The “Today” Challenge
The issue of developing a healthy and robust organizational culture is important to all of us in the B&GA industry. Regardless of the type of operation, we need to pay attention to this issue since it will impact the choices we have to make in developing our teams. Our issues are varied yet profoundly similar at the core. This applies to a part 91 operation, 135 operation, 145 operation, FBO, OEM and on and on. We have similar but different organizational issues.
Think of the last formal training you experienced. How did it compare with other training you have had over the years? Was it aircraft specific or otherwise technical training? Was it instructional or facilitated? Was it online, in person, or a combination of both perhaps? Training needs are changing. We are in a new era for learning and development.
In order to achieve better training results, we must segregate and define goals, objectives and expected outcomes.
Unlike some technical training, when it comes to human factors, often referred to as soft skills, core skills training has necessarily and naturally transformed in both content and methodology. Off-the-shelf programs, which have long operated on the assumption that one size fits all, now fall short of meeting the needs of organizations that each have their own distinct and unique culture, which in the case of a part 91 operations is further influenced by the enterprise they serve.
So, we need to become more methodical and focused on what exactly it is that we want to achieve by training and developing our teams. Do we use traditional measurement techniques or do we need new thinking on how we measure training success or failure?
An example of adjusting for future training is sometimes to first start with un-training your teams!!! Yes, you heard it right. What has brought us to this point may not be enough to take us to the next level. That means we must open learning space to build a case for change before we pave the path for new ways of doing things. People are inherently opposed to changing ways and behavior. We all enjoy our comfort zones. Unlearning the ways of the past should not mean July 2021 that our past was wrong or should be disrespected, it just means we are evolving with our new challenges and shifting purposes.
New Training Ideas
In response to these new challenges and shifting needs, impactful training and development, with a focus on core skills, is evolving to be more customized and personal. It begins with meeting the organization and its people where they are, and unearthing where they need to be or want to be. Are they a team that has been working together a long time? Is there an influx of new people due to organizational growth or high turnover? Has there been a recent change which requires leadership to adopt intentional, thoughtful and strategic adjustments?
Questions to Ask
- Are we aligned with the expectation of our PAX, customers, users?
- Is our current operating process capable of meeting our customers’ current needs?
- When was the last time we updated out processes to address changes and new expectations?
- Is our current culture reactive and constantly stretching to meet new expectations?
- Are we driving and developing our culture to “manage expectations” or are we constantly reacting to expectations?
- Is our team on the same page regarding our, department and organization goals, objectives and direction? Objectives that change much more frequently this day than ever before.
- Many more questions that traditionally we have not been concerned about are now confronting us. Search the questions first to find the right ones for you. Then the answers will make a lot more sense.
Conclusion
The results of successful human factors training should be a more effective organization as a whole. Organizational Resource Management is really the next level. No longer job function focused but organizational focused. It should bring an organization of separate job functions together with laser focus on the overall mission and not just the specific job function. We do not need to focus less on July 2021 individual job functions or train less on technical aspects of our work. In B&GA, the results are a safer and more efficient organization. It is ensuring that a team of all stars – professional aviation maintenance technicians, pilots, schedulers/dispatchers, flight attendants and others – function as an all-star team. A cohesive well-functioning team should be the focus of training and development efforts.
