Decisions under Pressure: How Stress Affects Decision-Making

stress management decision-making skills pressure pilots maintenance staff

Decisions under Pressure: How Stress Affects Decision-Making

Every day, aviation professionals must make informed, safe, and efficient decisions. Coupled with a high-stakes and high-stress operational environment, decision-making becomes a crucial skill to possess and execute. Can your decisions stand the pressure?

The job of a pilot, cabin crew member, or aircraft mechanics encompasses making split-second judgements and decisions which ensure and enhance safety and efficiency. One wrong decision can mean the difference between safety and catastrophe.

The question is what happens when stress is added to the situation? How do we react when stress enters the cockpit or hangar? And how does stress influence our ability to make decisions?

Stress: Buzzword or Bodily Safeguard?

Everyone knows the word ‘stress’. You may have even grasped the concept of stress. Perhaps you have experienced stress yourself.

Essentially, stress is a natural bodily response to perceived dangers and threats. In some cases, stress reactions generate positive results such as enhanced performance, increased focus, and quicker and more informed decision-making.

However, stress becomes dangerous when the condition escalates into a chronic-like state. In that case, stress inhibits decision-making and increases the risk of making dangerous or fatal decisions.

Read more: Fight, Flight, or Freeze: How Does Your Body React to Stress?

How Does Stress Affect Decisions?

When the body is under pressure – or experiences high levels of stress – the ability to make safe and efficient decisions is affected, both cognitively and emotionally.

Stress may lead to:

Quick, impulsive, or faulty decisions devoid of thorough analysis and consideration
Narrow focus and lack of concern for crucial details
Excessive caution which creates mental paralysis and prevents the necessary actions
Disrupted judgements and misinterpretations of the perceived threat

How to Make Better Choices under Pressure…

But how can you counter the effects of stress?

First of all, it is important to address the impact stress can have on decision-making. This makes it easier to execute strategies that enable us to make safer and more efficient decisions under pressure – and during times of stress.

As a professional within aviation, it is crucial to:

Introduce scenario-based and interactive training of non-technical skills and human factors
Implement protocols for crisis management which present clear decision-making strategies and stress management techniques
Facilitate an open and effective communication climate among team members
Make time for evaluation and reflection which can improve future decision-making in high-stress situations

Stress – An Unpredictable Compass

Given that decisions must often be made in a stressful and unpredictable environment, it is crucial to employ strategies to counter the negative consequences.

Stress is an inevitable passenger in every cockpit or hangar, but pilots and maintenance staff should not let stress take control.

Essentially, understanding the dynamics between decision-making and stress is crucial to ensuring safety and efficiency in the operational environment.