There are two questions here,what qualities make a good SATCO and what qualifications make a good SATCO
qualities
Good leadership skills
This means the ability to move forward taking the team with you.
Motivating and making staff proud of what they do and encouraging an environment where work is fun..to make people feel valued. It means defending your staff unless there is negligence..it means ensuring that they get it right next time
Firm but fair at all times..approachable..ensure a no blame culture..develop skills to keep ahead of the airport management Witch hunts
Tact
The ability to resist the urge to strangle your manager when they come up with nonsense and the ability to remain calm when dealing with staff whose idea of getting kicks is to wind up the SATCO
Diplomacy
Similar to tact but includes the strength to resist nonsense and move in the correct direction at the same time convincing your manager that it is an outstanding idea and that he thought of it.
Negotiating Skills
Diplomacy with teeth to support staff and handle change. This means learning to lie at times
Visibility
This means being around a lot..its the only way to know what really goes on..your chance to listen to staff concerns and encourage them to improve things.
Integrity
Open honest communication... tell it as it is...economic use of information to be only a last resort if part of a negotiating need
Handle staff matters dicretely at all times
Enjoy a good windup at times and watch how its reported on pprune
Business skills
Needed in buckets in the modern world, the SATCO has to be up to speed with business and HR issues.if not you will find that HR will rule.
gaining skills is hard work but important to manage your team....ATCOs and ATSAs are very intelligent beings but challenging to control
Delegation
The difficult art of letting someone do tasks for you when you know they may get you up to your neck further down the line..you delegate you take the responsibility for the outcome....persevere it pays huge dividends
Knowledge Base
Should have comprehensive ATC background..dont need to be an ATCO to manage ATCOs nor a cleaner to manage the cleaning staff but you need a detailed knowledge of everything around you..for the qualified ATCO taking up a post...the validation route is ok..up to validation standard
Dont think in the present environment that maintaining a validation is good practice..if you want an effective management team the highly skilled SATCO will have huge demands put upon him in other areas...it may come as a huge suprise to some that only a small proportion of the workload may be the current operation...delegation becomes important..the staff will be better at resolving an issue than the boss any time..its up to the boss to fight for the resources
If i were an airport manager i would ask why i have this expensive resource that seems to be used for tea breaks and letting staff go home..or filling in gaps in the roster...can do it cheaper by recruiting a bottom of the scale Atco and a cheap non Atc person to administer Atc..remember the management function will have gone to HR..think the human in the job title is often a bit enthusiastic....
There are a huge number of issues involving the SATCO Grade that should have been addressed years ago...recruitment for one thing is to say the least inconsistent across the country..you can get your brain beaten out by a vigorous assessment centre that does its best to determine the candidates abilities
or you can do what one establishment did and offer the post to an ATCO who had demonstrated commitment by resigning, demonstrated enthusiasm by not applying and who had little management training...i still have to lie down in a dark room whenever i think about it...
closing now before i say something i might regret
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