I like when I am doing the safety demo and passengers do it along with me and tell me that they have flown so many times that they do not need to pay attention to what I am saying or doing. Or when I am briefing them on the exit row they answer my questions before I can even get them out. People do not realize that being a flight attendant is more than serving beverages. We need to be able to anticipate the unexpected and work with all different kinds of people from all over the world. The Three-Skill Approach works the best with my job. Technical Skill, Human Skill, and Conceptual Skill are all important aspects in my job.
Having Technical Skills means that I am proficient on a certain aspect with my job. For my particular job it would be knowing the specific aircraft type. They do not all work the same including the doors and exits nor do they sound the same. What might be an everyday non-issue sound on one plane could be trouble on another. We are specifically tried for each type of aircraft and different issues that can happen on each plane. For example on a Q400 Tubro-prop there are not oxygen masks so in a event of a decompression we obviously wouldn’t shout commands for you to put on your oxygen masks. Also, the doors on the aircraft do not all open the same some have a ditching damn on the door which stops water from coming in, in the evident of a water landing. Some planes have stairs to go down and some have slides in a emergency. We need to be able to work all of these and be able to change planes easily.
Human Skill is especially important because that is the ability to work with people. I need to be able to relay information to passengers without sounding aggressive but still being authoritative. If you say something to harshly people are going to instinctively not want to listen to you, so you always need to find the right balance. According to Northouse “being a leader with human skills means being sensitive to the needs and motivations of others and taking into account others needs in one’s decision making”. Not everyone is having a great day. Some people are flying because loved ones are ill while others never fly at all. You need to treat each passenger different and evaluate their attitude on a case by case basis.
Conceptual skills are a must because that is the ability to work with ideas and concepts (Northouse, 2013, p.46). I do not have a supervisor on every plane watching over me so I need to apply what I have learned and use it in everyday situations. If I hear or see something out of place I need to say something.
These skills can be applied to many different types of jobs. I think you need to have and apply all three of these skills to be a good leader. Every day that I step on a aircraft I am considered a leader. People look to me for guidance and to problem solve. These skills are acquired with training that I received when hired and on a day to day basis.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Amber M Bankerd says
Joshua,
I think having human skills are the mos important on a everyday basis. However, you do need technical skills incase something goes wrong. It doesn’t happen often but when it does you need to know what you are doing.
We are trained on how to deal with naughty travelers. Mostly we are supposed to use the LAST approach. Which means Listen,Apologize, Solve, and Thank. However, when someone becomes aggressive towards us we can use any force that we deem necessary to stop them. I hardly ever have problems with people. You learn to have selective hearing and just walk away. If people have a problem I offer them to take a later flight. That normally settles them down.
Joshua Michael Gansch says
I really enjoyed your blog post and I never knew there were so many differences in planes. To be honest I don’t really fly much so I haven’t been on too many planes. I think you summed up the three skills approach well and it seems like you use it on a daily basis. In your opinion though is there one skill that is more important than the others or are they all equally important. I can see where having technical skill could be useful in case of an emrgency or in giving the pre flight announcement and the human skill can be important since you need to deal with people in almost every aspect of your job. In your training classes are there discussions on how to deal with unruly travelers or do they let you figure it out for yourselves.
Reference:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage
Publications.
Amber M Bankerd says
Tara,
That is a great question. I would love to say that Human skills are the most important because people issues are what I deal with most often. However, from a safety standpoint I believe that Technical, Conceptual, then Human skills are the most important. Safety is my number one priority. I am there for your comfort but keep in mind we are blowing through the sky at very high speeds. So technical skills would come into place because I need to know how to get everyone out of each type of aircraft. Conceptual because I need to be able to piece everything together on my own. Such as when a door is whistling. That means the seal is starting to break down and needs to be replaced. And lastly Human skills. I talk to thousands of people each trip that I take and I need to know how to please them in the best way I can while still having safety in mind. I will admit not all of us are good at this particular skill and sometimes make the news for poor behavior.
Upper and middle management have no idea how to do my job. They do not go through training and sit in their office all day. I think that each job you need to apply these skills unless you have no human interaction what soever so in that case you would not need all of these.
Pilots need very little Human skill. They just shut the door and only have to talk to each other. They do however need to know Technical skills though. They have to problem solve on their own as they too hardly ever meet a supervisor.
Tara Olson says
This was a very interesting and well-written blog post. I didn’t realize how different your job could be everyday being a flight attendant, but it makes sense given all of the different planes you are on. The question I have for you in regard to the three-skill approach is this: If you had to rank the three skills, technical, human, and conceptual in order of importance for your particular job how would they rank? I know you described how all three apply in some aspect or another to your job, but the reason I ask is due to Northouse’s (2013) description of how conceptual skills in particular are deemed less vital until you are in a position of upper-management or leadership, and technical skills are less vital for upper-management but are more needed for middle management. Do you find this to be true? Would you say that in comparison conceptual skills would be considered more important for a supervisor or a pilot than they are for your job and technical skills would be the most important for yours? Human skills Northouse (2013) described to be important in all different levels of management and work, in your opinion does this ring true in your field of work?
Reference
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage
Publications.