In 2023 we began an ambitious three-year journey to ensure ICAO is fit for the future. Our goal is to become more results-driven with a people-focused culture and way of working. We want to be transparent, accountable, efficient, and value-guided, and ensure that we are innovative and agile. We are at the halfway point of this journey, we wanted to sit down with ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar to discuss the progress so far.
Q: Mr. Salazar, thank you for joining us. To begin, we should probably ask why you decided to embark on this transformation journey?
JCS: The aviation industry is facing unparalleled changes and challenges that are driven by the unprecedented speed of innovation, the heightened awareness, and the need to improve resilience in the wake of global public health emergencies, and the climate crisis, which is, in fact, just one of the environmental challenges we face. We launched this journey to equip ICAO with the capabilities and capacities it needs to tackle the issues and opportunities more effectively, to ensure we can unite and lead the aviation community towards a safe, secure, and sustainable future.
Q: ICAO has named this its “Transformational Objective.” How would you describe the overall progress towards it so far?
JCS: We’ve seen a lot of early achievements in all areas: people and culture, digital and operations. This reflects our collective passion, hard work, and dedication to our vision for the organization. Our first 12 months were focused on setting the foundations. We now look forward to seeing more tangible results from implementation, and soon. We are going to accelerate our efforts, with the changes bringing exciting opportunities for growth, innovation, and personal development for ICAO personnel. It’s about building upon the spirit of collaboration and excellence that defines the Organization worldwide.
Q: What key achievements or milestones that have been reached at this halfway point?
JCS: I am so proud of the hard work of all our colleagues and immensely thankful for their continuous dedication. For me, the highlights so far have been the development, approval, and launch of our ambitious People First Strategy and the progress in our digital transformation, especially in information security. We have also launched our new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system project and have the approval to launch several new policies and strategies that will enable us to build on these strong foundations. We’ve made significant progress with our project for managing our Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). This will improve the efficiency, transparency and business intelligence of the SARPs process, not only for development and updates, but also for consultation and analytics.
Q: How well are we tracking against the initial goals and objectives set for the Transformational Objective?
JCS: We began this journey with four concrete goals: improved collaboration with stakeholders, a transformational shift in our work culture, enhanced efficiencies of our internal operations, and simplified processes. We’re making steady progress in each area. Out of our 38 projects nine have already been successfully completed while a further 20 are in full implementation.
Collaboration with stakeholders has strengthened, particularly through transparent communication and engagement, but also through policy work on agreements with third parties and the implementation of a state-of-the-art customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Our culture transformation is underway with several initiatives that further promote integrity, enhanced inclusivity, and encourage innovation.
In terms of simplification, we are working on an Implementation Support model to promote a more efficient and unified One-ICAO approach to support States with their aviation-related needs. The establishment of an enterprise-wide business process management system, employing the Kaizen methodology, to continuously improve internal processes, will support this simplification, particularly with the implementation of new technologies and streamlined workflows.
Q: What are the most valuable lessons earned from the transformation journey so far?
JCS: Our transformation journey has taught us several valuable lessons. The importance of a clear vision and communication cannot be overstated. It is crucial that we ensure everyone understands, and is aligned, with our objectives. Strong leadership commitment has driven the initiative forward and has inspired confidence. We’ve also learned the significance of engaging our employees at all levels to gain their buy-in and valuable feedback. Flexibility and adaptability have been key in navigating challenges, while celebrating even incremental wins, has kept morale high. Lastly, routinely analyzing where our priorities lie and where our resources can be the most effective, has been fundamental in sustaining our progress. This has relied on solid portfolio management and governance for the implementation of projects.
Q: Recognizing that long-standing practices can make change difficult, how do you get people to embrace new initiatives and remain open-minded about adopting new ways of doing things?
JCS: Just because we have always done things one way, doesn’t mean there aren’t better, more efficient ways of doing things. We have to focus on clear and consistent communication about the benefits and necessity of these changes. We also have to involve employees and stakeholders at all levels in the transformation process, ensuring their voices are heard and their feedback is integrated in our plans. We have to equip people with the skills and knowledge needed to adapt to new methods. By highlighting success stories and incremental wins we can demonstrate the positive impact of these changes, which in turn helps to build confidence and commitment across the organization.
Q: What are your expectations for the second half of the Transformational Objective?
JCS: As we move into the second half of our journey, I anticipate an acceleration in implementation across all transformation areas—people, digital, and operations. We’re working hard to become a results-based organization. This is already evident in our new business plan and budget structuring for the next triennium, which follow a results-based management approach. The introduction of our Corporate Performance Monitoring and Reporting Tool marks a significant leap in how we measure success, enabling us to track progress and make informed decisions.
While we are likely to see many project objectives realized, it’s important to note that some of the positive effects of the Transformational Objective may only become gradually and fully visible over time after it concludes.
Q: We thank you for your insight and time, Secretary General.
ICAO’s transformation journey has been made possible by the trust and support invested in our Organization by a growing number of Member States who have contributed voluntarily to ICAO for the Transformational Objective, including financial support from Austria, Canada, Qatar, the seven NORDICAO States, Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, as well as expert secondments from Brazil, Canada and the United States. The successful completion of the Transformational Objective has called for sustained support over our three-year implementation period (2023 – 2025). If you are interested in joining these efforts, we invite you to reach out directly to our transformation team. Together, we will reinforce and expand the value ICAO can bring to the world, ensuring that the Organization remains prepared for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow’s aviation ecosystem.
