual moves. Everyone should also know the others’ parts.
- Show that it can be done. Once your team has seen a process done from start to finish, it becomes tangible.
- Clear up open grudges before it counts. Two people who distrust each other cannot rely on each other blindly.
- Put crews together based on what you have observed of how people work together – not just on individual performance.
Summary
“Top Gun: Maverick” tells how outstanding individual pilots become crews who can anticipate one another. The mission forces it, the training makes it possible, and an old grudge stands in its way for a long time. The film is mainstream entertainment and, in its final act, a hero’s tale. But in the training and the strike, it vividly shows what attunement is: everyone knows what the other will do in the next second.