Flying an aircraft is a nearly perfect performance management system. First of all, there is always a detailed flight plan so the pilots know the route, destination and are alerted to any weather or airport delay issues. Pilots themselves are thoroughly screened and receive excellent training. They are provided with adequate fuel, hopefully a well maintained aircraft, and other resources like coffee and food. Cockpits are designed with excellent metrics, and gauges allow pilots to review and analyze performance in real time so as to adjust their flight plan and strategy for arriving at the destination on time. Finally, there are pretty severe and personal consequences to making a mistake for a pilot. Bad performance could result in a fiery death and good performance means you get to fly another day. Most pilots I know really enjoy flying. So, there you have a nearly perfect performance management system. If organizations ran this way, we would see a lot better corporate performance.
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