NBAA’s Updated Management Guide: The Flight Plan for Today’s Workplace Leaders

More than ever, flight departments mirror the business practices of well-managed companies – a reality reflected in the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA’s) newly updated Management Guide, the industry’s preeminent source for aviation team leadership, now available exclusively to association members online. 

“Flight department personnel are expected to reflect company priorities and values, establish and measure key business objectives and evolve to meet emerging challenges and opportunities,” said Bill Riter, CAM, aviation department manager for Rich Products Corporation, and chair of the NBAA Management Tools Subcommittee, which produced the updated guide. 

“The 2024 edition of this authoritative resource equips professionals for today’s dynamic business environment by bringing together the industry’s collective wisdom on long-standing operational best practices. Equally important, it provides guidance on present-day considerations, including workplace diversity, employee work-life balance, ethical business transactions and other managerial concerns.”

Riter noted that the new Management Guide is now offered solely in electronic format, making it available anywhere, for an industry that is mobile by definition. “The approach also allows for continuous updates to the resource,” Riter said. “For example, hyperlinks are now incorporated into expertise provided throughout the guide, for ease of accessing the most updated information, at the desk, or on the go.

Notably, the guide now optimally aligns with the Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) program domains, known as the blueprint for the CAM exam — an important tool for those preparing for NBAA’s CAM designation, a credential accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies for excellence in setting the standard for excellence in business aviation leadership.

View the updated NBAA Management Guide.   

The new edition of the guide includes a forward from association President and CEO Ed Bolen, who notes that the resource adheres to NBAA’s broader mission to serve the needs of professionals in all member flight departments, regardless of an operation’s type, size or core function.

For example, in addition to the NBAA Management Guide and CAM designation, the association produces the annual NBAA Leadership Conference, which focuses on the fundamentals of leadership; offers the NBAA Professional Development Program, which helps business aviation professionals ascend in their careers by preparing them for management roles within their companies; and provides more than $100,000 each year in NBAA Scholarships to help professionals ascend in their aviation careers.