re:Culture

Lt Col Tony T. Kern, X-3230 (KernTT.DFH.USAFA_at_usafa.af.mil)
Tue, 8 Sep 98 10:49:35 MDT

Vince and group
I would like to echo--and caveat-- Vince's observations about
differences in cultures and the pursuit of perfection. In the past 2 1/2
years I have addressed and consulted with 12 large organizations on
aircrew performance. Six military, five civilian/commercial and one
"other" (US Forest Service). The distinctions Vince makes are clear and
obvious to me, but I would like to add one more distinction. In every
organization where clear and unambiguous definitions of excellence
have been spelled out, the brutal process of self-improvment through
honest and thorough debriefing is present. I have seen this in action
outside of the military, and I have seen military organizations without it.
Perhaps the effort it takes to codify excellence is indicative of the level
of support that is required to enforce and motivate the practice of
self-improvement. Perhaps not, but I thought it worth mentioning.
On a similar note, I have been asked (by private e-mail) by
several in the group for permission to copy and use the "Airmanship
Model" (from my book Redefining Airmanship) for training. Please be
advised that the model also exists in several public domain documents
and I feel it is far too important not to share. Please feel free to use it for
training however you would like. For permission to use the textual
information in the book, please contact the permissions editor at
McGraw-Hill.

Warm Regards

Tony Kern

----------------------[Reply - Original Message]----------------------

Sent by:"V. Mancuso" <vince_mancuso_at_CompuServe.COM>

Hello Folks,

I fly for an airline that has traditionally hired around 95%
military-trained pilots. I also fly in the Air Force Reserve as a T-38
Instructor Pilot. One would think that the pilot culture and the manner
in which pilots conduct themselves in these two flying organizations
would
be very similar. My experience, however, is that the manner in which
pilots conduct themselves is vastly different in the two organizations. I
believe I have identified two fundamental differences (and will likely
identify more as the months roll on):

1. The reverence the organization has for perfection
2. The acceptable methods for dealing with deference to experience and
position

In military flying, perfection is a religion. Consequently individual and
small group accountability is very high. Formal debriefs are an
expected
part of every mission. Within the context of these debriefs, all
crew/flight members have the formal sanction to debrief anything or
anyone.
In commercial flying, the reverence for perfection and the acceptable
methods for deference are largely determined by the individual captain.
Individual and small group accountability varies significantly between
crew
pairings. The result is a wide variability in both items listed above.

I would like to share with you an excerpt that my commander has
prominently
displayed under the glass on his desk:

********
"There is a subtle tendency to protect your ego in the debrief instead of
focusing on lessons learned. If you're giving alibis during the debrief
explaining why you didn't do things perfectly, chances are you're not
getting everything out of the debrief that you could. It's human nature to
rationalize substandard performance as the result of outside factors.
Good
fighter pilots have the discipline to honestly admit their mistakes to
themselves (and others) whether or not a gradesheet comment is written.
It
pi**** them off when they get gunned on a mission. They spend time
even
after the debrief reviewing how they screwed up and how they're going to
make certain that it never happens again. The ones who excel drain
every
bit of learning from every debrief. If you haven't got the determination
to analyze your performance in precise detail, or the humility to admit
errors at your present skill level, your progression to higher levels will
be slower than it should be.

There is also a tendency to focus on others mistakes during the debrief.
Typical examples are blaming GCI, RAPCON, the rejoin platform's
airspeed,
or 2's wide base position. Even if your individual performance was only
a
small part of a debrief ask yourself: How could I have improved our
execution."

*******

The fact that my commander has this prominently displayed and lives by
it
says more about the culture than any verbal picture I could paint.

I would be interested in the perspective of others who have flown both
military and civilian. I would also be interested in learning form our
resident scholars on culture whether my experience matches existing
theories on cultural influence on performance.

Best Regards,

Vince Mancuso


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