Sunday, March 23, 2003

War and North American Airlines - Why Southwest Airlines is Different I suspect that an important casualty of this war will be the traditional North American "Full Service" airline. I suspect that they cannot be reformed as their basic flaw is one of culture. Yes Southwest have a number of operational differences such as a one model fleet, no hubs, no expensive reservation system and so on. But the real difference is in managerial culture. Southwest is where "Servant Leadership" is exemplified. Where the senior guys take the first pay cuts. Where staffing is mainly on attitude etc.  "They don't' have a unions" you say. But Southwest is 85% unionized - they have different relationship with their unions. “Southwest’s secret is simple…You fly one type of plane, you concentrate on short, point to point routes, you don’t serve food and you don’t assign seats”. Kelleher slammed his fist down on the desk “Anyone can copy that, and they have. But they can’t copy the culture!” Here is what the Chairman of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, thinks about this point. “Manage in good times to prepare for bad times. To succeed in today’s marketplace, the company cross trains employees  and increases their skill base so that individuals at all levels can take personal responsibility for keeping the company marketable, for maintaining high trust relationships, and identifying effective options for dealing with transitions.” In addition Kelleher and his leadership team inspire loyalty by communicating openly and truthfully with their staff, respecting the life work balance and fostering continuous learning. Southwest employees know that their voice matters and that they can implement new programs, make decisions and help customers in times of need. A guiding principle is: if you use your best judgment to do what is right, your leaders will stand behind you. Donna Conover, EVP Customer Service (an interesting tile in itself) at Southwest Airlines explains that the company has high expectations for each employee: “Just doing your job well does not make you a good employee. The attitude and spirit towards others complete the needs the company has of the Employee. As leaders if we allow lack of teamwork or low productivity, we are being unfair to the rest of the team”. My bet is that United and Air Canada will be gone in 6 months. For us in Canada this will leave a huge vacuum. The worst move would be to prop up the Zombie. The best would be to allow the vacuum to be filled by a new system. The key will be culture 11:30:46 AM    comment []