Motivating and supporting those around us is vital in all parts of life – motivating and supporting your kids, your wife/husband, your work colleagues. However, it becomes a really vital non-technical skill in the cockpit during flight. When the weather is deteriorating, the passengers are grumpy, fuel is diminishing and the diversion looks probable, having a motivated crew member who feels like you’ve “got their back” is the best person to have alongside you as you punch through the gloom.
CASR Part 61 requires that we teach how to “Motivate and support other crew members;” during the Multi-crew Cooperation Course at Performance Criteria MCO1 (l). So how do we teach and demonstrate this?
I suggest we start by presenting the basic division of internal and external motivations and the value and role of each. Get the students identifying these to get them talking and thinking. Present to the students and brainstorm some of the key motivational methods.
- Identify the value of “Recognition” – “I saw how you coped well with that passenger…”. Point out how important it is for all of us to be recognised when we do a great job. Even a simple “well done” as the other pilot completes a nice crosswind landing without drift, on the centreline and in the touchdown zone will help motivate the pilot to keep building the flight skills.
- Identify the value of “Engagement” – “How do you think we should solve this?” Drawing the other person into the group or into your decision making process heightens the other persons interest and motivates them to focus on the issues at hand.
- Identify the value “Empowerment” – “I think you can do this approach. You okay with that?” Encouragement is empowering. Help to build their self-belief and you will build a motivated crew member.
- Identify the value of a “Safe Environment” – “its okay to call me on it when I mess up a procedure!” Setting up a safe environment will motivate the other crew member to work with you to achieve a successful flight.
- Identify the value of your “Positive Example” – Motivation starts with you. Be positive and strive for excellence.
Brainstorm with the student what it means to support the other crew member. We support the other person when:
- We “have their back” and they know it. This means demonstrating respect, communicating effectively, and being prepared to stand beside them. If there is a problem on the flight, it is “our” problem, not “his” problem. If we fail – we fail as a crew, and when we do great – it is because we are a crew.
- We are aware of their workload and stress levels – identify it, announce it and work a plan together to level it out.
- We fill in the gaps in their situational awareness. SA is a team thing. It is pointless for one person to have good SA and to not share that with others on the team.
- We cheerfully, promptly and positively action all the steps documented for the Support pilot in the company SOPs. Good Captains are good support pilots – Great Captains make great support pilots.
- We point out errors or omissions in the context of learning rather than as an “I’ve gotcha”.
Poor Captains make poor support pilots. Poor First Officers make poor Captains. Let’s ensure we support and motivate those who sit alongside us…because on that dark and stormy night, who do you want there?
When did another crew member do a great job to support you or motivate you?
Material taken from the Long Briefing Notes in the TRACDsolutionsTM Multicrew Cooperation Course. Siggins Aviation Consulting.