male leader conversation

Do you find yourself ready to lead a flight department? If so, how do you know that youā€™ve adequately prepared yourself to be successful? Being able to understand your true motive(s) is critical at this stage. Why? Because the next position youā€™re seeking might not be the ā€œdream jobā€ youā€™ve always seen yourself in.

Leadership often comes with a price tag, and itā€™s not always ā€œglamorousā€ at the top.

The answer as to whether youā€™re ready to lead should largely rely on your abilityā€”and desireā€”to work well with people. After all, by far, the number-one challenge a business aviation manager will face is ā€œpeople-related.ā€

Whether itā€™s managing, coaching and mentoring, people can reveal themselves to be our greatest asset or our most confounding challenge. Complicating the situation is the fact that, more often than not, itā€™s a combination of both.

Here at Aviation Personnel International, we adopted our tagline, ā€œItā€™s About People™ā€ for good reason!

In fact, what our clients are typically seeking is someone whoā€™s a great leader of peopleā€”someone with the versatility and knowhow to manage human resources up, down and across.

By ā€œmanaging up,ā€ Iā€™m referring to your boss (e.g., CEO, CFO, or director of security), and by ā€œmanaging downā€ I mean leading your team. Itā€™s also important to ā€œmanage across,ā€ and be able to work effectively with your cross-functional partners.

 

Know Your Environment

As you contemplate your next career move, I canā€™t emphasize enough the importance of being prepared.

Know in advance whom youā€™re talking with, what the job requirements (the good, the bad and the ugly) are, what are the cultural issues that youā€™ll face with the team, along with how youā€™ll fit into that culture.

Also make sure that you know your audience and environment well in advance.

Will you be overseeing a five-aircraft department that supports corporate and report to the C-suite? Or will you oversee a smaller private aircraft operation and report to a high-net-worth individual?

Keep in mind that if youā€™ll be supporting a private owner, youā€™ll still require leadership skills, but, in many instances, the customer service skill set becomes elevated. Understanding the intricacies of a family office, for instance, and knowing that youā€™re there to support them and their needs (not a corporation) will be key.

Remember, too, that private owners may require a different type of customer service from start to finish. You have to know your boundaries.

A corporate-based operation means that youā€™ll have more layers to proceed through to get what you needā€”and youā€™ll have to be able to work with the finance department to put together budgets and other presentations to gain their support.

Again, with reference to corporate, a key skill is to know how to make your voice heard in what possibly will be a multibillion-dollar company. (Ask your interviewers during your meeting with them if they even want your voice to be heard.)

Will you be there to manage finances, make strategic purchasing decisions and work on long-term fleet plans? These are important factors to understand and consider.

 

Be a Versatile Team Player

If youā€™re planning for your next rung up the ladder into a leadership role, itā€™s important to be able to share with the hiring manager and/or recruiter the due diligence youā€™ve done to prepare for the new role.

Examples might include volunteering to take on new projects on your current team, or in some way demonstrating your ability to do more or take on more, or it might be taking classes that indicate your desire to get ahead by working for it. It could also take the form of working directly with the current leader on your team to devise a way to save the company money.

Another point of consideration: the aviation manager roleā€”be it flight operations manager, maintenance director or aviation directorā€”requires you toĀ wear many hats.

Thereā€™s no ready answerā€”nothing written in stoneā€”for what you might be called upon to do when youā€™re leading a team of people and managing all of the processes up and down your chain of responsibility.

In any case, preparing yourself for advancement will help you formulate the question, ā€œWhat do I need to do to be a professional leader?ā€ And it will also help you answer it.

As you progress in your aviation career, take time to reflect on your personal and professional motivation and experience. Only you know when youā€™re really ready to lead. I wish you the best of luck!

 

Your Turn

If youā€™re already a leader, what have you done to prepare yourself? When and how did you know that you were ready? What challenges did you face along the way, and what advice do you have for others following in your footsteps? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Save

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
>