| 'You have to have
the courage to take on the issues' he says. 'you need to get all the relevant
people in a room to analyse the situation so as to get to the heart of the matter.
You have to motivate them to deliver the overriding aim - how can we best serve
our customers safely? It's incredibly time consuming. Don't forget
too that it's all in the context of the demand for air travel that is expected
to be 50% higher in 10 years time. We've, therefore, got to grow our capacity
on an ambitious timescale.'
'As Chief Executive, you've
got to start changing things quickly and you must insist on clarity of accountability.
You mustn't be afraid of making an early assessment and acting accordingly.
Rely on your instinct.'
We know, for example, that Air Traffic Controllers'
training takes too long. We need to select, develop and deploy them much more
efficiently. We're starting the process of doing so.'
Externally, there are two other big challenges
that Richard faces as Chief Executive. 'first, dealing with government is
a crucial part of my job. You've got to recognise that Civil Servants owe
their primary loyalty to 'the Minister'. What are the implications for their
political master? it's essential that you put together well reasoned, succinct
arguments. Civil Servants are highly analytical.
Half baked cases won't do. You need to be
very sure of your ground otherwise your credibility will take years to recover.
the cardinal sin is to mislead even inadvertently. And don't be afraid to
make contact early on. we have a full agenda not least with achieving much
greater collaboration with European air traffic control providers. It's a very
fragmented systems at the moment'.
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The second challenge
is exposure to and dealing with the media. Being at the receiving end of a john
Humphreys interview concentrates the mind especially in 'crisis' situations when
a computer system has broken down and irate passengers are crowding out an airport
terminal building. 'There's an obvious point here; preparation. It's
everything. Anticipate the questions you're likely to be asked and be absolutely
determined to get your message across. You've got to be confident too. Otherwise,
you're dead.
Internally, Richard is supported by a strong leadership
team including Chris Gibson-Smith, a former Director of BP, who is now the NATS
chairman. 'there's extremely interesting chemistry between us. We
understand our respective roles. He helps to shape the priorities.
He's a good coach. The chairman takes some of the burden and he must look
after the interests of the company. He can fire me as CEO. I have
to demonstrate that the business is being run in the way that it should be.'
Given the turbulence that NATS is likely to face
(and traffic levels are still down on a year ago), it's clear that there are tow
able pilots in the cockpit to navigate the company to its various destinations.
But the journey is likely to a long one.
Games you can use to examine leadership issues:
The
Value of T
The
Symbol Game
The
Fig Tree
Or to see how a group argue their case under pressure
use Jonathon
Strangeways. Can the team justify their decision to a crowd or journalists
waiting to hear the verdict?
Article submitted by the John kind Learning Network
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