I was asked recently to conduct some training at a medium sized enterprise in the UK around the topic of leadership and management. The primary purpose of the training was to distinguish between a great leader and a great manager, the synergies of the two, and what makes a good leader and good manager. Although quite a broad topic, my mind went immediately to the analogy I often use when training businesses, which is that of the crew I flew in whilst in the military over 16 years ago.
You see, the aircraft that I was a crew member of was the P3C Orion Maritime Surveillance aircraft. It was the dynamics that occurred on this crew, and many others like it, that formed the basis of my presentation. It was how the crew operated in high stress situations, with 13 differing roles, that made me think of how analogous this was of the modern day business; and more to the point, the relationship and dynamics of leaders and managers.
You see, within a P3-C crew, you have officers (leaders) who normally take up the roles of Pilot (Captain), Co-pilot, Navigator, Tactician and Sensor Employment Manager. The majority of these roles are located around the cockpit and front of the aircraft and the role of each is the employment of the aircraft and the tactical movement of the aircraft around the battle space to achieve the mission.
Down the middle of the aircraft you have a group highly-skilled Sensor Operators (managers) who are responsible for gathering information from communications, radar, electronics and sonar which they “package up” as information bursts to be delivered to the Tactician and Captain.
So in essence you have the leaders who are receiving information and/or requesting information at the front of the aircraft who are responsible for the mission, and you have supporting managers in the middle of the aircraft who are manipulating their instruments to provide information to the Tactician. If the information flow is compromised, it can lead to mission failure, or in the worst case, catastrophic failure and death. Is this not the exact same dynamic that operates in the modern day business?
The leaders of any business trust the managers to provide them with key data, and use the managers’ processes to ensure the information is relevant and on time. The managers trust that the leaders steer the organisation in a direction that sustains the business and achieves the mission. Similarly, on board the aircraft, the operators trust the front end leaders to steer the aircraft away from trouble and the leaders trust the information flow from the operators to ensure the tactical picture is clear.
If an operator at the back of the aircraft does not provide correct and accurate data, supplies too much data at the wrong time, needs to be constantly prompted for data, or the data is confusing the picture, the leaders at the front of the aircraft cannot employ the aircraft in the best way to achieve the mission.
Put simply, a good manager is a great processor of information, and can provide it to the leaders in a format that is clear and precise. So how can we assist our managers to be better at this?
Do Your Managers Understand Their 'Instruments'?
So what can we do to help the managers in our organisation with this information flow? Firstly, our managers need to be clear what information is important, where to find the information and how to trust the information they are providing. Similar to the instruments in the aircraft, your business information systems (instruments) need be clear and understandable to your managers. If they are not, you need to upgrade, retrain or improve manager processes.
Overcoming Fear
At some stage , everyone will have a fear. Whether it be real or not, people’s reactions to fear can affect operations of an aircraft or a business. The best way to overcome any fear is by undertaking the activity in a safe and controlled environment until confidence is attained. So how do we do this for the managers we lead? The same way that military aviation crews do, simulation. It is proven that military crews that undertake mission simulation prior to conducting the real mission have an 80% improvement in mission success. Similarly, putting your managers through “real life” simulations, under stress, in changing environments, but with your guidance, helps them deliver when it’s crunch time. Most aviation simulations are conducted to the point of failure, whereby the crew are overloaded to the point of failure. This, like lifting weights at the gym, is the best way to grow. So if your managers are given a process simulation, then this is the best way for them to learn. One business I consulted to, I organized for “mystery buyers” to approach the business and go through the sales team to ensure the sales staff and account managers were put under stress, but with no risk to the company bottom line or goodwill. It was an invaluable experience that allowed senior executives to ensure the values, culture and sales processes were tested under stress.
'Chunking'
Managers need to be taught how to ‘chunk’ information (the packaging of large complex information bites into smaller parts) so it can be received by the leaders quickly. On an aircraft these information ‘blocks’ are delivered to the leaders via a known verbal ‘patter’, in the form of checklists or briefs. These briefs are known to all crew and can be deciphered quickly. Can your businesses processes be broken down into smaller parcels that can be more easily actionable and delivered to senior managers?
‘Followership’ and ‘Cockpit Gradients’
This notion was founded within the aviation world some 30 or more years ago. Within an aircraft there is a captain, but each and every crew member has the ability (and is encouraged) to speak up if something is wrong. It is useless if the co-pilot sees a wing on fire but is too scared to tell the captain because the captain is rude or arrogant. Ultimately they both die. Similarly in your business, do your managers have the ability and confidence to tell you if there is a better way, or in fact if something is going wrong? If not, this culture can be started by open and honest discussion, transparency and vulnerability of the leader, because sometimes leaders don’t have the right answer.
In summation, the 4 factors that make a good manager are ;
- Instruments - They know how to read the instruments to supply correct and timely information to the leaders.
- Simulation - to overcome fear and improve processes under stress.
- ‘Chunked’ processes down to bite-sized actionable portions for efficiency of information flow.
- They understand the principles of ‘Followership’ and ‘Cockpit Gradients’.
If your managers are trained in these factors, and encouraged to grow and develop, the leaders of your business can concentrate on strategy and ‘steering’ the business within the business battlefield.
