Good on you! I'd begun to think that it was my new brand of gin that
was making me sleepy.
Let's try exchanging 'factor' for 'disorder' and see if the topic
meets Greg's rules of engagement.
I went to a really flash cocktail party, once, in Washington DC, in
the ballroom on top of the State Department, the annual USAF bash. An
ocean of glittering uniforms, shoulders dripping gold braid - it was
like a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta - unlimited gourmet food, 24
different brands of champagne to choose from, the Glenn Miller band
playing away, the 'Singing Sergeants' crooned, from the balcony, there
were views up and down the Mall, the Capitol, the monuments, fabulous.
I circulated energetically - in the service of my country - and
because there were a lot of bars to check out. Every now and then I
encountered the faintest whiff of a very bad smell. It seemed like
some poor bugger had trodden in dog poo as he walked in. Tee Hee! You
could ignore it for most of the party, but every now and then, you got
it strong. I must have gone close to him several times, but couldn't
pick who it was. Anyway, I chatted to some real bigwigs, the Chief of
Staff, captains of industry, any number of generals. Driving home, a
suspicion arose, that was confirned at the front door: 'You're not
walking that into my living room!'
Bring up the subject of personality and its potential effects on
individual performance in the cockpit...
Yet we know that personality factors impact both on pilot and crew
'trainability' and performance under stress. The principal culprit is
'denial', and it exists in all of us, to greater or lesser extent. In
some people, it could be so high as to qualify as a 'disorder'. In
others, it might be very high, but not excessively so - for normal
life - while yet representing a potentially lethal ingredient in, say,
an in-flight emergency.
In my book, I put forward several denial-related propositions, eg, as
much of our denial is 'learned in', it can be 'learned out'. I also
say that we can self-assess, and self-administer counter-denial
training exercises. These issues have much to offer those beginning to
come to grips with 'culture in the cockpit'. CRM training ought to be
squarely facing these challenges, and, as we are developers, we ought
to be at the leading edge, not politely ignoring it.
In early Feb, Rosamund Woodhouse invited us to consider some ideas,
including that training programs should have objectively measurable
outcomes, that deliverers of training had a sacred duty to ensure that
was the case (she didn't put it that strongly), that learning should
be career-long - and much more that was extremeley useful and germane.
Later, we talked about training-as-a-science. It most assuredly is
not. To paraphrase Einstein, to make such a statement is akin to
describing a Beethoven symphony as a series of variations in pressure
waves. Training is potentially a science, but its going to have to
pass some pretty tough tests to qualify.
Science is about, inter alia, discovering absolute truths. An outcome
of training can be so discovered, as can the presence of an
inappropriate personality condition, but only through objective
testing. Psych research is going to be of assistance here.
I think I'll now go splash on a liberal dose of hornet repellant, sit
on the veradah, contemplating the rain forest, and have a nice drink.
Cheers
Doug