Course aim

The course prepares experienced air traffic controllers for their role as operational ATC supervisors.

Course structure

The course duration is five days. It is an interactive course containing group exercises, discussions, and role-plays.

Content in brief

This course is customisable, meaning that it can cover topics such as, but not limited to:

The role of the operational supervisor
The importance of one’s position as a role-model.
The difficult step from colleague to manager/supervisor.

Communication
Verbal and non-verbal communication.
How to best communicate and how to avoid the barriers of effective communication.

Conflict management
The importance of conflict management and the impact on the company.
How to handle conflicts, limit the negative aspects of a conflict, and increase the positive aspects of a conflict.

Stress and stress management
The nature of positive and negative stress.
The stages of stress, recognising available stress management techniques and understanding how to help individuals to reduce their levels of stress.
The concept of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM).

Motivation
The motivation in management, the process through which managers encourage employees to be productive and effective.
The importance of positive motivation and the effect this can have on each individual employee.

Change management
How to handle changes (as an individual and as a company).
The implications of changes.
Teaching and training in an automated environment.

Safety management
The need for a safety management system (SMS) in order to improve safety within the ATC environment.
The ten principles of systems thinking.
Performance variability and trade-offs.
Safety synthesis and the four resilience engineering capabilities.

Prerequisites

The course is aimed at air traffic controllers with several years of operational experience.