Updating our Approach Charts

Gen Z and Crew Resource Management

?Gen Z, those folks with their gadgets, smarts phones, VRs and unconventional learning curves may be the best thing to happen to the cockpit thru the 21st century. Their tech savvy nature harnesses man-machine power and turns it into endless possibilities. What makes the Gen Z ideal modern-day pilots and other crew members is not only their knowledge of digitized resource but also its adaptability to modern aviation environment, including training, at the simulator phase for pilots for example, at which they will have the ability to match the steep learning curve since modern cockpit is more about managing digitized decision making than how it used to be just few decades ago.

Gen Z group thrives on technology and multiple task management. They are a bunch of social communicators that can handle a busy day at the ‘controls’ and remain cool under fire. And not only that. They are all about being creative, about making good things come to life. The question is, are older hands ready for this information overload? Will this be only about Gen Z’s flair for digitization or do we need to make personal changes to put them up at the systems environment that was created by early comers. How does the contemporary CRM thought scenario suit them? ‘O it suits them alright. So long as what is being taught and what is in actual practice beyond ‘clear right and clear left’ or ‘checked’ remains the same. It’s all about the human factor.

The Anecdote 1:

This happened to a young pilot known to me few years back. Educated outside the country from his younger days he joins an airline in Pakistan and doesn’t find any on-boarding process on the premises. None, whatsoever. The company didn’t have the first clue to what that even was. This group of selected Pilots gets gaggled into a room with old computers, expected to ready themselves for the upcoming simulator training. What had been afforded was in many cases a lower learning environment than some junior highs in Pakistan. Only two weeks into the ground school, he got sent back-channel rebuke for acknowledging emails because he was communicative, and for his heavy duty native English accent and style philosophy (sounds like basic CRM collapse right there). Next came the FFSD part of training which he wasn’t accustomed to, like being yelled at or given brash replies in response to professional questions (CRM red light), common practice during FFSD sessions at that airline. Many days in a row he took simulator time on just few-hour sleep due to the stress instructor vitriol and their aversion to his accent was causing him and despite being an experienced aviator and an educated professional, he barely made it. Yet at actual flying he proved the metal, doing way better than people many times his experience. This was until company personnel thought environment that was riding an entirely different wavelength ultimately caught up with him. He resigned within a year.

Lesson: Using outdated Approach charts can be downright fatal.

So, how does Gen Z physiognomy interact with aviation CRM?

CRM is about teamwork, effective communication, introspection, self-analysis, empathy and professional excellence-not adequacy. Those are the areas where Gen Z might be inimitable. And how is that?

Being exceedingly communicative is one. Console generation as they are, their dependence on digitization will influence CRM protocol. For example, the digital tools they are in on will add to communication rate enhancement among crew members. But it isn’t just about the rate.? Quality of intellect at the ‘Receiving end’ is equally central, unless of course they are ok with back-channel rebuke for stuff as innocuous as acknowledging emails . Second, there might be concerns about distraction caused from Gen-Z’s over-reliance on technology, which according to a point of view, could potentially compromise safety when it comes to stick and rudder skill. Effective training will smother that issue out.

Gennies at the hierarchy

In a cockpit situation for example, where authority slopes are important for safety, being less deferential to the ‘ladder’ (compared to previous generations) could be a double-whammy. For example, open communication and questioning of decisions favor safety. They also challenge traditional authority structures in ways that need to be managed carefully. But isn’t that the true spirit of CRM philosophy, especially when modern decision making and management protocol must match evolving technological sophistication in aviation. And this goes same ways for non-flying members of the team.

The Anecdote 2:

So, I know this other Pilot, outstanding human being and an exceptional professional working for a non-Pakistani airline. On a typical day at work, they are about getting fixed to hit on final to a destination that didn’t require arming the approach on the A320 that they were flying. But this guy involuntarily did. His first officer, a 21-year old female, didn’t waste a tinker’s second to hit it back off, simultaneously verbalizing “not here”. Her Captain corrected, immediately accepting the change. This man narrates the little occurrence, proudly talking about his FO, (at our age, we’d say just a kid) who checked him, and instead of being in a place where he frowns upon the curt challenge he uses it as an example of exactly what must be done and how. On another occasion this Captain himself then a FO, had taken over from his captain at the last less than a minute to touch-down judging that a change had to be instituted, to the acknowledgement of the Captain here in Pakistan.

Lesson: Updated approach charts take us all home safe.

Training the Gen-Z

Few months back I was tasked to author consultancy plans for a new airline project. Among a whole bunch of stuff that I had put in there, we emphasized on-boarding process and integrated training suite that included gamified approach to the whole thing, among many others. The suite included use of interactive VR and LMS tech, AI and a lot of other soft and hard points. The system was designed to glean every pint of potential from the group of mostly younger men and women that we had focused on. Prevention, not autopsy, was the theme governing the company’s corporate, executive and operational realm. Instant feedback, continuous CRM environment and technology-intensive adherence should be the meaningful mainstay of any company, and they were in this case.

The suite balanced out between the Gennies and old hands. Retirement facts and subsequent collaborative leadership replacement by the Gen Z population were embraced during the planning stage. For that purpose, matching training program that would gradually suit up Gen Z with leadership traits that befit the company’s high-minded CRM ambition were put together. Maintaining a constant edge on the competition is every corporation’s aim and we were no exception. Impact of environmental footprint preferences among the ‘new dawn’ and how that would influence CRM decisions had to be analyzed, understood and managed. Social media and influencing part of it were added. Operational plans were set to handle the matter, if and when, meaning better resource management vis a vis flight-operations aimed at reduction of ecological footmark etc. It goes way beyond when AI and social media reality that must be met with ingenuity, without the need to downsize. What we were doing wasn't anything new, we were just doing it right and without taking the new generation thought ideology into account, we'd just be sitting on a lot of moving parts not knowing how to handle them.

Final words

To continue being an effective team, CRM philosophies and practices need to evolve in keeping with digital advancements happening almost every month thru the aviation industry. Relentless pursuit of CRM excellence would mean constant research and innovation to build on the strengths of new reality. Generation Z isn’t always toiling with gadgets. Their enthusiasm at work works around career advancement, compensation, co-worker trust, meaningful assignment, being afforded a sense of accomplishment and compassionate yet strong leadership. And if and when that means change must be made then that is what must be done.

The Anecdote 3:

A gentleman who I had been working with me for a while, himself being an ace aviator and a fine human being, once asked me, “how do you approach things differently from the rest of us”. To be frank, I didn’t know how to answer that except for, *“At some point we all need to look inward, we all need to update our approach charts”. I sincerely hope his question wasn’t a swipe at what and how things were being done :D

*that reply became motivation behind this article.

#aviation, # crew resource management, #CRM, #Crew, #pilots, #flight attendant, #ground crew, #planes