Training: The Key to Keeping Your Head in a Crisis Situation

Abstract

In today's highly competitive fiscal environment, training organizations have to fight for and defend their need for a share of an organization's budget. As a result, training and training‐related activities often are reduced drastically or eliminated—but at what ultimate cost? Training and performance support interventions are required to ensure peak levels of human activities during any situation, and are especially important to ensure personnel are properly prepared and ready to respond to crisis situations. To illustrate this point, this paper will discuss several catastrophes that were averted as a result of well‐trained crews who were ready for the worst possible scenario, including the recent US Airways Airbus A320, which crash‐landed in New York's Hudson River, and the remarkable survival of USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58), the crew of which refused to give up the ship after striking a mine in the Persian Gulf. In addition to examining these scenarios, this paper will discuss why it is important to blend emerging technologies with legacy training methods as a fundamental requirement for designing and developing highly effective learning and performance support interventions for training efforts. We will also discuss the importance of designing and implementing training that both motivates and engages the student, all with a goal of meeting the training needs of today's and tomorrow's 21st‐Century fleet.