The Operations Control Centre (OCC) is a facility that plans, monitors, coordinates and manages various aspects of an airline’s day-to-day activities. Its primary task is to ensure that operations run smoothly, efficiently and safely. The control centre acts as the Airlie’s brain, ensuring all parts – planes, people and schedules work together seamlessly for safe and efficient operations. There are many issues that can disrupt the schedule – adverse weather, technical defects, crew sickness, manpower/equipment shortages just to name a few. The OCC is responsible for identifying – and dealing with – any potential threats before they become real headaches. Imagine they are a team of firefighters who are constantly looking for sparks and extinguishing them in the quickest manner. During disruptions, the OCC can either delay flights, swap aircraft or cancel services; whichever option they pick depends on many factors and there is no right or wrong answer. The ultimate objective is to solve the problems as quickly as possible because they never know what may happen the next minute. But what ensures smooth operations of OCC. Airlines are making huge investments in optimising OCC Operations. Real time monitoring, Data analytics, AI integration and Automation is the preferred choice towards this.
As we have seen in the past, no two major airline operational disruptions were similar. Thus it becomes even more complex or difficult to prepare for them. During disruptions, regular automations and data solutions become pointless and the complexity of system becomes counterproductive and ineffective. The solution lies in creating right balance between automation while keeping responsibility and decision making in the hands of human. In fact the whole situation during severe disruption of airlines reminds me of a term used very often in military – “Fog of War”. If the OCC team does not play ball, the whole game gets twisted.
What is Fog of War?
“Fog of war” describes the inherent uncertainty, confusion, and lack of clarity soldiers and commanders face in battle, stemming from incomplete information, miscommunication, and chaotic conditions, a concept famously articulated by military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. In addition, enemy actions makes crucial decisions incredibly difficult. During disruption of operation the Airline OCC also struggles with real time information and data. The speed of events make it even worse and the stress multiplies at exponential rate. Thus human intervention not only becomes a necessity but also critical. As in military, the leaders at OCC should be continuously trained and nurtured for operational excellence. Training an Operations Control Center (OCC) team for operational leadership involves a blend of specific technical competencies and general leadership skills tailored to a high-pressure environment. The program should focus on developing capabilities in strategic decision-making, process optimization, and team management to ensure efficient and resilient operations. How do we train exceptional Operational leaders who are able to achieve such a lofty pinnacle?
Operational Leadership
How is one to become a great Operational Leader?
1) Strive for more education. A good education can best determine the rules you should live by. As Sir William Francis Butler once observed, “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards;”
2) Study the great leaders of history which provides the foremost instruction in leadership. A study of leaders in action, coupled with thoughtful reflection and an empirical review of the historical facts, provide the most important lessons. Learn how past great Operational Leaders thought and acted and institute those characteristics into your own life, by way of habit and practice. There are no born Operational Leaders. Leadership traits must be developed both in yourself and in your subordinates;
3) Practice the attributes of Operational Leadership within stressful environments;
4) Become a person of character and integrity. One cannot expect to lead followers who possess such virtues, without possessing them yourself;
5) Provide simple and clear objectives and priorities to subordinates. This helps maintain stability under pressure, and promotes the retention of the original vision;
6) Be courageous in making decisions. Act decisively. One cannot wait for all the information to make an informed decision. To do so risks making the right decision, but too late to be effective;
7) Develop a tendency to be unorthodox and creative.
Easier said than done. A military leader never fights a war tailor made to his strengths and weakness. A mediocre leader who has been seduced by power or awed in one’s own greatness can never write history or shape future events. Regrettably, it is all too normal for some aspiring leaders to fall prey to such beliefs. While a successful leader knows that leadership in OCC, like war, demands careful study and analysis and must be practiced under the crucible. A study of history can sow the seeds of leadership, but then the traits must be nurtured and made to grow through the habit and practice of the virtues of operational leadership. We must inculcate them in everyday life or in other words practice leadership. The first step is to ensure to be human with character and integrity. We can not hope to lead a group of subordinates who are virtuous, without first becoming virtuous ourselves. Admiral Stockdale believes the best way to practice the virtues of Operational Leadership is inside the hermetic seal of life. By this he meant practicing leadership under the intense pressures normally brought about by life and the responsibilities of command.
A study of military operations and leadership reveals that calamities on battlefield are not new. The lessons of history provide a grim reminder to the Operational Commander that the failure to exercise competent leadership can result in the slaughter of brave men, battles lost and the fall of nations. Thus a leader can not justify making an exception to law, custom, or morality in favour of himself. Simply speaking, the challenges of Operational Leadership are not new.
From flight schools, aeroplane cockpits to simulators we promote a learning environment that is both stimulating and demanding as well as under constant stress. Ability to make decision under stress is essential to a pilot as well as leadership. Like a pilot who maintains control of aircraft, navigates through the challenges; a leader at OCC should be able to maintain control amid the pandemonium, must take decisive actions and be able to improvise under pressure. This allows him/her to prevail over situation and maintain aim/vision regardless of the dilemma.
For Plato, “Courage is endurance of the soul.” The Greeks admired those leaders who could best operate under pressure. “On the battlefield,” says Aristotle, “the greatest pressure is fear of death, and the temptation is to run away. But the courageous man holds on.”
Conclusion
Leadership will always be a struggle. It is in the essence of leadership. It is where leadership gets its birth. Every great leader, the world has ever known was produced out of opposition. Leadership is a contest between wills, one leading, the other following. In a war, something is always going wrong, and once that happens (which generally does), it is easy for everything to go wrong. Similarly in operational disruption at airline OCC, things go wrong very fast and within hours the entire fleet is stuck on ground. Therefore, as Operational Leaders at OCC, it is your responsibility to make rational decisions in situations which are irrational, take decisive action and maintain the Operational Vision. Thus, with training and through constant practice, you would be able to see through the fog of war.
Be Safe. Fly Safe.
