Personality differences and Communication Barriers

Great conversations lead to safer skies. Communication barriers due to personality differences are most often unveiled in the most inopportune times. Discover your communication strengths and weaknesses by identifying your personality type, and then discuss potential latent compatibility issues when your personality type is interacting with your crewmember's type. 

Transcript

speaker 0:   0:00
Hey, how's it going? Thanks for listening. Flying is one of the most beautiful things a human can do. But aviation is one of the most difficult industries to break into and also ranked as one of the most dangerous fields in the world. Welcome to the new Got Skye podcast, where we will discuss methodologies to help you succeed and survive one of the most mysterious and revered professions known to mankind. Let's get started. Success starts with great conversation. I'm not just talking about aviation here. This goes for all aspects of life. If you have a great friendship, it's probably because you and your best pal have common interests and you enjoy talking about them together. If you have found the love of your life, I'm sure that your ability to talk with one another has played a significant role in how you came to discover that some would say that safety is success. After all, what is the best case scenario for a flight in aviation? Flight Safety International is a simulator company who doesn't even fly really aircraft. It says that their biggest loss of revenue is due to miscommunication. We talk and we listen but deep conversation often eludes us. We shouldn't blame ourselves for the difficulty of not having great conversations. After all, we weren't even taught how we stay on the surface of events. We focus on facts, not feelings, which are the only conduits of real conversation way insist, rather than explain, our feelings bland and administrative chat does not lead to people opening up. One of the biggest misconceptions is that we think in order to get people to like us, we need to show people how well things are going for us and when the key ingredient is relatability, showing vulnerability is the best way to get people to go deeper because we all have concerns. We all have weaknesses, and we all have fears people feed off of connection. And one of the most genuine ways to create connection is through the ability to help people in need. Every conversation will come to a crossroads. One path will lead to shallow surface discussion and the other down in an emotional path of genuine connection. For example, when you ask what got you into aviation after hearing your response, you could just say, Oh, that's cool. Where'd you go to school? No, I heard they were great. Operation War. You could ask, How has aviation affected you as a person? And after they tell you, you could take it one step deeper by asking, knowing what you know Now what would you say to yourself then? Some conversations just flow, but some take a little while to grow as each person gets to know each other. Good conversation leads to great relationships and will ultimately lead to great crew communication. You see, in the airline's there's such a large pilot group that people rarely fly together more than once in a blue moon, so they had to create a script. It's a standard operating procedure that dictates exactly what and when, the crew members say to each other. And there's this inherent desire to fall that script as closely as possible because of the sheer quantity of people's lives at stake. Well, that and the fact that you'll lose your job if you don't recite the script. Also, if something does happen, the entire conversation is recorded, and in the unlikely event that you actually do survive the incident that was related directly to your inability to follow procedures you will most certainly never work in aviation ever again. In general aviation and in commuter operations such as their medical tours utility, firefighting V I. P. Corporate Charter, a successful flight hinges directly on the cruise desire to communicate directly with each other. Sometimes that desire flows naturally. Unbeknownst to the crew members, things just seem to click. They enjoy each other's company and have a great day at work. Lately, I've been working on setting up some guaranteed employment opportunities in order to bridge the gap between entry level flying jobs and highly desirable lucrative positions in aviation. I have been speaking with medium as well as large operators, and those conversations have all shared something strangely similar. Instructors and management who are known to be the best companies to work for, say that the issue with commercial pilots who are new to commercial operations all suffer the same deficiencies. And this isn't flying skills that is taught in flight school. In fact, control touch is easily learned within a year or two. It's the interpersonal skills in the industry that is lacking and that it's craving. Some might call it emotional intelligence or social intelligence, but it's that thing that isn't taught in flight school. So pay attention, because here is one tip that can get you started in the right direction and on a path of fulfilling yourself with great conversations. There's an old saying, Do unto others as you wish to have done unto you. Well, I couldn't disagree more, and this type of behavior couldn't beam or far from the truth. You see, I like the most direct form of communication that I can get. My closest friends know that I don't like it when they beat around the bush, and if somebody feels like they have a recommendation for me and they don't say it, it's more offensive to me than just coming out with it. I don't want somebody to spend a lot of energy identifying how to break some news to me. I just want it in the most direct and raw form that I can get while others they want to know why. First, and they want to be led to the conclusion. If I treat them how I want to be treated well, that would be like watering a flowerpot with a fire hose, for example. Say you're learning a new skill. Doesn't matter, could be flying an aircraft or could be learning the piano. If your instructor says, Don't do that, do this way instead. I love that. Tell me how to do it and I will do it. And my curiosity will probably make me want to understand why. And I will ask why. And I will research the topic more deeply if I'm interested. But it will absolutely not resist the guidance if I don't understand why some people need to understand why first and then be shown in a kind manner, both the right and the wrong way. And they need to be convinced that Option A is superior toe option B in order to execute the original instruction in the first place. Mrs. Find the beauty of humans is that we all process information in different ways, but it can be sometimes difficult to know in advance how you should present information in order to connect with other people. There is great news, however. Psychologists have created a personality test that breaks down how each of us likes to receive information and explains how we process it. There are many variants of the test but the most famous and the most widely recognized is the Myers in Briggs personality type indicator test. Now I have found that some people reject the idea because they think personality traits within the types are black and white, when in most cases it's a sliding scale. For example, the first set of traits within each personality type are introversion and extra version. Don't think of yourself as one sided. It is not blacker way. It just helps to identify how you like to process the environment most of the time. So when you take this free personality test, place yourself in the mindset while you're on the job, consider which behavioral tendencies you lean toward while you are at work. This could be a fun way to initiate conversation in your next crew briefing. Ask your crew members if they have heard about the buyers and breaks type indicator personality test, and there's a good chance they have. And they may even blurt out there types such as I n f J or E S T. P. Whether they have heard about the test or not, the next step is crucial in taking the surface conversation to a deeper level, and that is to discuss the strengths and the weaknesses related to your personality type. The weaknesses may perfectly describe you, or they may only loosely fit the bill. But the most important thing is that you're honest. This is a great way to open up vulnerabilities and create connection. The best way to get by in is for you to go first, take the test, scan the weaknesses and think of some examples of how those weaknesses have caused you issues in the past. Try to tell your team a time when things didn't quite go your way, What you learn from it and how learning your tendencies has enabled you to mitigate the chance of repeating the mistakes again in the future. After you open up, I promise your team will want to discuss their weaknesses, too. And now's the time to let them individually either accept or reject the weaknesses that their personality test results identified. This can lead to some lengthy conversations, so make sure your primary duties air finished first, then see if you can identify how certain strengths of one team member could compensate for the weaknesses of another on the flip side of that token, see if there would be any attributes that would potentially conflict and create communication barriers. So allow me to go first, to start by identifying my personality's strengths and weaknesses. After taking this test some time ago, I discovered that I am an e n T J, which is categorized as the commander. It sounds pretty cool, right? Well, there are some inherent and Leighton traits that could possibly cause some issues with certain types of people. So what does E. N. T. J mean? That means that I express myself with extra version and I get my energy from spending time with others rather than by myself, and that I am intuitive. Which means that I focus on ideas and concepts rather than small fax in my new details, and that I make decisions based on logic and reason based on thinking as opposed to gut feelings, and that I prefer to be planned and organized rather than spontaneous and flexible. Known as judging. Now I agree with a lot of this. I am spontaneous. I take trips on a whim. I have no idea what my schedule is the next week, usually, and a lot of times people find it difficult to nail me down for appointments, so this is not 100% true. But for the most part it's pretty true. The strengths associated with my personality type are efficient, energetic, self confident, strong willed, strategic thinkers, charismatic and inspiring. My weaknesses are intolerant, stubborn and dominant, impatient, arrogant, poor, handling of emotions, cold and ruthless. Now I can't begin to tell you how many times I put my foot in my mouth, and it's probably due to my insensitivity toward people's feelings after taking this test, Here's what I learned. Commanders have a particular skill in calling out others failures with a chilling degree of insensitivity. And this is where commanders really start to run into trouble. We can be demanding, stubborn, dominant in arrogant, especially in the professional environment. Commanders will simply crush the sensitivities of those they view as inefficient, incompetent or lazy to people with the commander. Personality type, emotional displays, our displays of weakness. And it's easy to make enemies with this approach through enlightenment of these weaknesses, my personality type can learn to be sensitive because I need to know that I absolutely depends on having a functional team not just to achieve my goals, but for validation and to get feedback as well. Something in TJ's are curiously very sensitive, too. My intention is not to change my personality type here. I want to transform my weaknesses into strengths by teaching my team members to know my tendencies and in spite of them, challenge my insensitivities and feel comfortable expressing themselves so that we can enhance crew synergy. I want my team to know not to take my criticisms personally because I believe that fax should not have emotional consequences when I point them out. And I'm always focused on the task efficiency strategy and never want my team to think that my assertiveness reflects the way that I feel about them as a person. In fact, if I see a person who I've you as lazy, I am more curious about the factors that contribute to that laziness. And I'm excited to work together to find ways to add some extra octane to their internal desires so we can strengthen our bond and build a more cohesive connection. In order to take advantage of my strengths, I need to first understand what makes my crew tick, and in order to deliver my thoughts in an effective way, I need to understand how they want to receive them. I hope that this type of lesson will make its way into the core curriculum for all new entrance into aviation. It is the singular ingredient in how to succeed in not only aviation but most industries as well as personal relationships. Understanding how your team functions together is what creates battle rhythm. It's a term that the military uses when they function efficiently. And it is up to you to take the conversation to the next level because regulators and safety management culture of our industry could care less if you and your team goes soaring through obstacle rich environments at unsurvivable speeds while suspended by twirling metal blades in a tiny plastic basket. While communication barriers exist between all of you after you learn your type, identify your strengths and weaknesses and then have a little chat with your team. I'd love to hear how it goes, so feel free to drop a comment at Got Skye dot net forward slash personality On the next episode of Got Skye, we will be analyzing the root cause of invulnerability, a hazardous attitude that is embedded into most people and lies at the root of the majority of fatal accidents in aviation.