Reskilling

Question three.In high-responsibility environments such as aviation or management, which performance factor is still too often underestimated today?

A: well-being, B: the power of the collective in performance, C: daily mental preparation, D: the Joker.

I'll go back to A: well-being, because I think it's the most important.

I love the collective, but I'll choose answer A:well-being — with two particular notions:self-knowledge and vulnerability.

Well-being — Patrick, you trained me in a two-day training on management and pressure management.

I think at the heart of your training is the topic of well-being.

I know you love acronyms and I remember one acronym you explained to me back then, that has stayed with me and that I use.

I try to apply it.It's the DESK method for conflict management and feedback.

I had an experience at one of my first companies where I received feedback that was very hard for me to hear.

I was told: You're hypersensitive.And it was difficult to get over — with quite a harsh judgment because it's a negative judgment.

And through learning about myself, I try to turn my humanness into my strength.

And my hypersensitivity, for me, is one of the most important tools I have to be a good manager and a good professional.

Because it's my quality as a human being.And as a hypersensitive person, I'm also going to be empathetic, and I'm going to read other people's feelings.

And just you, as a person, telling me: You are human.

Because the truth is, you don't leave your humanity at home.

Your humanity comes to work with you every day.When you have a problem, it will show up: some days your dog has died, and you're at work anyway.

And that human side is going to be there.And of course, that's my card — well-being — because I think we should all be more human in organizations.

We are completely in sync on that topic.What I can add is that the major evolution we had in the pilot competency model came in the wake of a trauma:the Rio-Paris accident.

There was a real piece of work done there.I was one of the project leads who worked on the pilot training component.

And in fact, we went from a competency rating model of 110 criteria — which is very technical — to a competency model that we could perhaps revisit — which is easy to remember — with a number of competencies that are nine core competencies.

So five soft skills out of four more technical competencies,even though we consider piloting to be a very technical profession.

We're actually talking about a majority of soft skills.

But the major innovation in this work is that the core of the competency model is self-knowledge.

I personally prefer to speak of self-management.It's truly this human dimension — if I want to have the energy to produce the competencies needed for an activity,in service of that activity — I myself need to be well.

Yes, I need to be well myself.This dimension of self-knowledge, of self-management,is central to the skill dimension that will put me in relation with others — so communication, relationship, etc. — with my activity,with my organization.

All of that then requires a whole body of work on what makes a quality relationship.

Knowing that there is a study that began 85 years ago at Harvard.

There's a book that synthesizes this study called The Good Life,which is incredibly interesting.

This study shows that health — mental health in particular — and health in general:the number one lever of health — before money, before anything medical, let's say — is the quality of relationships,the quality of connection.

The debate is over.Thank you very much for all your answers.

That was really great. Thank you both.Thank you — it was really lovely. See you soon.

So — did I get the DESK method right?It was perfect. You've even made it your own.

I haven't dropped the method in seven years.