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Flight Ops: Improving Internal Communications
By Steve Bassett, Chairman & CEO, The Communications Workshop, LLC
Imagine losing two-way communications with ATC while flying or not being able to communicate with your FO. Or, perhaps you and your mechanic don't speak the same language. Whatever the problem, the more difficult the communications process the rougher the operation runs and the more difficult it is to achieve success. Poor Flight Ops communications means a less efficient and less safe operation.
All the world's progress has come with advancements in communications and transportation. Whenever we are able to better communicate among ourselves or more rapidly and efficiently move people and goods, we take giant leaps forward. Think about it, the wheel, chariot, printing press, computer, railroad, bicycle, telegraph, teletype, automobile, airplane, radio, television – Gutenberg, Babbage, de Sivrac, Stephenson, Morse, Bell, Benz, Marconi, Goddard, Farnsworth. The list goes on and on. Things that define our progress and the people who made it possible.
Effective communications is the underpinning of success in the air cargo industry or any other industry. We succeed or fails based on the quality and effectiveness of our internal and external communications. The more obstacles there are in the way of good communications, the more difficult it is to achieve success.
So, the sixty-four million dollar question is – are you, as a company, communicating vertically, horizontally, and diagonally throughout the organization as well as you could? If you are honest the answer likely is -- probably not.
Few companies communicate as well as they can. That's because communicating is hard work and the larger and more spread out a company the harder it is to communicate, or communicate well. Successful communications in a flight department means maintaining a smooth flow of communications between multiple disciplines within the flight operation as well as multiple external yet important disciplines as the chart illustrates. It's hard enough trying to do our own jobs much less now try to also be good communicators. But, doing our jobs well means we must be good communicators. So, how do we do it?
This article will provide you with some fundamental concepts on more effectively communicating within your flight operation. But, I would strongly recommend getting yourself and your people educated. Have someone come in and audit your internal communications processes, conduct an evaluation with your staff, then spend a day in a training seminar with someone who knows what they are doing. I guarantee; it will do wonders.
The key function of communications is to affect receiver knowledge and/or behavior by informing, directing, regulating, socializing, educating, or persuading. Today, unlike the way things use to be, success depends on less top-down communications and more lateral, diagonal, interactive, innovative, and collaborative communications. In other words – yesterday's "Old School" way of doing things out of necessity has given way to today's "New School" approach.
As someone once said, "The single biggest problem in organizational communications is the illusion that it is taking place."
There are 10 fundamental components in the communications process:
- .Sender – Someone who want to send a message verbally or non-verbally to someone else.
- Select Target Audience – Determine for whom the message is intended.
- Select Delivery Platform – How will the message be delivered.
- Encode the Message – Will the message be sent via words, images or both.
- Transmit the Message – Send it along the pre-determined information delivery platform.
- Noise/Interference – Negotiate obstacles; anything that interferes with the information delivery process.
- Receive Message – Message arrives at intended receiver(s).
- Decode Message – Receiver's responsibility is to decode, decipher and interpret message as intended.
- Understanding – An approximation of what the message means to the transmitter by the receiver.
- Feedback – Receiver responds with feedback and become the new sender.
Every day, this is the process by which you communicate with your boss, staff, co-workers, colleagues, friends, spouse and others. As the message sender, it is your job to make sure that the message you intended to deliver was received the way you intended. As the message receiver, it is also your responsibility to make sure that your interpretation of the message you received is what the sender intended. If the sender or receiver mess up the process anywhere along the line – message malfunction and that can lead to all sorts of problems.
Here are some best practices:
- Talking is not communicating. Therefore, listen.
- Tear down barriers to effective communications.
- Meet with your team regularly but keep meetings focused and brief.
- Use technology to support face-to-face communications, not replace it.
- Make certain everyone understands the plan and is on the same page.
- Speak personally with everyone in your shop as often as possible.
- Staff should give supervisors frequent status reports.
- Supervisors should give staff frequent progress evaluations.
- Pay attention to the grapevine. It's probably accurate.
- Close your mouth and open your eyes and ears
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