Up in the Air: From Team Building to Team Coaching

• In Event: Coaching Individuals and Groups

Short Description

This presentation will share the experiences of a commercial flight instructor and an academic leadership scholar who jointly coached executive teams using flight simulators. Brief video clips will give a real taste of the experience and the presenter will share reflections on adventure experiences, coaching, and team dynamics.

Detailed Abstract

In aviation it is often said that if pilots would fly an aircraft like some managers run their company, they would crash every day. There is some truth to this. Indeed, nowhere is decision-making, teamwork and communication as critical as in the cockpit of an airplane. As evidenced by the ultra low and decreasing accident rates in a growing industry, the majority of crews routinely display these non-technical skills very successfully. Yet, this does is not something that tends to come naturally to the typically alpha type pilot and is mostly a result of a specialized training called resource management. This training philosophy is considered to be one of the greatest successes of aviation and human factors psychology. Because the parallels with the business world are cannily striking, launching resource management training in companies and organization as a viable intervention has untapped potential to improve management efficiency and competitive advantage. And rather then providing the traditional general knowledge and concept training, building on action learning we have successfully used a commercial full motion Airbus flight simulator as an integral part of a customized workshop for various management teams of large companies. The flight simulator takes teams out of their comfort zone and creates a level playing field, developing a management team in a very exciting & engaging way to reach their full potential, no flying skills required.

CRM HISTORY
Following evidence that airplane accidents were often a result of human actions rather then technical problems or external factors, since the 1980s the airlines have invested considerable effort and resources to design and implement crew resource management (CRM) training in their organizations. Using groups of applied scientists and agencies the aim has been to promote effective teamwork, communication and decision making in the flight deck. As a result of CRM, aviation in the western world has moved away from compliant leadership towards engaged leadership. The captain has final responsibility, but expects engagement from his crew to get to the end result. In addition, crews make higher quality decisions, carefully diagnosing any problem and using all resources available while guarding against bias and counter-productive attitudes. Threats are constantly assessed and communication thrives while encouraging mutual feedback.

Where as most leadership team development interventions traditionally aims on helping individual members strengthen their personal contributions to the team, team coaching focuses on working with the team as a whole to help members use their collective resources well in pursuing team purposes (Hackman & Wageman, 2006). Coaching the team as a whole seems to rank rather low among the different activities team leaders dedicate their time to. The lesser attention might be due to an underestimation of the potential benefit as well as due to a lack of knowledge how to do so and previous team intervention that failed to achieve the desired outcome (Wageman, Hackman & Lehman, 2004).

Participants

• Thomas Hellwig, INSEAD Global Leadership Centre

• Alex Kuhlman, Adventum Training Ltd