New week, new challenges. If someone would doubt that the course which they participate in at home is pretty easy, unsupervised and somehow with less quality than the one which they participate in a classroom surrounded by colleagues, I must warn them that it is, actually, the contrary.
I continue my blog with the more interesting, but also – more difficult topics in the Practical instructor course, created by Lektor Consulting.
What is so challenging in the theoretical course, you may want to ask? It’s “only” the ideas, problem solving techniques, teaching/learning styles that not only are provided as the training material, but also for me to think about, generate ideas and imagine myself as an instructor, already working with the students. It is good when the imagination is activated, I hope to be able to apply that in real work pretty soon.
“Instructors are people who do things right and instructor-leaders are people who do the right things”.
One of the most discussed topics these days is psychological safety. This topic is in the Practical instructor course as well. I may say this again, but I really appreciate how Lektor Consulting has put this material together, progressing from one topic to another really makes sense.
Think about and analyse the situation you have been in or the situation you are in right now. Are you blamed for a mistake? Do you feel comfortable asking a question? Can you freely express yourself? These are only a few of many questions I had to think about as well. In the past we had everything, all sorts of situations, unfortunately, and psychological safety is a pretty new term, which some companies are only starting to learn about. Hopefully not in a hard way, because “we thrive in environments that respect us…”. Now I have been asked a question during this day’s session which I also ask you: “Do you feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute and safe to challenge the status quo?”. And also - am I doing all I can to create an environment where others can do these four things? To answer these and more questions, I hope I will be able to read the book which is suggested, by Timothy R. Clark “The 4 stages of psychological safety. Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation”.
This is where, again, I like to be challenged by questions like that. But furthermore I like to learn how I can improve my performance as a colleague at work and as an instructor in the classroom.
One more subject which I found very important and would like to mention in this series is trust. Air traffic control is a very technical work with relationships sometimes being a less priority than completing the tasks – solving conflicts, that is. In the learning process – in the simulator, later – on the position, then – executive and planner controllers working together means that we are always around each other, we are communicating and finding best solutions in everyday situations. One inevitable thing here is trust. We need to really rely on the person next to us, we have to believe in them as much as we believe in ourselves. And imagine now that you had a biassed opinion about someone and now they are your student in the simulator. How would you act? What actions would you take? Or how your behaviour would have to change towards them so that from an untrustworthy person they would become trustworthy and you would be able to give the best of you for them to learn to become a qualified, autonomous, confident air traffic controller? Because as I mentioned previously, the instructor-leader is the one creating a psychologically safe environment for their students, for them to thrive in it and become professionals and trust is the key in these relationships.
“Show them you are a good controller, care about them, and do what you say you will do!
Stay tuned for more thoughts on how my online Practical instructor course, by Lektor Consulting and don’t forget to take breaks
This post is the fourth in a series and you can read the other ones here:
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9