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What Aviation Teaches Us About People-Centric Change and Resistance

What Aviation Teaches Us About People-Centric Change and Resistance

 

When change must happen quickly and the risks are high, aviation does not narrow decision-making. It widens it. This principle sits at the heart of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and offers powerful lessons for organisations struggling with resistance to change.

In this conversation, Barry Eustance draws on airline experience and speaks with Julie Hodges and Hilary Scarlettabout how aviation transformed its approach to leadership, communication and challenge, and why many organisations still resist these same principles today.

 

Why Crew Resource Management Changed Aviation

 

Aviation did not adopt CRM because it was fashionable. It adopted it because failures, accidents and loss of life exposed the danger of rigid hierarchy and unchallenged authority.

Historically, captains held unquestioned power. First officers and crew often noticed problems but did not speak up. The result was catastrophic. CRM changed this by:

  • Reducing authority gradients
  • Encouraging challenge and questioning
  • Treating every voice as valuable
  • Embedding constructive feedback into daily practice


As Barry explains, CRM works because it integrates the entire system.

Pilots, cabin crew, engineers and controllers are all encouraged to contribute.

The most junior person can raise a concern, and the organisation is designed to listen and act.

 

The Parallel With Organisational Change

 

Julie Hodges highlights that aviation is one of the few sectors that genuinely transformed its relationship with authority.

Captains learned to listen. First officers gained the confidence to challenge.

That cultural shift saved lives.

Yet in organisations, leaders still struggle to replicate this model.

During change, hierarchy often tightens rather than loosens.

Feedback is filtered.

Dissent is avoided.

People become reluctant to speak up.

Hilary Scarlett points out that if organisations adopted the same openness seen in aviation, resistance to change would reduce significantly.

People resist change when they feel excluded, unheard or threatened. CRM addresses all three.

Why People-Centric Change Reduces Resistance

 

The lesson from aviation is not about speed alone.

It is about early inclusion.

When people are involved early in the decision-making process, several things happen:

  • Risks surface sooner
  • Better solutions emerge
  • Commitment increases
  • Psychological safety improves

 

Barry’s experience highlights that even under extreme pressure, inclusion saves time rather than wastes it.

Engaging more people early prevents rework, misjudgement and failure later.

This runs counter to how many organisations behave during change.

Leaders often centralise control just when they most need collective intelligence.


The Cost of Ignoring These Lessons


In aviation, ignoring CRM led to fatal outcomes. In organisations, the consequences are different but still severe:

  • Failed change programmes
  • Low engagement
  • Cultural cynicism
  • Repeated resistance to new initiatives


People are not resistant by nature.

They resist when change is imposed without trust, clarity or involvement.


Applying CRM Principles to Leadership and Change

 

The principles behind CRM align closely with people-centric change leadership:

  • Create space for challenge without blame
  • Treat feedback as data, not threat
  • Reduce hierarchy when stakes are high
  • Involve people early, not after decisions are made
  • Build routines that normalise reflection and learning

 

These behaviours are not soft. In aviation, they are critical to performance.

The same is true in organisations navigating complex change.

 

Developing People-Centric Change Capability

 

At The Sixsess Consultancy, these principles are embedded in the PEOPLE Change Management and Leadership Framework.

The framework helps leaders understand how people experience change and how to lead it in a way that reduces resistance and improves outcomes.

You can explore this approach here:

The Sixsess Consultancy
Home: https://sixsess.org/

 

PEOPLE Change Management and Leadership Framework Course
https://sixsess.org/training/people-change-management-leadership-framework-course/

 

Further Reading and Expertise

 

Julie Hodges and Hilary Scarlett are leading voices in organisational change and people-centred leadership.

Their work is widely published through Kogan Page:

 

 

 

Final Thought

 

Aviation learned through hard experience that hierarchy, silence and fear are dangerous.

Organisations face a choice.

They can continue to resist people-centric change, or they can adopt proven principles that improve performance when it matters most.

The evidence is already there. The question is whether leaders are willing to listen.

 

Keywords
  • people centric change
  • resistance to change leadership
  • crew resource management aviation
  • leadership lessons from aviation
  • psychological safety in organisations
  • inclusive leadership behaviours
  • change management frameworks
  • leading change under pressure
  • people centric leadership

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