Working Well As a Team - Life Lessons From the Cockpit
By Azharuddin Osman

In this article I would like share with you my experience on team building and teamwork as practiced by flight crews, that is the pilots and cabin crew.

In any organization or in any group activities that we are involved with, working as a team is very important. Why is it important for us to work as a team more so as pilots? Well, in aviation, studies have shown that a significant portion of accidents were caused by failure to work as a team, where crew members were working as individuals rather than as a team. Therefore the concept of teamwork is being greatly emphasized and taught to pilots as part of their training.

The following points describe how flight crew (pilots and cabin crew) ensure they work well as a team?

• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Pilots and cabin crew do not fly with the same people all the time. They can be scheduled to fly with anybody and the bigger the crew population is, the lesser will be their chances of flying with the same people. Imagine having to tolerate the idiosyncrasies of so many individuals. Therefore, to prevent team members jostling for positions, they have documented and defined the roles and responsibilities of team members. There is no dispute on who will be the leader for the flight and what roles the other team members play.
• Use of checklists. From the beginning to the end of the flight pilots refer to their checklists all the time. During non-normal situations, each pilot will be busy with his own designated tasks and there could be occasions where the captain might not have the time to monitor his co-pilot. Therefore the use of checklists ensures all the required tasks are accomplished and who is supposed to accomplish a particular task.
• Training to enhance teamwork. Pilots continuously attend training sessions throughout their career. Apart from the twice yearly training to maintain and test their proficiency in flying a particular aircraft, pilots attend other training programs such as the crew resource management (CRM) training. All their training teaches and guides them to work well as a team and to further enhance teamwork by subjecting them to various non-normal situations that encourages them to use the team synergy to solve problems.

We can use the above examples and discipline used by pilots and other members of the flight crew in our daily life. It can be applied when working on a project in the office, when working with family members and anytime when we are in a team to further enhance teamwork and to help produce that winning team.