Being an Effective Helper

Some people are limited in their social interaction; this may be a result of how they were brought up by their parents. Maybe they were home schooled or sheltered as a child. Maybe they were simply not allowed to interact with anyone outside of their family unit. Not every person is capable of learning the same way. As an instructor, you have to be aware of this fact and be able to recognize a person’s inability to learn a certain way and to help provide guidance in the correct direction, a path that will allow them to find their own way of learning the specific task sought after. Personally, there are multiple situations or client personalities that I feel that I would have difficulties in helping. The majority of them come from previous encounters with those types of situations or types of personalities. I know that for myself to improve as an instructor and a helper that I must find a way to see beyond these prejudices that I hold. It can be difficult to get past a certain distaste, as a small child my parent’s forced me to eat Brussels sprouts, and to this day they absolutely disgust me. I have tried to eat them on numerous occasions and I am not sure if it will ever happen.
The first example that comes to mind is dealing with stubborn and difficult people. In my experience as a flight instructor, I have encountered this type of person in two different aspects. The first is that they believe that they are better than they actually are. Their performance simply does not measure up to how they believe they perform. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that this type of person tends to only learn the hard way. In the aviation business, when lives are in jeopardy, this is considered unacceptable. This makes teaching this type of person extremely difficult, especially when they are oblivious to the standards that they are incapable of upholding. I have met a few people that I have taught that have had this issue and it truly makes it difficult to be able to teach them. In the aviation field, you have to know the standards so that you can maintain the aircraft within those specified standards. This is not only for the safe operation of the airplane but also for the safety of the passengers on board. For example; on most maneuvers you are allowed up to ten degrees of deviation in your heading control and up to one hundred feet of deviation in your altitude control. If you are aware of your limitations, you have a better chance at controlling the aircraft within those standard limitations. One of my students once told me that he believed that he did not have to know the standards because he believed that he maintained perfect altitude and heading. This was not the case and it took an extremely long time for this individual to realize that his lack of knowledge in knowing the standards was holding him back. His flight performance was usually not within the specified standards, since he was unaware of what the standards were, he could not determine if what he was performing was satisfactory or not. I decided that I had to approach him with a different angle. So one night when we were out doing some emergency procedure training on his annual flight evaluation and once we completed the maneuvers, I had him debrief his performance; he had an extremely hard time evaluating himself in any kind of detail. I was able to debrief his unsatisfactory performance with justified examples of where he was not within the standards that we were required to perform on almost each and every maneuver. This unsatisfactory performance was the hard lesson that he required. It took me failing him on his annual flight evaluation for him to realize how important this knowledge was to have. It was at this moment that he had the realization that he needed to know the standards in order to be able to meet or exceed them. After that set back, he improved and eventually he decided that he wanted to become an instructor pilot as well.
The second example is closely related to the first, but it is working with people that were previously in the Marine Corps. I have worked with prior service Marines only on two occasions as a flight instructor and I am not sure if it the way that they are trained as Marines, or maybe just their personalities, but they had a huge problem with primacy. However they learned something the first time was the way that they always tried to accomplish the task, whether or not it was the correct method. They both had an extremely hard time relearning a task or overwriting what they had erroneously had been taught. The two individuals that I had experience with were almost identical. I have never encountered such severe primacy in anyone else in teaching the correct way to do something. They both accounted this to the Marine Corps as they were both infantrymen there and everything was learned to execute without questioning the order. Eventually both of them were able to relearn what they needed to be safe and efficient aviators, but it took much longer than normal and a lot of repetition. I have always been a very calm and rational instructor, but just based on my previous experiences teaching prior service Marines, I would avoid it if I had the choice. Instructing aviators can be a challenge; many of them have the typical Type “A” personality and are obviously never wrong. I have always been able to adjust my techniques as an instructor to adapt to each individual that I instruct. I understand that everyone learns differently and at a different pace. There is a general approach that I like to take when instructing. I like to initially set them up for success, make sure that they know exactly what to study so that they are prepared for each lesson. I have always believed that if they are well prepared, it makes the learning process go smoother. So I guess I would say that I am an effective communicator. This seems to make each training session much easier to get accomplished. I would also say that I am an effective listener. This is the most noticeable when working through flight maneuvers with new aviators, when you are working with them, you really have to make sure that you do not push them too far. There is a point of diminished returns. As long as you are paying attention, you can tell when they have been practicing too long or are no longer benefiting from the training. I would also say that I am a very patient person. I think if you what to be an effective helper in any situation, you have to be patient. As I mentioned before, not everyone learns at the same pace. Some people need you to slow it down for them and there are others that need to be challenged. I believe that I have a pretty good understanding of human behavior and how people operate and cope with difficulties in their lives. Understanding the defense mechanisms that are so often used when you are training someone and they are having difficulty in achieving the standards. I like to try and understand why people do some of the things they do. I think that curiosity is what led me to this major as well as why my bachelor’s degree is in Psychology. Weaknesses, of course, I am human after all. I would say that sometimes, I have been known to be a little too self-confident. Maybe a little egotistical at times as well. A few years ago, I was in the flight instrument examiner’s course and the student pilot that was grading me on one of our last flight evaluations told me that I was always right. At first, I thought to myself, I know that because I know what I am doing, and then I realized that he actually meant it in a negative way, because I kept proving him to be wrong. This was of course also making him look bad because in front of our instructor. I am an aviator so yes I have a Type “A” personality as well. This is something that I have been trying to work on; sometimes I have to throttle back my confidence. Another weakness that I would say that I have is providing the solution too quickly to the student at times. Sometimes it is really hard watching someone struggle to try to come up with the right solution to a problem or situation. Also something that I have been working on, I try to do my best to provide them with the direction to the decision. I am sure I have other shortcomings as an instructor and mentor as well, but again my ego is blocking me from putting them in writing. Having integrity is incredibly important, especially when you are instructing in an airplane or helicopter. There is a lot that can go wrong if you do not know what you are doing, the pilots have to trust each other because their lives are in each other’s hands every time they take off and land. Of course, you cannot trust any co-pilot one hundred percent because if something unfortunate were to happen, you will both arrive at the scene of the accident at the same place and same time. It is imperative that you are an effective communicator and an effective listener. As a helper, if you cannot communicate effectively, you could be wasting your breath on the person that you are trying to help. You must be able to get your message across. Being an effective listener is also important because if you are not receiving what a person is sending to you, you will automatically become a less effective communicator. I believe it is also extremely important to know who you are trying to help as well, if you understand their upbringing or family situation, it may change your course of action completely. Absolutely as an effective helper, whether you are a professional or nonprofessional, formal or informal helper, you must be ethical. If you carry yourself in an unethical manner your students or clients could lose all faith in your abilities to help them. To be an effective helper, you must also possess the ability to adapt. You have to be flexible and remember that there is not a standard way to help each and every person. People all learn in different ways, you have to be able to tailor to the helpee.

References
Bryan, W.V. (2009). The professional helper: The fundamentals of being a helping professional.
Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.