Guess What They Have Planned For You
By CatalinaNJB
We don’t Manage Risks.
We Lead Personnel;
Manage Equipment; and
Validate operational design for
improved performance above the safety risk level bar.
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When done right, SMS is
gonna make it a great day.
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The
Safety Management System (SMS) are integrated Project Management and Quality
Leadership of Business Strategy Solutions. It has for a long time been wrongly assumed
that SMS has the powers to reduce aviation accidents. There is no doubt that a
true SMS will have a positive effect on operations and reduction of accidents,
but it is not possible to allocate lack of accidents to the SMS unless an
Enterprise runs an identical, parallel and virtual Non-SMS operation, or an SMS
simulator, where multiple decision-making processes and decision options are
available. A businesslike approach to safety is to lead the Safety Management
System in the direction of visions, goals and services. By doing what you would
do if your airport or airline operations were exactly that organization you'd
like it to be, you ultimately become that airport or airline. There is no magic
wand in business when decisions are made. Running SMS like a businesslike
approach to safety is nothing else but to run SMS as a business.
It
has been said that the true measure of the value of any business leader and
manager is performance. There are no differences between a traditional business
leader and an SMS business leader. Both leaders are expected to live up to a
performance standard. An SMS leader cannot live up to a performance standard of
what didn’t happen, or lack of accidents. Successful SMS leaders apply SMS
tools to improve business performance. Clear communication is a vital ingredient
of a successful SMS. Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like
riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly
improve the quality of every part of your SMS operation.
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| Looking forward in a virtual reality is to test performance |
SMS
was initially sold as the comfort zone of safety management, when all other
regulations or practices would become irrelevant. This went so far as to state
that technical expertise would no longer be required to run the business, since
anyone could tick the check-boxes. If the aviation industry had known 10 years
ago what they know now, they would have prepared to go on a business trip into
the unknown and well beyond their comfort zone. Moving out of the comfort zone
is the first step to run SMS as a businesslike approach. SMS is personal, and
cannot grow and improve unless all personnel are achieving, growing and improving.
Human factors and job performance improve where there is a just culture. A
business, and SMS, can only grow if you, not just everyone else, are willing to
feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. Committing to goal-setting
challenges is an excellent tool to feel uncomfortable and improve safety.
When
looking back at your airport’s or airline’s goals, have you ever notices how
easy they are established? It’s like a tree full of leaves, where each leaf represents
one goal. The aviation industry was picking goals of this goal-tree like it was
an unlimited supply of goals. Then they all sat down and waited for the goal to
happen. Try that in a successful business. Give it a test. Come to work one day,
sit down at your desk, don’t do anything else, and wait for one of your goals
to come true. Did it work? Probably not. It didn’t work, but this is how we are
approaching safety goals, SMS goals and the success of SMS. SMS is simple, but
not easy. SMS is hard work. It is still more important in an acceptable safety
culture to ensure that the check-boxes are ticked correctly, or as expected, than
to actually get up from the chair and make the goals happen.
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SMS is like playing the
drums. It takes time to learn and skills to play the lead.
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Many
who are reading this blog are involved in hiring new personnel in their
businesses. We all want the best people we can find and personnel who have
skills to improve the business. Looking at it from a business prospective, success
is the return on investment, increased revenue or profit margin. In a
competitive environment a business must always play in harmony to continue
their success, maintain their lead and be an example for others to follow.
Let’s
assume for a minute that a potential new hire was asked a question about their
most important goal. Without hesitation a perfect answer was given and the
quality was of a person that your successful business had been searching for.
There is no doubt among senior managers that this person must be hired. The
next question asked is how this person plans to achieve their goal. The answer
is to sit in a chair all day and wait for it to happen. Would you still hire
this person? Probably not. However, this person is a mirror image of how SMS
goals are expected to be achieved and would probably be a perfect fit.
Remember;
If you don't design your business plan, chances are you'll fall into someone
else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
CatalinaNJB
