In the past month, I’ve been to New Orleans twice using three different airlines. Two of the airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines departed from Hartford, Connecticut’s Bradley International and both used the same shiny new and roomy 737s. But that’s where the similarities ended. The American Airline’s experience was miserable. Southwest on the other hand was more than pleasant. So what gives?
Answer is a single simple one. American Airlines employees were miserable and rude. Southwest employees seemed to actually be having fun, infectious fun. I’m never flying American again. If I have to pay a premium, so be it. I’m flying Southwest. I want to have fun and not be miserable.
So I’ve identified the WHAT made the difference. But WHY is the larger business question. Why are the Southwest folks so much nicer? I checked the southwest web site and found this under the title, The Southwest Experience:
Well mission accomplished guys! But I’m still wondering how the hell do you do that in such a difficult industry for folks to work in. I called the company and talked to a service representative who told me some interesting stuff. She started with a fairly pat answer about employee centered business operations. But after being pressed a bit, she said in her opinion, she was happy at Southwest primarily because she and every other employee there was treated with respect. “Everyone is an equal at the company” she continued from pilot to baggage claim. She then gave me a number to get some employee training information and called immediately.
The Southwest representative I spoke with was extremely friendly and helpful. He told me he wanted to talk to me but was extremely busy as the company had just released its earnings report that morning and scheduled a call for later that afternoon. We scheduled a call and did talk later that day. His interview pretty much confirmed that respect for employees was critical. But he went into more details. Having great employees started with hiring great folks. They needed that "glint in the eye" to start with, he explained. After that, training the employee to serve the customer was critical. The job was providing the best experience to the customer and although there were extensive employee duties lists and guidelines employees were give great latitude to take the initiative to further that goal. They were provided the respect and trust required to go beyond the required job duties. He also added, as other employees had, that everyone from CEO to Baggage claim was on a first name basis.
In addition to respect, another word kept coming up in the conversation, "communication". Southwest works hard to include employees in all planning stages of the business and maintain open communications at all levels. And they started a employee blog to facilitate the dialogue. More importantly, they use it. Likewise they take customer input just as seriously.
Harking back to my evolutionary biology perspective, a business is an organism. All the arts have to work well together. If one part fails, the entire organization may as well. At the very least it will falter. If I was to compare Southwest Air to an organism, it would be an athlete. They just do everything right. By the way, they did turn a profit last year.
Full disclosure: I have no interest in Southwest at all. No stocks, no contracts nor relatives or friends working at the business.
Lesson here is that your employees are the foundation your business rests upon and the face of the business for the customer. There's a limit to what you can provide them in terms of pay and benefits. But respect can be supplied in limitless quantities with equally limitless results. A critical factor in providing respect is open communications.
The Southwest representative I spoke with was extremely friendly and helpful. He told me he wanted to talk to me but was extremely busy as the company had just released its earnings report that morning and scheduled a call for later that afternoon. We scheduled a call and did talk later that day. His interview pretty much confirmed that respect for employees was critical. But he went into more details. Having great employees started with hiring great folks. They needed that "glint in the eye" to start with, he explained. After that, training the employee to serve the customer was critical. The job was providing the best experience to the customer and although there were extensive employee duties lists and guidelines employees were give great latitude to take the initiative to further that goal. They were provided the respect and trust required to go beyond the required job duties. He also added, as other employees had, that everyone from CEO to Baggage claim was on a first name basis.
In addition to respect, another word kept coming up in the conversation, "communication". Southwest works hard to include employees in all planning stages of the business and maintain open communications at all levels. And they started a employee blog to facilitate the dialogue. More importantly, they use it. Likewise they take customer input just as seriously.
Harking back to my evolutionary biology perspective, a business is an organism. All the arts have to work well together. If one part fails, the entire organization may as well. At the very least it will falter. If I was to compare Southwest Air to an organism, it would be an athlete. They just do everything right. By the way, they did turn a profit last year.
Full disclosure: I have no interest in Southwest at all. No stocks, no contracts nor relatives or friends working at the business.
Lesson here is that your employees are the foundation your business rests upon and the face of the business for the customer. There's a limit to what you can provide them in terms of pay and benefits. But respect can be supplied in limitless quantities with equally limitless results. A critical factor in providing respect is open communications.
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