Everyone has their own idea of what change management is. At the Foundation staff meetings, I continue to inform our staff of pertinent information that affects us. I consider you, our readers and members, part of the Foundation audience. Change management processes may include creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, but also deep social understanding about leadership’s styles and group dynamics.
As a visible track on transformation projects, organizational change management aligns groups’ expectations, communicates, integrates teams and manages people’s training. It uses performance metrics, such as financial results, operational efficiency, leadership commitment, communication effectiveness and the perceived need for change, to design appropriate strategies for avoiding change failures or solving troubled change projects. (Credit goes to Wikipedia for the last three sentences.)
In keeping with my common theme through the past articles I have written for AeroSafety World, I want to inform you of another change you may have noticed with this issue. Jay Donoghue, our editor-in-chief and publisher of ASW, has left the halls of the Foundation for retirement and soaring in the blue skies. Jay came to the Foundation more than five years ago, and changed how we handled our publications. There were many individual bulletins and publications, but no real magazine. He took a vision that he had, along with a very talented staff of editors and graphic production specialists, and created one of the most respected safety publications in aviation. ASW has become a treasure trove of reference material for aviation and safety professionals. The Foundation will be ever thankful to Jay for establishing that benchmark.
But as I said in the opening paragraph, change is taking place and you need to be aware of it. Beginning with this issue our new director of publications and editor-in-chief is Frank Jackman, taking over the control yoke from Jay. Frank came to us from Aviation Week, where he most recently was the managing editor of civil aviation for the Aviation Week Intelligence Network. He brings 29 years of experience in a wide range of media, including newspapers, magazines and web-based news. Besides his excellent credentials, he will bring a complementary perspective to ASW and put some of the next-generation touches on it.
I have given him clearance to make those changes he and the staff would like to do, in order to keep the magazine fresh and relevant. One of the areas of change you will notice in future issues will be more emphasis on our different membership groups such as airports and maintenance. One other attribute that Frank brings to the Foundation is his desire to help make a difference in the Foundation and aviation safety as a whole. With his passion and background, I am sure we will see ASW continue to fly even higher.
As the Foundation moves through its 65th year, we are enjoying some of our past achievements, and looking forward to the new ones. Stand by for more changes so we can continue to serve you and our industry well!