The Precision Approach

Tag: Effective Communications

  • The Communication Dimension – Wanna Learn How To Talk Like A Pilot? It May Help You as a Leader…

    The Communication Dimension – Wanna Learn How To Talk Like A Pilot? It May Help You as a Leader…

    “Communicating.”

    I have been a part of a number of organizations that wanted to “improve communication.” It was/is a very noble goal. There are studies that show the cost of ineffective or inefficient communications.

    Here’s one.

    And another one.

    And…another one.

    I’m sure there are others. And while the “fixes” for communication gaps are out there, organizations can struggle mightily to overcome the obstacles to effective communication. And I do mean mightily…

    AVIATION COMMUNICATIONS – THE SECRET

    As you read this, there is an airliner receiving the required information to fly from somewhere very near to somewhere far, far away in not that many words and in not that much time. It will sound something like this:

    “United 515 is cleared to San Francisco via the JEFE7 departure, then as filed. Upon departure, climb and maintain 5,000. Expect Flight Level 200 ten minutes after departure. Departure frequency 118.1. Squawk 0327.”

    Translated, the flight is cleared to depart the airport via a standard departure route (the “JEFE7”) and then on to its filed flight planned route (“as filed”). There are initial takeoff instructions, followed by expected climb instructions after takeoff. Finally, there is a radio frequency that the airplane will use after takeoff and the transponder code it will use (the “Squawk”) to be discretely identified on radar. This format is more or less then same for international flights also.

    But there is also an extremely simple format for almost any type of aviation communication. The format is this:

    “1)You. 2)Me. 3) My location. 4) I want to do something.”

    On the radio, it will sound like this:

    “Tower, Cessna 11 Charlie Bravo, 10 (miles) west (of the airfield), inbound (for a) full stop (landing).” Everything in parentheses is unsaid but understood by air traffic control and other aviators. So what’s the secret here?

    First, communications are standardized among all aviators, airline pilots down to student pilots. This provides a common language and mutual understanding. Second, brevity is essential (shout out to the second hour and beyond of a staff meeting…). Radio space is limited and cannot be overwhelmed by yammering. Flying into LA, New York, Chicago, and similar airspaces will cure any verbose tendencies. Finally, innuendo and ambiguity are not welcome. The nature of aviation requires a direct and pointed exchange of information.

    SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

    1. How does your organization communicate? Understanding the topography of an organization’s communication tendencies is essential to any effort to improve communication, include what things or which people are the obstacles to effective communication.

    2. How do you personally communicate? Who are your trusted agents to give feedback on your communication style? Knowing this is just as essential. In aviation, post flight debriefs can still include how well communications went during the flight, even with all of these tools in place.

    3. What effective processes and practices does your organization currently use to communicate? Even an effort to improve communication can still leverage things that have worked or are working now.

    While aviation communication may not exactly translate to how you or your organization can communicate more effectively, there are some aspects to consider to overcome barriers and find efficiencies. In fact, try listening to air traffic live streams to see what all of this is about. There may be some small spot of inspiration for your communication aspirations.

    More to follow…

  • High Reliability 101 – A Pilot’s Perspective

    High Reliability 101 – A Pilot’s Perspective

    Just a few-ish years ago, myself and some other young student aviators departed Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida in our T-45 “Goshawk” training jets to do the final phase of jet school which would require us all to land – in a sufficiently safe and precise manner – multiple times aboard the USS George Washington, at the time churning off of the north Florida coast. Known as “Carrier Qualification” or “CQ,” it was the final right of passage to earning your wings as a Naval Aviator.

    In a formation of four airplanes, we arrived overhead of the ship after about 30 minutes of flying over the open Atlantic. My first thought in looking down on what seemed to be an impossibly tiny slice of metal to land on was both, “I’m petrified” and “I’m ready.”

    Let’s first look at the principles of High Reliability:

    1) A Preoccupation with Failure: a hypersensitivity to error, both past, present, and unanticipated.

    2) A Reluctance to Simplify: the perpetual examination of the complexities and dynamics associated with systemic breakdowns.

    3) Sensitivity to Operations: the integrity of the business line(s) is/are paramount.

    4) A Commitment to Resilience: an understanding that failure or challenge can occur and when it does, operations can continue.

    5) Deference to Expertise: the depth of knowledge is more important than the position on the org chart.

    All of these principles add up such that organizations must accept that errors and disruptions will occur at any time and those errors must be managed so that first, errors do not compromise desired outcomes and second, every effort must be made to ensure that the error never occurs again. These principles form the foundation for safe operations in complex and high-consequence environments.

    The Joint Commission – the quality accreditation organization for a significant portion of the nation’s healthcare systems – outlines a straightforward methodology for implementing High Reliability practices in pursuit of operations excellence. The framework consists of three elements:

    1) Leadership Commitment.

    2) A Pervasive Safety Culture.

    3) Robust Process Improvement.

    The framework forms a feedback loop in which organizational leadership promotes an environment that cultivates effective safety practices while empowering employees or groups within the organization to have a voice for change or betterment of the organization.

    Most important, the first point in the framework does not say, “Leadership Approval” or “Leadership Encouragement,” etc. It says, “Leadership Commitment,” which implies an enduring effort to improve the organization. This long-term focus is critical to any High Reliability effort. Without it, it will fail.

    In 2004, the United States Marine Corps experienced one of its worst years in aviation safety. There were 18 Class A aircraft mishaps, where a Class A is defined (in 2004) as aircraft damage exceeding $1 million, loss of life, or the permanent total disability of a service member. Despite it being a time when operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were underway, many of these incidents had no connection with operations overseas. In response, the leadership of Marine Aviation put into place sweeping reforms and initiatives to rebuild the safety culture and drive down these mishap trends. By 2009, Marine Corps Aviation operated with record-low mishap rates even with almost a decade of flying missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    So how did a bunch of young and relatively inexperienced flyers bring their training jets, moving at around 120 miles per hour, aboard an aircraft carrier safely and with the desired outcome of completing the event to finish Flight School?

    T-45 “Goshawk” coming aboard the USS George Washington

    More to follow…

  • Crew Resource Management – What Is It? And What Is A SADCLAM?

    Crew Resource Management, at one time known as Cockpit Resource Management, or now just known as CRM, was and is the operations excellence process that the aviation industry adopted about 45 years ago. It was after a series of accidents marked by insufficient or inadequate communication, breakdowns in decision making, and misapplications of leadership that CRM implementation became an enterprise revolution, providing needed support to operations in high-consequence environments and in some instances, time-critical situations.

    At its core, CRM does not ignore hierarchical structures – the captain is the still the final authority in the airplane. Just the same, the CRM process requires the leader and the team to pursue all available resources to create effective outcomes. And CRM extends beyond the cockpit now as it also involves the flight attendants, air traffic controllers, maintenance personnel, first responders, and others who contribute to safe operations. CRM also accepts that human error is inevitable and creates structure to mitigate that.

    To create this structure, CRM teaches the soft skills of flying and teamwork. Navy and Marine Corps Aviation use(d) the acronym “SADCLAM” to itemize the fundamental elements of CRM (odd name, but true). “SADCLAM” stands for Situational Awareness, Assertiveness, Decision Making, Communication, Leadership, Adaptability/Flexibility, and Mission Analysis. Annual CRM analyses of Naval Aviators include feedback on all of these elements oftentimes during challenging situations, usually in the simulator.

    In posts to come, I will discuss three incidents – Eastern Airlines Flight 401, United Airlines Flight 173, and the Tenerife Accident – that defined the pre-CRM era of flying and how each of those incidents contributed to the creation and integration of CRM. I will also discuss incidents like Air France Flight 447 to show how even decades later, breakdowns in CRM can still occur.

    So how does your organization communicate? How does it make effective decisions, even in time-critical situations? And how does your organization cultivate leadership? Is it time for your organization to do a little SADCLAMming?

    More to follow…

  • Welcome to The Precision Approach

    Every day, around 44,000 airline flights take off and land in 29 million square miles of American airspace. All of this translates to around 3 million domestic airlines passengers transiting the national airspace system daily. By and large, all of these flights happen without incident. And when incidents do occur, there are procedures, protocols, and tools to in place to mitigate or abate the effects of the incident.

    This blog is designed to highlight those effective practices in the aviation industry for organizations of all types. While these practices of the aviation industry may not have complete applicability to non-aviation organizations, the intent here is to discuss them in an easily understandable manner to support organizational goals of excellence in operations and preparedness / readiness for obstacles to operations.

    I will discuss all of these effective tools under the disciplines of Communication, Decision Making, and Leadership in an effort to articulate everything in a way that may prove useful or insightful for your organization. If your objective is to become a “High Reliability Organization,” the content here will prove useful in support of that – more on “High Reliability Organizations” later.

    Between February 13, 2009 and January 28, 2025, there was only 1 passenger fatality on commercial air travel in the United States. This blog will explore the why and how of this statistic. If you have ever watched the United States Navy Blue Angels or the United States Air Force Thunderbirds fly the precision shows that they do so often, this blog will explore the why and how they do it. How do planes land on aircraft carriers at night, in bad weather, and in rough sea conditions? This blog will explore the why and how of that. And lastly, if you have ever wondered how many “stakeholders” there are invested in the safe operation of an aircraft in flight from Point A to Point B, this blog will explain this network of stakeholders and how they work together to send airplanes with a few hundred people more than seven miles above the earth moving at not too far below the speed of sound effectively several thousand times a day.

    Welcome.