When companies across the country slashed expenses and overhead in the wake of the Great Recession, many chose to cut back (or eliminate) their corporate flight departments. While the operating environment is generally less stressful today, the impetus remains for these operations to consistently demonstrate the value they bring to their companies, and one way to do that is for the flight department to understand the company’s goals and demonstrate how it facilitates accomplishing them.

The mission of NBAA’s annual leadership conference is to empower flight department managers to move beyond the hangar–where they’re often most comfortable–and into the unfamiliar environment of company headquarters. The event acknowledges, as Dustin Cordier, a member of NBAA’s business aviation management committee and v-p of sales at jetAviva, told AIN, that “Aviation requires a vast amount of technical expertise, and that does not necessarily translate into management expertise.” He added, “Flight department leaders must learn to manage not only down the chain–the people within their own department–but also up the chain. They must also manage their own boss, other executives and the board.”

Drawing from his own experiences in the U.S. Air Force, Cordier pointed to a number of lessons he has shared with flight department managers to employ when speaking with company executives. Cordier suggested managers draw from the goals shared in their company’s annual report to better understand how their flight department is measured against them.

“If I’m a supervisor and my flight department comes to me demonstrating that level of understanding, I realize that I now have an ally toward accomplishing my own goals,” he added. “That shifts my perception of the department; what may have only been a huge cost center to manage is now an important asset toward achieving strategic corporate goals.”

The flight department and its leadership “can’t become invisible,” he continued. “Participate in meetings, and be active in them. Invite your bosses into your flight department [so that] you establish a good relationship and are able then to promote your department upstream. This allows you to lead your bosses, indirectly, and influence them about your department’s capabilities and needs through their own filter.”

In addition to reaching existing department managers, such lessons are also important for flight department employees as they progress through their careers and ultimately into managerial roles. Bill Baldwin, aviation manager for J.W. Childs Associates, reflected on how attendance has evolved since he [along with MD Aviation’s Ed White] hosted the 2008 conference.

 “We had a lot of department managers at that event, but our primary aim was to draw both existing and aspiring leaders within our industry to provoke thought about how we approached everyday business at a high level,” Baldwin said. “Looking across the room now, I see established leaders sitting alongside those who are just opening the doors to their future. That’s exciting.”