Change Management Consultant
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Airlines, airports, and other aviation service providers establish a formal, repeatable process for change.
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All relevant stakeholders are involved in the change.
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All data and safety cases related to the change need to be thoroughly analyzed and assessed; and
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The change is implemented through many smaller changes using corrective preventative actions.
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Regulatory changes.
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Organizational restructuring.
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Safety policies and procedures.
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Employee or management changes; and
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Venturing into entirely new operational environments, full of new risks, hazards, etc.
A Safety Management System includes Change Management as a key part of its program. A key facet of a viable Change Management program is the notification of key stakeholders at the outset of a new change/proposal. Therefore, changes are brought to the attention of those in the company who may know something that can influence the new change. Change Management helps a company or organization guard against unintended consequences for all types of risks in addition to safety risks. It also works for performance effectiveness risks, financial risks, brand risks, security risks, health risks and any other risk indigenous to the company or organization. Programmatic changes have even had unintended consequences of accidents.
Small changes are handled with corrective actions.
The basic tenants of management of change in aviation SMS are:
A common strategy for change is to have one manager facilitate the change, and a responsible manager review and approve each stage of the change process as it’s completed.
Change management process is complex. It entails that you evaluate the following items in terms of what actually exists, and what is possible:
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Hazards.
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Environments.
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Risks; and
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Operational processes.
Changes may introduce new environments (i.e., new route), new hazards, new risks, and will certainly entail new processes. As such, change management focuses on real and hypothetical situations.
When these aspects of safety are not analyzed thoroughly enough, organizations are exposed to:
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Unforeseen events.
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Deterioration of risk controls; and
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New hazards and risks that weren’t identified.
Change management system also involves every aspect of aviation safety management systems, such as:
Change Management is a Quality aspect of SMS and is a key program in the success of SMS. That said, implementing and maintaining a vibrant Change Management Program is not easy and takes resources. The results of a Change Management system is often used by the FAA to determine the health of a company’s SMS.
We have experience developing and implementing Change Management Programs, both big and small.