Training, Performance & Human Factors - Articles for Endurance Athletes

This month I’ve had quite a focus on adapting to change. I’ve introduced my ADAPT model , looked into why we as humans are resistant to change and how change helps athletes to improve their performance . Now I’m taking my own advice and pausing to see how I’m making changes to continue growing as a coach and athlete. In the past, I’ve worked with a triathlon coach who got me over that initial hurdle of juggling three sports in one event, and we worked well together over this

In high-stakes environments - like aviation, emergency response, sport, and leadership - we talk a lot about situational awareness. But too often, we only talk about it after it disappears. One moment you're tuned in. The next? You miss a cue, overlook a signal, or lose track of what matters most. So why does situational awareness fade? And more importantly, how can we rebuild it when the pressure’s on? 1. Situational Awareness Isn’t a Switch - It’s a System Situational awar

I joined the RAF back in 2016, after the findings of Haddon-Cave’s Nimrod review . The changes to culture were already well and truly progressing, and by the time I had completed training, I was in an organisation that was living and breathing Just culture. Whether everything was spot on is a different discussion, but I hadn’t experienced life before. Flying training through a civilian school showcased a different attitude to culture in aviation Creating this Just Culture do

In today’s fast-paced world, we send more messages - but understand less. Whether it’s a WhatsApp from a coach, a safety note in aviation, or an email to your boss, written communication is efficient… until it isn’t. Without tone, context, or instant feedback, even well-intentioned messages can cause confusion, mistrust, or worse - critical mistakes. In high-stakes environments, relying solely on written communication isn’t just risky - it’s reckless . The Illusion of Clarity

In aviation, sport, and leadership, few things erode trust faster than blame. In high-performance environments, where human error is inevitable, the way we respond matters more than the error itself. This article explores how blame destroys psychological safety, how Just Culture offers a better path, and why distinguishing between honest mistakes, risk-taking, and negligence is crucial for any high-performing team. This was the Mansfield 10k back in September 2024. I was in d

As human beings, we are all fallible. Mistakes occur, despite knowing every Human Factor at play and identifying the potential for errors to creep into our daily avtivities. Still, they happen. In the complex and high-stakes world of aviation, safety is the top priority. To maintain and continuously improve this safety, the aviation industry relies not only on technology, regulation, and training but also on culture. One concept that has emerged as a cornerstone of modern saf

How many times do we see it in our day-to-day lives? Whether its an email to our boss that they took the wrong way, or a text to a family member where our dry sense of humour is misconstrued for being confrontational, we find that communication breaks down quite frequently. As it happens, that second one happens far too often between my mum and I… Despite technological advancements and decades of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, communication failures in aviation are

While flying recently, I was handling the aircraft on an instrument approach in for a touch and go. I was wearing the oxygen mask, as we had practiced the smoke and fumes drill, and I hadn’t landed wearing the mask for a while. It was a good training opportunity, however in itself it provided a bit of a distraction. Additionally, the weather was quite poor, and the cloud base was close to the minima for the approach. On reflection, it was one of those approaches where the hol

Communication always comes with its challenges, but there are ways we can overcome these and avoid ambiguity.

Investigating accidents and incidents serves one sole purpose; to identify the causes and prevent recurrence. Over time, this data can be analysed to identify common issues and precursors to events, which could be used to predict cases of human error in the future. It’s not quite as cut and dry as it sounds, but human behaviour is actually surprisingly predictable. The US military have used this concept to devise an AI programme called Raven Sentry , which was employed in Afg

In most walks of life, people find themselves in high pressure situations. This often builds over time, with increasing workload, or responsibilities, at home or at work. Pressure builds and people’s fight, flight or freeze (also known as the acute stress response ) kicks in. Some crumble under the stress, some thrive and use it to motivate them. However, the aviation domain is one where pressure does not always build consistently. The Yerkes-Dodson Law, also referred to as t

I’m not always making errors; despite whatever picture these articles may appear to paint. But I am open about them, as I genuinely believe that’s the only way to prevent their re-occurrence. That being said, the latest slip came just last week. While deployed, we have air conditioning carts to keep the aircraft cool before we start engines. As it was being moved to our other aircraft, my captain (in the left-hand seat) was telling me to check out on the right that the cart w

Sitting in a Grob 115A cockpit, at the hold on an empty airfield I ran through the pre-take-off checklist. It was my first time taking a passenger flying, after completing RAF flying training and finishing off the final elements of my civilian licence. I was eager to get airborne, and although there was no pressure to get going, I did feel the pressure of the responsibility of someone else’s life who didn’t have a clue how the aircraft worked. I’d only ever flown next to an i