Leadership Is like Flying a Plane

I don’t remember when I first heard this story, I just remember thinking, “there are so many ways that this concept applies to the work I’m doing.”

It goes like this: in the late 1970s a passenger plane was flying from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon. As the plane began its descent and its landing gear was lowered, a loud noise was heard. The crew called air traffic control and asked for permission to circle the airport as they tried to figure out what had caused the noise. After running some tests and then diagnosing and resolving the issue, they asked for and were granted permission to land. Unfortunately, just a few miles away from the airport, the plane crashed and ten people were killed. What’s interesting is that they didn’t crash because of an issue with the landing gear; they crashed because the plane ran out of fuel.

This incident happened at a time when the airline industry was very hierarchical. In other words, no one dared to question the pilot. On this particular flight, the three crew members had a combined total of over 35,000 hours of flight time. This was a veteran flight crew and yet everyone assumed that the pilot had kept his eye on the fuel. No one considered asking the pilot about the fuel status. This assumption led to a deadly yet preventable crash.

In the following years, the airline industry restructured the expectations of the individuals in the cockpit into what is now known as Crew Resource Management. This approach requires the members of the flight crew to function as a team. Everyone is expected to contribute in ways that will allow them to take off, fly, and land the plane safely.

To me, this is a model for healthy leadership with any team or group. It applies in athletics, in the classroom, and in the boardroom. When a leader embraces a Crew Resource Management approach, they are inviting everyone to be a part of the group’s success. Not only are they allowing everyone to have a voice, but they are also expecting that people will speak up and share concerns, ideas, or questions to help the group move forward successfully.

This of course requires a high degree of psychological safety for a team. Individuals won’t embrace a Crew Resource Management mindset if it isn't safe to do so, and that safety is dictated by the leader. People will not speak up if they believe they may be publicly criticized, laughed at, or not taken seriously.

The best leaders I have worked with have a deep sense of care and concern for those around them. This not only means that they want to help the group move from where they are to where they want to be; these leaders also choose to include, invite, and welcome others to be a part of the process. This requires a leader who is rooted in a belief that success is more readily attainable through the inclusion of others.

When a plane is in distress the pilot often announces to air traffic control how many souls are on board. This is communicated so that in the event of a crash air traffic control knows how many bodies they should search for. My best leadership moments have been when I have seen those around me not just as a headcount of followers but rather as humans with souls who have trusted me with their care. When I am able to see people more deeply it changes my perspective on how I should show up in my own leadership. When I am grounded in this way, I often find myself inspired to use every available resource to ensure the safety of these souls. Sometimes the best resources reside in the perspectives, opinions, and knowledge housed in the very people I am leading.

And finally, when a plane does crash, one of the first tasks is to search for the black box which stores a recording of all conversations and decisions made in the cockpit. The information in the black box can help provide clarity into what caused a crash. Those we are leading have their own internal black box which takes note of everything their leaders are saying and doing. Over time the information stored in that black box will either deepen or destroy their trust in a leader. Healthy leadership requires an awareness that people are always taking an inventory of their leaders. A knee-jerk reaction which may feel like just a passing moment will likely be stored away in the minds and hearts of those we are leading for a very long time. This should inspire each of us to embrace the permanence in all of our leadership decisions.

Leadership in every context is a lot like flying an airplane: people are depending on us, they are expecting to move from one place to the next, and at a bare minimum the quality of people’s lives are on the line. Do you want to be the leader who tries to do it all alone or do you want to embrace a Crew Resource Management style where everyone—from an intern to the most senior employee—owns the process of advancing the mission safely?

We can’t land without landing gear. We can’t lead without other people. I believe there are too many souls at stake to risk thinking that any one of us can do leadership alone.

Crew Resource Management was implemented because hierarchy got in the way. What is standing in the way of you being at your best?

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