Perseverance, Teamwork, and an Openness to Learn Are Key to Effective ALPA Leadership
By Capt. Bill Couette, ALPA Vice President–Administration/Secretary
Effective leadership takes perseverance, teamwork, and an openness to learn. This is one of the key takeaways I always emphasize to the elected status reps and local executive council (LEC) officers who attend ALPA’s annual Leadership Training Conference.
Reflecting on my 16 years as vice president–administration/secretary, fostering those leadership qualities continues to be critical to our strategic goal of enhancing the professional development of current and future ALPA members by promoting, inspiring, and supporting an accessible and sustainable airline piloting career.
Over this period, ALPA has persevered, evolving in response to the dynamic changes in our industry, our union, and our profession. For example, in 2009, the Professional Development Group (PDG) was established to harmonize the activities of the Education, Membership, and Leadership Committees. In my role as PDG coordinator, I oversee programs, training, and other initiatives that capitalize on the synergy among these three committees to mentor and guide ALPA pilots from the time they first aspire to an aviation career to their retirement. I’ve been fortunate to work closely with a fantastic group of pilots who serve on these committees and the staff who support them.
Together with the Leadership Committee, we’ve modified the Leadership Training Conference agenda to meet the needs of the current generation of pilot leaders. Using pilot feedback from the conference evaluations, we’ve added more interactive, hands-on breakout sessions and networking opportunities to promote collaboration among pilot leaders from different airlines and enhance coordination with subject-matter experts from ALPA staff and various committees.
Building a network of contacts is especially important for status reps and local council officers. Their pilots look to them as a resource to take care of issues and resolve problems. Having those relationships with peers and staff enables reps to share their experiences dealing with similar situations. Knowing who to call when you have a question or need support is vital to conducting union business effectively.
We reinforce that teamwork concept in training segments that detail the Association’s successful team approach—the powerful combination of ALPA pilot leaders and staff—in collective bargaining and contract enforcement, representing pilots during disciplinary investigations, consensus decision-making, building pilot group unity, and much more.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to educate elected leaders on the LEC and master executive council (MEC) levels about the essential resources and support available to them as union leaders. To that end, we expanded the training programs to include additional Leadership Training Conferences to accommodate status reps elected outside of the standard three-year cycle that begins March 1 each year, MEC officer orientations that are tailored for each pilot group, and leadership onboarding for new pilot groups’ temporary representatives. These are all initiatives that came from ALPA’s strategic plan formulated and adopted by the Board of Directors.
One of the most exciting aspects of working with the Leadership Committee has been getting to know the current and upcoming group of elected pilot leaders. They’re young, energetic, enthusiastic, and tech savvy. With pilots moving from one airline to another more frequently now, many of them are taking office without prior experience. But that hasn’t deterred them. As technology evolves, they come up with some pretty innovative ideas and will work on something until they’ve got it, demonstrating an openness to learn.
My advice for pilots interested in doing ALPA work is to follow the lead of these new pilot reps. Get involved: attend local council meetings, become informed, and vote. And if you have something to offer, step up—volunteer, run for office.
Yes, being an effective ALPA rep takes effort. It takes listening. It takes being open to new ideas, to learning. It definitely takes teamwork! But as I’ve experienced over 30 years serving on the local level and working on national issues and now as a national officer in four administrations, the rewards of the job—making it better for not only the pilots of one local council, but also the entire pilot group, the Association, and the profession as a whole—are well worth it.
