Posted by: Bob Craig
I was going to write about the Blue Angles and the need for Team Work. But as I was searching for Blue Angles pictures, I found this one of the Blue Angels Pilot Training. It sort of adds new meaning to the phrase, “Let’s Run through that!” So before you get to climb aboard those beautiful F/A 18 Hornets and pilot the real thing at just below the speed of sound, you get to practice on the ground going through the formations time and again on foot. Practice makes perfect…. But they would say “Perfect” practice makes perfect. It is really something to think about huh? All that practice is because an error at those speeds and at those close distances can be fatal. I can teach my 11-year-old son how to read a map accurately in a forest in about 30 minutes… why is it so hard for us to follow a written map, follow a procedure, carry out a process? Of course we have a lot of expectations… so do these pilots. Of course it’s complicated… a lot comes at you at just under the speed of sound… and on a phone call, or in an interaction with a customer.
It’s possible that the problem is our level of tolerance or maybe our level of commitment to do it right. If we said you have to “run through it until it is perfect” would you be willing to do that? It is an honor to be a Blue Angel… it is also an honor to serve a customer. Working with your people to do it right 100% of the time takes commitment and you can’t do it from your desk, any more than these pilots can do it watching from the grass. If we want to be the best, we have to be willing to put in the time and energy and commitment it takes to be that. Are you ready to fly with the best?
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