Is it time that air transport revisited the way that it builds its management teams? There may not be a choice argues Richard Lewis, managing partner at The Marlborough Partnership a European executive search consultancy specialised in airline and airport recruitment
As every airline executive knows, their industry is evolving at breakneck speed. Systems and solutions that served faithfully for more than a generation may have to be jettisoned along the way as organisations become leaner and fitter. So why then has the airline industry been so slow to change the way that it invests in the management talent that is needed to lead this change?
The question is more than academic. Arriving some years ago in the aviation sector after a decade spent recruiting for corporations across Europe, it was striking just how different the outlook really was. In other industries, management is encouraged to constantly seek new and better ways of renewing itself and readying itself for future transformation. By contrast, under-investment in training was rife in aviation and succession planning was at best inadequate. The frequent excuse was that executives were simply too busy managing operational issues to attend training courses.
But be warned, talented airline leadership is already a scarce commodity and is likely to become more so unless the industry starts to invest in its human resources. Training can help to close the management skills gap, but it will require a fundamental rethink in priorities and quickly. The internal supply of airline executives will not, as it stands, be enough to meet demand. Neither can airlines hope to buy-in all of the talent they need. In order to develop leaders of the future training needs to start now.
On the face of it, the airline industry should be used to taking massive investment decisions, but it seems that renewing the fleet takes greater priority than investment in human capital. In fact, both create value for shareholders and of the two the human element could be the more scarce.
Airport model
Airlines may for once find that they have something to learn from their near-cousins in the airport business. At least in Europe, recruitment activity at airports is booming. Out from under the shackles of their previous municipal owners, the newly privatised airport groups are displaying a refreshingly open-minded attitude to the search for new talent.
European airport leaders have not been afraid to surround themselves with a management team smarter than they are. Nor do they necessarily put a price tag on finding talent. Such has been the recent experience of The Marlborough Partnership, an executive search consultancy that has created a niche in European aviation. It seems that airports regard their employees as primary assets, whereas airlines tend to prioritise their planes.
An excellent example of a bold, ambitious organisation that reinvented itself is the new Athens International Airport. Capable leaders have been brought in at all levels within this organisation. The board and shareholders took big risks in challenging the status quo - hiring only the top talent - bright, enthusiastic well-educated professionals with vision, who saw the opportunity to build a future at a progressive organisation.
The company developed robust integration and mentoring programs with the result that there now exists a very impressive team of individuals who could each have walked into high-flying jobs in the hi-tech sector, but chose instead to build for the future.
Airports are not alone in bringing talent in from outside the industry or of making a conscious attempt to move away from the old state run days when mediocre individuals hired each other. Non-industry talent is frequently hired for its expertise in deregulated industry and these individuals add value based on their experiences within lean accountable organisations. KLM has just hired a new chief financial officer from Dutch software giant Baan. Sabena has a new human resources director from national telecoms operator Belgacom.
Yet even so, it remains uncommon for recruitment to cross national borders. Such nationalism is not only time-limited in an increasingly borderless world, but also surprising for an industry that is acknowledged as being truly global and primarily English speaking. The more forward-looking companies are already looking. Last year alone Marlborough conducted searches across 21 countries to find that elusive candidate.
The historical perception has been that an airline would always be able to meet its human resource needs within national boundaries. This is no longer the case. Talent is global, and experience managing multicultural teams is the most valued attribute of any manager - more so than industry knowledge, length of service or even an MBA. The most sought-after managers are the ones who can integrate across cultures and disciplines and get the job done.
It is clear the airline industry has a great deal to offer to future talent. Their sector is hardly short of short of high-profile leaders to provide inspiration to future legions of executives. But aviation must market itself more aggressively to outsiders, with the focus on attracting the brightest and the best.
If we do not all do more in aviation to find, secure, retain and develop top talent, the industry as a whole may find itself on the wrong end of the "best and the rest" phenomenon: The stream of top talent, on which the industry used to be able rely as its birthright, will instead be lured into attractive "new economy" markets and airlines will be left to fight over the rest.
Source: Airline Business
