1. The Wisdom of Technicians: Improving
VOR Performance at the Federal Aviation
Administration
Clarissa Sawyer, Ed.D.
Presentation for Beyond High Reliability: Improving Patient Safety
Through Organizational Resilience, June 3-4, 2010, University of
British Columbia School of Population and Public Health

2. The Problem
 Why do FAA VORs
in 1 Region perform
worse than the
other 8 Regions?
 How can their
performance be
improved?

3. VOR (VHF Omnidirectional
Range navigation system )
Measures Approaches To and
From the Station
VOR Indicator
Instrument in Aircraft

4. VOR
 “Probably the most
significant aviation
invention other than the jet
engine.”
 Introduced early 1950s;
being replaced by GPS.
 Primary navigational aid
used by civil aviation.
 Pilots use to navigate from
Point A to Point B.
 Measures approaches TO
and FROM the station

5. Methods - Best Practice
Study + Action Research
 Goal: Tap the tacit wisdom of the technicians —what
they knew, but didn’t know they knew. Use that wisdom
to improve performance.
 How: Conduct Best Practice Study, followed by Action
Research
 Project Team: mirrored the organization – (2) front-line
technicians, (2) middle management/engineering, and
(2) executive staff responsible for performance, (1)
organization development consultant.
 Sponsorship: by the Region’s senior executive and his
union representative.

6. Best Practice Study
 Face-to-face focus group
interviews with VOR
technicians belonging to the
same work group
 Asked them to share success
stories
 Strategic sampling: Work
groups responsible for High,
Medium and Low performing
VORs in the Region
 Analysis: Compare success
stories – patterns?
Relationship between VOR
performance and practices?

7. Analysis of Success Stories Revealed
Best Practices About ….
Technician
Expertise
Maintenance
Philosophies
Teamwork
Leadership
Culture

8. Results - continued
 Technicians responsible for higher
performing VORs used more best practices.
 Three practices cut across the 4 categories
of practices:
 Being proactive
 Seeking and sharing information
 Building trust

9. Technician Expertise
Technician Expertise refers to themes in
stories about:
 Breadth and Depth of Knowledge
o Intimate knowledge of VORs using all
senses: touch, sight hearing, smell
o VOR “tips and tricks”
o Knowledge of more than one technical
discipline (i.e., navigation, radar, electrical)
o Systems view: how various equipment
systems integrate
o FAA orders and directives

10. Technician Expertise -
continued
As well as to specific personal characteristics:
o Love their work, it’s play
o Proactive, involved
o Actively builds relationships and trust with
everyone
o Proud, conscientious, dedicated, bulldog
determination and perseverance
o Sees importance of their role in “preventing a
pattern of events that can lead to error”
o “Information seeking magnet” when solving
problems

11. Maintenance Philosophies
The success stories revealed two underlying
schools of thought about the maintenance of
VOR equipment:
• Hands on – Better performance of VORs was
believed to result from more frequent maintenance
and monitoring.
• Hands off – Better performance was believed to
result from as little contact as possible, “If it ain’t
broke, don’t touch it.”

12. “Hands On” Maintenance Philosophy
Situation Operating
Assumptions
Actions Results
(Intended)
Results
(Unintended)
Conducting
scheduled
maintenance
 Be thorough and
meticulous.
Interpret the
maintenance order
conservatively.
Enjoy working on
the equipment .
 Use
scheduled
outages more
often.
 More frequent
site visits.
 Remove each
electronic
board, and
visually
inspect it.
 Better
Reliability of
VOR.
 Average
Mean Time to
Restore.
 Above
Average
Mean Time
Before
Outage.
 Really “know”
VORs using
sight, sound,
smell, touch.
 Reduced
Availability of
VOR.
 Increased risk
of equipment
failure due to
more frequent
removal and
reinsertion of
boards.

13. “Hands Off” Maintenance Philosophy
Situation Operating
Assumptions
Actions Results
(Intended)
Results
(Unintended)
Conducting
scheduled
maintenance
“If it ain’t broke
don’t fix it.”
If equipment
is performing
well, leave it
alone.
The more you
touch it, the
more chance of
problems.
Interpret the
maintenance
order more
flexibly.
Only 1-2 scheduled
outages a year by:
 Combining semi &
annual Required
Maintenance.
 Using Remote
Maintenance
Monitoring to
conduct quarterlies
(no shut down).
 Using cursory visual
inspection (no
“hands on”).
 Use an air
compressor to
clean and inspect
components.
 Increased
VOR
Availability
due to fewer
scheduled
outages
 Reduced
Mean Time to
Restore VOR
 Reduced
Mean Time
Between
Outages
Increased
possibility of
unscheduled
outages due to
less thorough
maintenance

14. Teamwork
Teamwork refers to themes in stories about :
 Building trust, camaraderie
 Sharing information (versus hoarding it) via:
• Meetings (in person and virtual teleconferences)
• Shadowing those more experienced, Mentoring those less
experienced
• Web pages, chat rooms, forums
• Green books
• Cheat sheets
 Appreciating differences in perspective and skill, and recognizing that
knowledge is partial and no one knows everything

15. Leadership
Refers to themes in stories about leaders who:
 Appreciate, recognize and reward people
 Trust employees and empower them
 Affirm the value of teamwork
 Support open communication, sharing information, and new ideas
 Are hands on, hold people accountable, back them up, buffer
employees from their customers (air traffic controllers) and from upper
management
 Are respected by their employees
 Are stable and consistent
 Are proactive, plan, and think ahead
 Know the funding process and how to acquire resources

16. Culture
Refers to themes in stories about cultures that:
 Value communication and sharing information
 Create trusting relationships
 Promote being proactive, involved, and
having a sense of ownership
 Encourage technicians to actively seek
information to solve problems

17. Action Research
A series of actions were carried out over the next 24 months,
sponsored by Regional Senior Executive and his union
representative :
1. Creation of a VOR “Swat” Team
2. Monthly Regional “knowledge sharing” teleconference for VOR
technicians
3. A Regional VOR conference for technicians
4. Team Action Learning Performance Improvement Projects with
work groups (maintenance team supervisors, technicians, and
union representatives; by request only)
Result: In 18 months, the Region’s VOR performance leapt from 9th
to 5th place.

18. VOR SWAT Team
 Volunteer team of 6 VOR “super techs” led by Region’s 2 technical
evaluators (who conducted technical inspections of all equipment as
part of their day-to-day work)
 Over 3 years, the team visited the Region’s 32 VORs, made on-the-
spot repairs when needed, and submitted proposals to secure funding
for more extensive repairs
 Wrote annual reports detailing efforts
 Created a VOR website for technicians to share knowledge and
learning
 Received a Regional award and bonus pay

19. Knowledge Sharing
Region-wide VOR Conference mid-way through the Best Practices
Study:
 Focused on needs of technicians
 Speakers included Regional & national experts and members of the
Best Practices Study team
 1 day only to minimize time away from work
Monthly VOR Teleconference:
 For technicians to share experiences, ask questions.
 Hosted by a young, respected mid-level manager (engineer and MBA)
who had been a member of the Best Practices Study team and had
previously led 1 of 2 teams that provided consulting services to
technicians across the region.

20. Team Action Learning Performance
Improvement Projects
 Jointly sponsored by management and union
 Focus: help technician teams and supervisors improve how they work
together in order to improve technical performance
 Worked with teams across the Region, by request only
 Process:
1. Assessment (Individual interviews: What’s working, what’s not, any changes
needed?)
2. Design Action Learning Project
– Use Success Stories to discover best practices related to the top issue or challenge
– Use best practices to design to action experiments intended to improve performance
3. Review Lessons Learned
 Results: improved relationships, morale, and team work.

21. Wider Adoption of Methods
Success story method used to:
 Conduct after action review of Regional response to
September 11th 2001 crisis from perspective of front-
line, middle, and senior Regional office levels (2002)
 Help executive responsible for implementation of
massive restructuring of his division of the FAA (12,000
employees) conduct dynamic evaluation of his
implementation efforts (2004-05)

23. Sources
 “Best Practices in Facility Performance,” Airway
Facilities, New England Region, Best Practices
Study Team, October 25, 2000.
 VORs:
– http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/vor-nav.htm,
copyright Charles Wood, 1999-2009, accessed 1-
30-2010.
– http://www.americanflyers.net/aviationlibrary/ins
trument_flying_handbook/chapter_7.htm,
accessed 1-30-2010.

24. For more information please
contact
 Clarissa Sawyer, Ed. D.
 LinkedIn
 978 - 844 - 3823