What is “a good CFI”?
Lesson #4: Have the Difficult Discussions
“Have the difficult discussions” is another way of saying provide meaningful and actionable feedback. I phrased in that way because it’s more challenging to take the time and deliver feedback in a way that’s well-received by your students and in a way that they can use it. After a training flight, it’s a lot easier to say, “good job, see you tomorrow” or “yeah, you still have some work to do.” But that doesn’t help your students. It only makes your life easier and it’s not about you – it’s about your students.
It’s important to take the time to have these post-training event discussions, ground lesson or flight lesson, with your students because it will help them grow and develop. And they will appreciate and respect you for it. I had one student who was working towards his Private Pilot certificate because his goal was to fly recreationally. He had a career in corporate America, but after I provided him some feedback one day after a flight, he thanked me and said, “Man, I wish people at my job provided feedback like this. How am I supposed to get better if I don’t know what I need to work on?”
I understand it’s challenging and sometimes you don’t want to offend someone or hurt his/her feelings, but you’re actually doing that person a disservice by denying him/her feedback. All it takes is consistent, 5-10 minute post-training discussions. Just like anything in life, the more you do it the easier it gets. And this ties into Lesson #1 in this series about caring about your students. Each student will receive feedback differently, so factor that into the equation before you open your mouth. Your goal is for your students to listen to and understand what you’re saying and you need to provide them with steps & instructions on how to improve themselves. Here’s a brief example of providing just a little bit more to help your students. Instead of saying, “your steep turns can be better, but you’ll get there,” be more specific. Say, “You’re having trouble maintaining your altitude during your steep turns. I noticed you weren’t using trim. When you use trim during steep turns, you won’t have to conduct as many pitch corrections during the maneuver. You won’t be pushing forward and pulling back on the yoke as much and we can focus more on maintaining your bank angle and smoothly rolling out on your heading. So, when we fly again tomorrow let’s use trim and see if that helps you.” Just a little bit extra will go a long way. Succinct, direct, and actionable. And done so in a manner your student will appreciate.
If you haven’t already, I can assure you that you will run into other instructors who’ll say, “just tell your students that they screwed up. It’s not your job to be their friends.” That’s fair and in some cases it may work. You may actually have students who appreciate feedback delivered in that manner. In those cases, by all means – have at it! But I’m willing to bet that 90% of people don’t respond well to that kind of communication. Yelling at people and being demanding can create tension in the cockpit and that’s a recipe for failure or worse. It’s also not a way to earn respect, and I’ve seen it dozens of times… as soon as that dictator-like instructor leaves the room, people start laughing at him behind his back. That type of behavior isn’t professional either, but a militant approach can create those types of unprofessional environments.
Again, it’s up to you to determine your own style, but if you want your students to grow & develop, take the time and have those difficult discussions.
So as this series progresses, continually ask yourself – what kind of CFI do you want to be?
I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them. If you have any questions or feedback please send The Flight Attitude a message via our contact form: https://www.theflightattitude.com/contact-us/
