z HUMAN FACTORS
STAYING IN CONTROL FIVE SUGGESTIONS FROM A LONG-DISTANCE PSYCHOLOGIST on the centenary of AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
z by Dr Steven Shorrock, EUROCONTROL
Twenty-five years ago, I got my first job as a human factors specialist involved in research and development for air traffic management. As a young psychologist and ergonomist, I was involved in safety, system design, and airspace projects. During a series of simulations, I first came into contact with a clan of professionals to whom I have somehow devoted most of my career: air traffic controllers. In the quarter century since, working in air navigation service providers, a consultancy, academia, and now an intergovernmental organisation, I have spent thousands of hours with controllers and practically every profession that affects the work of controllers, in live operations, real-time simulations, shadowing operations, classrooms, conferences, and workshops. I even found myself – a non-controller – as the editor of HindSight magazine, read mostly by air traffic controllers. Watching people walk into a typical unit, I could probably tell you which ones are the controllers. I have come to understand what it means to be an air traffic controller, and the critical role that air traffic controllers play in society. I believe in the role, and would like to see it strengthened and improved. So for this centennial issue of The Controller, I offer five suggestions that have emerged from my experience of working with you. There is the counter-intuitive lesson from these five suggestions: Staying in control involves temporarily not feeling in control. It involves becoming open to new experiences, becoming an apprentice in unfamiliar areas, accepting uncomfortable feelings about change, facing your blindspots and weaknesses, and being interdependent.
1. Practice openness to experience Perhaps you know someone who is curious, creative, imaginative, and able to see things differently from different perspectives. They are probably attentive to feelings, enjoy variety, and able to tolerate ambiguity. In psychology, this is known as ‘openness to experience’, and is one of the so-called ‘big five’ personality traits. People high on openness are most likely to adapt and thrive in the face of change. If this personality trait doesn’t seem to describe you, the good news is that personality can be changed, under three conditions. First, you have to want and intend to change your behaviour. Second, you have to believe that you can make the behavioural changes required. Third, you have to persist with the behavioural changes until they become habitual. The key word is ‘behaviour’. Research suggests that openness to experience can be enhanced by cultural activities, reading different books, learning an instrument, taking up a new hobby, developing a more active lifestyle, and paying more attention to the natural and built environment.
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Dr Steven Shorrock is a psychologist and human factors specialist and works in the EUROCONTROL Network Manager Safety Unit. He is Editor-inChief of HindSight magazine (bit.ly/ HindSightMagazine) and blogs at humanisticsystems.com.
2. Diversify your learning In specialised professions such as air traffic control, it can be tempting to focus only on what you are already very good at (controlling!). This brings a feeling of competency and satisfaction. The problem arises when the context of work changes and you need a different and more diverse skill set. As Richard Champion de Crespigny, Captain of QF32, remarked in HindSight magazine issue 29, “We must commit to a lifetime of learning. You must never stop learning.” In a rapidly changing world, this means learning and developing knowledge and skills about areas such as change management, safety, wellbeing, or human factors, which can be transferred to different situations and environments, even beyond air traffic management.
THE CONTROLLER