The Power Of Silence

The Power Of Silence

By OffRoadPilots 

Power of silence yield more power than words and is a tools for a successful

management in airport or airline operations. Silence is not to remain silent without

communication, silence is not to manipulate another person’s opinion by silence,

but it is to know when silence is a necessary tool to communicate safety critical

information. Silence is natures tool to rejuvenate the mind. Without silence there

could be a safety overload among all personnel, including the accountable

executive (AE). Safety overload, or information overload is a hazard in itself. When

information is processed from an overload of new data, there is a gap of associate

new and unknown data collected to known and comprehended data, and different

paths may overlap or shadow the other.

Comprehension of systems,

process and work practices is

to turn data into information,

information is then turned

into knowledge and

knowledge is turned into

comprehension. This is a time-

consuming process, and needs

to be recycled, renewed or

rejuvenated over and over

again before it can be applied

to practical use. Learning

about data could be as simple

task as learning what power setting is required when conducting an x-ray inspection of a 120mm thick steel plate for material flaws. While learning how to select a number is a simple task, the complexity is to comprehend systems by understanding what, when, where, why, who and how to apply the correct selection processes. Information overload is a state of being overwhelmed by the amount of datapresented for one's attention or processing. Information overload reduces capacity to function effectively, which can lead to incorrect decisions, as well as the inability to make decisions. When the situation persists, safety burnout is a common result.

Information overload may impact organizations significant in many ways. It can

lead to decreased productivity and decreased efficiency, or it can lead to increased

stress levels and conflict within the organization. Information overload may affect

a person’s awareness, decisionmaking process, and the ability to complete simple

tasks, such as submitting a hazard or incident report.

A decisionmaking process is a tool to reduce or totally eliminate information

overload. When a person has made a decision, or made up their mind, the data

input process for that decision is completed, and does not need to be processed

again. All related data and information are cleared from the mind, while

knowledge and comprehension remain intact.

Effective communication

only happens when the

intended message is

expressed successfully by

one person and received

and understood by another.

If executed correctly, it cuts

down the unintended

consequences that arise as a

result of miscommunication.

When a word is chosen to

communicate a thought,

idea, or description, there is no guarantee, or assurances that the intended meaning will be clearly understood by recipients.

The importance of choosing the right word may not seem critically important to everyone, but as an example in the x-ray above, using the wrong term in the nondestructive testing industry (NDT) can have severe consequences. A flaw may not be discovered, and mechanical parts are signed off as compliant.

Nondestructive testing is a required inspection used by many industries to ensure

the safety of the public by ensuring the reliability and integrity of construction

materials, manufacturing and fabrication processes, and the products in use meet

the minimum quality standards required. One example could be that before an

aircraft is placed in service, hundreds if not thousands of its components are

inspected for compliance to specifications utilizing various nondestructive testing

methods. After the aircraft has been in service, nondestructive testing is again

performed at specified maintenance intervals on many of these same components

in order to assess their continued reliability and integrity required for

airworthiness.

Several years ago, a flaw was discovered in compressor turbine disk by applying

nondestructive testing of the CT disk. This test was the first test after the final

production stage, after it had left the production line and just before it would be

installed in a jet-engine. The test discovered a flaw in the material and was

reported. There was no safety management system reporting avenue at that time,

just an inspection report. This material flaw was the very first flaw in a CT disk that

management was aware of and was dismissed as an inspection error. There have

been several CT disk failures in turbine engines, with Sioux City IA as the high-

profile accident. This does not imply that the same or similar flaw was the cause,

but that a flaw was dismissed by the decisionmakers due to information overload.

Information overload is not necessarily the volume or amount of information

received but are the datapoints of unknown information received to be processed

by the mind. Learning new tasks is simple when tasks are learned step by step as

micro building blocks, and in a sequence from known to unknown. When a learning

block becomes too large to carry, or process, information overload occurs. 

What is a simple task for a highly experienced pilot, may be a conglomerate of complex

tasks for a student pilot. The most effective flight instructor is an instructor who

demonstrate a flight control input task to a student, allow the student to performunder supervision and directions, and then the instructor sits back, relaxes, and

remain silent while the student perform the newly learned task on their own.

The approach to learning the safety manage system is to apply processes similar to

what professional sales people do. Telling is not selling. An inexperienced

salesperson often falls into the trap of never stop talking about themselves, the

product or service they are selling, and what past clients did. By the time they have

completed their speech, a potential buyer is more confused than what they were

at fist contact.

Today’s sales model is based

on relationship selling. The

key to success in selling is to

develop high-quality

professional business

relationships with

customers. This model

requires building high levels

of trust, learning,

accountability, information

sharing, and reliability.

Professional salespeople identifying needs carefully and accurately, showing the

customer how a product or service will satisfy those needs, and then encouraging

a prospect to take action and wrap up the transaction. Several years ago, a young salesperson started a new job selling glass that does not shatter. This concept was new, and potential clients did not believe that a window would remain intact after being violently hit. Since the person was new in sales,

the approach was to learn from the other and more experienced salespeople.

However, it was impossible to make enough sales to make a living. 

The following year the same new salesperson sold ten times as much as the other. The

salesperson was called in to the sales manager who wanted to know why the sale

was so much higher. The salesperson explained that when approaching the

.prospect for the first time, a simple question was asked if the client would like to

see a glass that does not shatter. So, the salesperson took out a piece of glass and

a hammer and smacked it as hard as they could. The glass did not shatter, and the

sale was made. Every persons in that sales department were equipped with a glass

and a hammer, and the sales skyrocketed. But still, the new salesperson, who was

not so new anymore, still had the highest sales numbers at the next annual sales

review meeting. Again, the salesperson was called into the sales manager’s office,

who wanted to know why the sales still were so much higher than anyone else.

The salesperson explained the same story as last time, but this time, the hammer

was given to the prospect who hit the glass as hard as they could, and the glass still

did not shatter. Words are helpful, but selling is not telling. Selling is silence. The

power of silence in selling a safety management system to airports or airlines is to

give them the hammer to test the integrity and reliability of an SMS system.

An SMS manger’s knowledge level of a safety management system is the foundation of credibility, confidence, and sales competence. Without extensive and detailed knowledge about what an SMS are selling, no sales success is possible. The very best

salespeople know their products and services inside and out and can

describe them in detail even without

their sales materials or brochures.

Ensure that nobody can ask a question about the SMS that cannot be answered clearly and persuasively. When there is clearly an SMS manager is

viewed as a highly qualified SMS expert and trusted. SMS becomes a trustworthy tool that can help an accountable executive and other managers to improve their

work performance. Giving the hammer to an accountable executive to test the SMS, does not imply that the AE must enforce SMS by threats, but that

justifications for decisions are tested to be solid, reliable and with integrity.

A safety management system is not about safety but is about processes that makes

daily task successful without deviations. When safety becomes the priority, an SMS

is not needed, since safety priority is to cease all operations as an airline or airport.

Anytime there is one single movement, safety is jeopardized. An SMS therefore

becomes the process tool for successful operations yielding a desired outcome.

This could be called safety, but there are no guarantees for future events. When

looking at safety as successful processes, information overload is reduced since the

task is to work with what is known, and not to guarantee that an unknown event

will not happen in the future.

The power of silence increases self-awareness, self-compassion and improve

decision-making skills with improved clarity. The power of silence enhances

conversations. By choosing silence, a person will naturally listen more, and others

have the opportunity to share more and enhancing organizational and work

performance relationships.

Power of silence builds trust, emphasize a point, set the sage for consensus,

empower others, provide answers, and centers the AE as the hub in organizational

matters.

An enterprise may look at its SMS as an umbrella or a wheel. If the SMS is under an

umbrella, the umbrella protects from above and the strength of the SMS is in the

person carrying the umbrella, or the Accountable Executive. When the SMS is

under an umbrella there is little or no room for changes, except for staying within

the protection of the umbrella itself. When looking at the SMS as being under an

umbrella, the safe spot in the SMS is where the Accountable Executive is with

safest travel to blindly follow their directions.

When an SMS is built as a wheel, the SMS may travel in any direction where their

data points leads to. A wheel is built up by a hub, spokes, and a protective surface.

The hub and spokes of the wheel is the strength of the wheel, or the SMS, while

the protective surface, or rubber (wood or steel in the old days) is what carries theload of the SMS. The protective surface is dependent on a strong hub with strong

spokes to function.

When the accountable

executive is given the

hammer, one of their tasks is

to test, find flaws, or shatter

the SMS. Remember, the AE is

the final authorly on behalf of

the certificate holder and

must be ensured that there

are no flaws in the system, or

that their SMS is weak and

will shatter when tested. The

power of silence by an AE lays

in their patience of allowing processes to work.

The power of silence of an SMS lays in the non-punitive policy and is to allow for mistakes without punitive actions. An SMS based on information overload of words

allows for the checkbox syndrome to take precedence over processes.

OffRoadPilots