Why The Copilot Flying Your Plane Is A Good Thing
Good leaders empower their teams
You board your favorite airline, get comfortable in your seat and hear the first officer (or pilot in command) say a few words about the flight path towards your destination. You sit back and relax, perhaps get an adrenaline rush during take-off, while thinking you are in the safe hands of a seriously experienced pilot… Are you?
Most long-haul captains have at least 5,000+ hours of flying experience along with 1000’s of landings practiced over decades. On the other hand, the less established copilot has only a few hundred hours of flying and has a long way to go before reaching the expertise of their senior: the captain. While ultimate responsibility lies with the pilot in command, many modern airlines actually have the copilot flying the plane and the more experienced pilot serving as a senior coach and adviser. This may raise some eyebrows from the more squeamish flyers.
Why would they allow someone less qualified to fly the actual plane?
If you have read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, you probably remember the shocking story of Korean Airlines in the late 1990s where they had more plane accidents than any other airline in the world with 4 fatal crashes in that period. The investigation revealed that the issue wasn’t in how well their pilots were trained or how the airplanes had been maintained but rather the underlying cause seemed to be a cultural one.
Today’s airplanes are designed for the copilot and the pilot to fly as equals where each counterpart’s judgment is of value. The planes are designed to be flown by a team working together rather than top-down orders in a setting of hierarchy. What happened with the Korean Airlines case was that the copilot would politely hint concerns to the more senior pilot (who had the main controls), yet never dare to challenge him.
Communication differs for pilots from various cultures wherein low context cultures, communication is straight-forward, simple, clear, and allows both pilots to challenge each other. In high context cultures (see figure 1.1 below), communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and hierarchy could get in the way.
Korean culture is at the very far end of the high context scale. The pilot is always in command meant that the copilot was always playing a supporting role in the plane.
So how does it all work? In the example above, the pilot’s expertise is used fully while the copilot’s knowledge and potential are only partially utilized. Having the copilot on the main controls stretches their capabilities and empowers them for improved overall outcomes. Being in charge, they are focused and motivated to ensure they perform at their best. Meanwhile, as the experienced pilot has no hierarchical reservation to intervene, he can coach and direct when necessary. Essentially, this approach brings about the full potential of the two pilots on board.
Drawing the pilot analogy to the corporate world, we often find similar scenarios with a manager and their subordinate colleague whose capabilities are not being fully utilized. Delegating cleverly with empowerment gets the most out of people while ensuring the team’s skills and potential are entirely employed for the best performance. In times of crisis, both in the air and on the ground, the captain or the leader can take quick corrective action or even full control until the crisis is resolved. This, in turn, provides a platform to build trust, strengthens the relationship, enhances the credibility of the leader (captain) while providing a “safety blanket” for the learning colleague (copilot) in case of an emergency.
As Andy Stanley puts it,
“Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.”
Let your teams fly the plane. Empower them and give them autonomy and accountability for overall performance. They will be more fulfilled, and you will have a team of self-motivated individuals rather than soldiers awaiting the next order.
Resist the temptation to always take control and focus on the destination and the vision.
