Human Factors: Leadership

The golden rule in aviation: someone must always be flying the aircraft

• Leadership as a subject is extremely complex. Natural leaders are relatively rare and those skills cannot be taught. Yet there are competencies which can easily be taught which, when combined, can make for a very effective leader.
• The concept we are discussing here is actually a basic one: who is the leader? It is normally the most senior in a team, as discussed, but it doesn’t have to be.

The key is that there must always be a central point for ideas and input, and someone who can and will make a decision at any given point

• Who has leadership may change multiple times throughout the scenario, but any changes should be clearly announced to the team to avoid confusion.

Word Cloud!

1. Open the word cloud in a new window by right clicking on The Leadership Word Cloud. Write your answer and submit it, and then just close the window to return to the course.
2. Now you can view the results!

Questions For Comments

• What is the relationship between leadership and followership?
• From a team perspective: is having a clear leader and structure beneficial or are there circumstances where it might not be?
• Should there be an authority gradient in a team?
• Have you ever been in patient transfers where there was ambiguity around your role? How did it make you feel?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below and for further reading – including aviation case studies and WingFactors top tips – please click on the SHELL model downloads link (below) before moving on.