Aviation women’s forums focus on leadership and resilience

This evolution in virtual events continues to unfold. The AAA tell me that as expected, individuals logged in from their comfy home offices, but on the corporate side, managers seconded boardrooms and used this event as an opportunity to bring teams together. In pandemic terms, this is a next step as corporate offices slowly re-engage with day-to-day onsite operations. In that vein, the AAA National Conference is planned for Sydney, November 2021, live and in-person. Why not hope for the best and plan for worst as we do so well in aviation.

We know that so many thousands of people have had to reassess their career paths due to the pandemic. One of the key takeaways from the AAA forum was ‘your job and title may be gone, however the experiences you had are yours to keep’. I like that, your job is not who you are, it is simply what you do and those experiences are relevant to many other career environments. Seeing that in the middle of job loss is really difficult, but as we settle in to this new normal and continue to innovate, we must #usewhatwegot and apply it to new and sometimes exciting ideas and opportunities. While that thinking will be too soon for some still in the thick of it, it is an aspiration to consider planting.

The AAA was inspired to create an online event that would provide attendees with tips to build resilience, empower themselves and gain the confidence needed to take the next steps to further their careers and personal goals. Topics such as turning a negative situation into a positive by being self-aware and learning how to examine your own thinking, motives and actions as well as one’s habits and tendencies. Gosh, this could be a book! (*Yep, shameless plug coming up – I wrote such a book last year).

One of my all-time favourite thinkers and speakers was centre stage; Christian “Boo” Boucousis, Australian Aviation ambassador and high-performance coach and speaker. Boo shared his strategy for success, which looked a bit like this:

• Have dream;
• Write a plan;
• Create a brief;
• Execute the plan; and
• Debrief to learn from your mistakes and to identify how you can improve.

He emphasised the importance of acknowledging and accepting your mistakes, because if you don’t do this you will not learn and grow as a person or successfully further your career.

One of the other themes was balance. That’s my Achilles heel as I’m an ‘all or nothing’ kind of personality; identified where I can improve right there. That brings us to the final panel session and along with balance, another area that the pandemic has highlighted – mental health. The Black Dog Institute and R U OK? as well as members from Amadeus discussed the importance of creating an open workplace and allowing discussions regarding family to be included. They emphasised the importance of letting colleagues know that you have a life outside work, that family and your other pursuits are also a priority. A key takeaway from this discussion was that it shouldn’t matter when you get your work done, aka the 9-5, just so long as it is completed. Your work should be measured on your outcomes and not the amount of time you sit in front of a computer.

If there is one thing a crisis in any form teaches us, it’s that our ability to adjust, reinvent and repurpose what we know is a big part of our humanity. Encouraging and developing self-knowledge and emotional intelligence bolsters our success in every aspect of life and has finally, it seems, been embraced and accepted more widely by business big and small. The future of work is what we make it and having a strategy certainly helps. I’m off to walk the dog on the beach, step one towards a little more balance.

If there is one thing a crisis in any form teaches us, it’s that our ability to adjust, reinvent and repurpose what we know is a big part of our humanity.