In 2009, the agency was coming under increasing Congressional and public pressure to modernize and improve the safety and effciency of the National Airspace System. At the same time, the FAA and its two largest unions had what many would say was among the most contentious, adversarial labor-management relationship in the federal sector. That toxic environment was clearly being felt by employees at every level, as evidenced by the agency’s near rock-bottom rating of 214 out of 216 in the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey.

It was clear that undertaking “NextGen,” a comprehensive air traffc system modernization initiative, could only be accomplished if labor and management learned to work together. Overland Resource Group was retained to help leaders from the FAA, NATCA and PASS develop and execute organizational change processes that would enable employees at all levels to collaborate on improvement projects required for effective NextGen implementation. Achieving the largest technological transformation in the history of the federal sector would simultaneously require labor and management to lead a cultural transformation in which enemies could become allies and warring factions could form a united front to overcome the massive challenges presented by NextGen.

Through ORG-facilitated dialogue sessions and meetings, senior management and labor leaders began taking the first diffcult steps to set aside past differences; to address intractable conflict; to overcome deep-seated distrust; and to explore whether — and how — they could move toward more collaborative and productive relations. But it wasn’t until the leaders began focusing on identifying and discussing their interests, rather than on being positional and arguing for the rightness of pre-determined solutions, that they were able to really hear and understand one another’s perspectives.

Quickly they came to understand that the Interest-Based Leadership™ skills they were cultivating at the top of the organization were the same skills they needed labor and management leaders at every level to learn and to practice. This would facilitate the behavior change necessary to build a culture where working together became the norm rather than the exception.

The challenge, then, was how to create interest-based leadership skills across an organization characterized by iron-clad functional silos; hundreds of facilities each with its own sub-culture; dozens of work groups and job classifications; and a decades-long history of adversarial labor-management relations.

process coordinators, trainers or coaches, ORG designed and delivered training to equip them for their new roles. This “Train the Trainer” certification process enabled the FAA and its unions to embed internal expertise for teaching the concepts on a recurring basis and for helping assure the sustainability of the process.

According to Trish Gilbert, executive vice president for NATCA, “Permanent change requires not just energy but a new collaborative way of thinking… One of the many challenges of collaboration is ensuring that [those at] field facilities are educated on the principles of a more collaborative process, through all levels and at all facilities.”

Labor and management leaders credit ORG’s Interest-Based Leadership™ training with helping them achieve significant and measureable positive outcomes, not to mention vast improvements in labormanagement relationships.

• Improved Work Environment. Today, the FAA ranks among the top 40 percent of agencies in the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® survey, with a score of 64.5 and a ranking of 114 out of 292 agencies, versus a 2009 score of 49.4, when it was a mere two spots from deadlast among agencies participating in the survey that year. The FAA’s impressive progress propelled the Department of Transportation to the top of the list of Most Improved Agencies in 2012.
• Cost Savings from Grievance and Arbitration Reductions. NATCA and the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization reduced grievances from hundreds of thousands to dozens and reduced the time and expense associated with pre-arbitration reviews. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi noted that historically, each of NATCA’s nine regions would conduct week-long pre-arbitration review meetings with the agency each quarter, considering an average of 100-200 grievances. “This year [2012], I’m proud to say most regions have cancelled one, if not two, of their quarterly reviews. And when they do meet, they meet for less than a day and they’re dealing with less than 10 issues,” Rinaldi said. “And at this time at the national level, we have less than five grievances that are right for arbitration and we have never ever had that in this organization ever. It would always be 500 [cases] keyed-up, ready to go for arbitration. Not only is that saving a lot of time, but it’s certainly saving a lot of money. Arbitrations are very, very expensive and time-consuming.”
• Expedited Negotiations Process and Record-High Contract Ratification. As a result of improved relationships, PASS and the FAA’s Technical Operations line of business agreed to enter into their first-ever interest-based negotiation process. “The benefit at the contract table was having that open dialogue,” said PASS President Mike Perrone, noting that interest-based leadership skills enabled them to negotiate more effectively and to wrap up the process in almost one-third of time it had taken previously. And, 85% of those represented voted in favor of the contract, marking the highest rate of ratification in the 36-year history of PASS.
• Operational Improvements impacting the National Airspace System, air carriers, the flying public and the environment. At the facility and district level, managers and their labor counterparts began collaborating on operational and quality of work life issues that created air space effciencies; lowered costs; lessened environmental impact; improved personnel and airspace safety; reframed operational performance measures; and more. A few examples of bottom-line improvements, from among hundreds, include: NATCA’s Rinaldi points to En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM), a $2 billion en route modernization program that was “an abysmal failure” from 2003-09 without the involvement needed from union members. “We are now… up and running in about six facilities and testing vigorously in another 10, and things are looking very good,” he said in late 2012.
  • A collaborative team revised descent paths in Washington, D.C.-area airports for an estimated annual fuel savings of $18.9 million (based on November 2010 fuel costs) and a 108,300-ton annual reduction in carbon emissions, a significant benefit to the environment.
  • A regional partnership of the FAA, NATCA, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, and Atlanta and Charlotte, NC-area airports resulted in the development of more efficient routes that equate to 6.6 million fewer gallons of fuel and a reduction of 65,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. For US Airways, optimizing the airspace at its largest hub in Charlotte translates into fuel savings of $17 million annually.
  • A realignment of operational areas at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center is saving the facility $4 million a year in reduced payroll costs. “Collaboration at all levels is worth the effort because it almost always produces better outcomes,” said David Grizzle, Chief Operating Officer of the Air Traffic Control Organization, in the January 2012 edition of The Controller: Journal of Air Traffic Control. “At the FAA, we have been able to accomplish things that we probably couldn’t have done without collaboration.

“Just as we modernize air traffic technology and change the way we interact between ground and air, we also need to modernize the human part of our business and the way we interact with one another. Specifically, we need to update how we communicate and relate to one another,” said FAA COO Grizzle. “Interest-based communication has had a profound effect on how labor and management work together. [It] is helping us to resolve issues in a less formal, less protracted, less litigious way — where we respect the perspective of everyone. But it takes a lot of courage and commitment.”

By equipping its leaders to exhibit that courage and commitment in embracing a new model of leadership — one based on valuing others’ perspectives and seeking common ground — the FAA and its unions have built a culture of collaboration clearly dedicated to their shared interest of assuring the safest, most efficient airspace in the world.