Situational Awareness: A Business Lesson from Aviation

 Over 70% of aircraft accidents are caused by the human factor. When looking at the human factor one element that stands out is Situational Awareness. We can probably relate this to business too and ask why do businesses fail and I am sure that most of the time it is down to the people, the human factor. People and teams often fail because they are not aware of what is really happening around them, lack of situational awareness. Lack of Situational Awareness is (Source: Mica Endsley – 1988):

? The perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space

? The comprehension of their meaning

? The projection of their status in the near future.

In aviation the main components of situational awareness are:

? Environmental Awareness: Awareness of other aircraft, communications between ATC and other aircraft, weather or terrain

? Mode Awareness: Awareness of aircraft configuration and auto flight system modes. The latter includes such aspects as current and target speed, altitude, heading, AP / FD modes and the state of flight management system (FMS) data entries and flight planning functions

Spatial Orientation: Awareness of geographical position and aircraft attitude

? System Awareness: Awareness of status of aircraft systems

? Time Horizon: Awareness of time management (e.g., fuel , time factor in situation or emergency electrical configuration).

Research from the Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) indicates that human factors a contributing cause in around 70 percent of all incidents and accidents. Approximately 85 percent of incident reports include a mention of loss of situational awareness. Degraded situational awareness can lead to inadequate decision making and inappropriate actions. This is illustrated in Table 1, which identifies causal factors involved in approach and landing accidents.

Factor % of Events

Inadequate decision making 74%

Omission of action or inappropriate action 72%

Non-adherence to criteria for stabilized approach 66%

Inadequate crew coordination, cross-check and 63%

Insufficient horizontal or vertical Situational Awareness 52%

Inadequate or insufficient understanding of prevailing conditions 48%

Slow or delayed action 45%

Flight handling difficulties 45%

Deliberate non-adherence to procedures 40%

Inadequate training 37%

Incorrect or incomplete pilot/controller communication 33%

Interaction with automation 20%

I would say that many of the elements illustrated in the above table can boil down to some form of communication deficiency. Inadequate decision making, topping the list. The following are a few suggestions for preventing falling into the lack of situational awareness that could lead an aircraft accident or business failure.

How to Improve Situational Awareness:

? Set specific objectives

Define flight targets and data gathering. What are your business goals and what data do you currently have to help you achieve success.

? Set priorities

Follow SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). If you don’t have company SOPs, develop some.

? Prepare for anomalies

Consider visual illusions, missing information, etc. Applied in the business world what is there out there that is giving us the illusion things are going in a certain when they aren’t. Beware of fake news!

? Make risk assessments

Ask, “what if?” Wear the black hat, as Edward De Bono (author of Six Thinking would say. Using Black Hat thinking by looking at a decision's potentially negative outcomes. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them.

Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans "tougher" and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. It's one of the real benefits of this model, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

Manage workload

Shift tasks away from busy times, delegate, anticipate. Use your team and no what each member is good at and then do just that. Don’t waste time getting people perform certain tasks if they don’t have the skill/ability.

Maintain Situational Awareness:

? Communicate

Keep all crewmembers and external participants (e.g., company flight watch office) in the loop. This is something I have observed where many companies and teams fail, effective communication. Make sure everyone knows what is going on in the other departments, picture is key to success.

? Manage attention

Set priorities, avoid distraction, adjust monitoring to flight phase urgency. Social Media is a great tool but can also become a great distraction. Get your team to focus and stay on task.

? Seek information

Use your senses

Know WHAT is important, WHEN to seek for and WHERE to find it

Validate your data

? Cross-check – Use multiple sources of information when available

? Use rules of thumb when data are not available.

When you gather the information, share it with your team members.

? Check your understanding

Check for contradictory elements in the real world

Apply experience and lessons learned.

? Think ahead

Brief others on what you expect

Compare projected state with objectives

Set markers for confirmation and information (define “next targets” at each point of the whole flight and “approach gates” during ). Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), allow you to measure how you are doing and tells you where you are. If performance is measured, chances are it will improve.

Compare actual state with expectations and objectives

Readjust your plan if required.

Look for clues leading to loss of situational awareness and communicate it to the rest of the team. You need your team to also be continuously improving themselves, get them reading, researching, learning and developing new skills. These are all things that will increase their awareness and help keep your company/team ahead of the game and winning.

Fabrizio Poli is an independent aviation consultant specialized in aircraft sales. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent Most Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV  Fabrizio's latest book "Health4Flyers", the first natural-health book for and frequent flyers is now available worldwide.

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