CEOs: look around at the people in your organization and answer me this: how fearful are they?
On a scale of professional courage, with Terrified at 1 and Reckless at 5, where do most of your people fall? Are they 4, Brave? Are they 2, Timid?
Leaders often tell me, "I wish my people were more entrepreneurial!" It makes me wonder. If you're a leader, ask yourself this: how committed are you to your people really, truly taking risks and sometimes (often?) falling flat on their faces? What happens to them when they do get it wrong?
In its infancy, Jet Blue faced a powerful test of its culture. In theory, in training, in branding, CEO David Neeleman told his staff and the world, my people have the latitude to make grown-up decisions on the spot in order to serve our customers.
Sure enough, not long into operations, one of its planes was grounded by weather in another city, and an entire flight full of passengers was in danger of being bumped. No worries, though! Taking his training at face-value, a ticket agent solved this potential brand-basher the best way he could think of. He walked down the counter to his competition and bought tickets on the next flight for every one of his passengers. To the tune of $160,000.
Stop right there. What would your company do if one of its front-line employees made a decision on his own to spend $160,000 of your company's funds? Seriously. I think we all know the answer.
...But here's what his JetBlue supervisors did: nothing. And here's what Neeleman did when he found out: he teased the agent. That's it. He just gulped, and laughed, and made a joke of it.
It turns out, there was an empty JetBlue plane right at his airport. If the agent had been a bit more resourceful collecting information before he acted, he could have found this out and saved his company five or six times his annual salary. But he didn't. He was on the spot and he did his best. Big oops. So JetBlue turned it into a teachable moment.
What did it teach? Well, for one, collect more information. Call up the ladder if you have to, even if it's after most supervisors' work hours. That's the easy part.
The more complex, and much more important, lessons this taught? One, JetBlue would not let its customers down. It would go to heroic lengths to do right by them.
And two, JetBlue would not let its people down. It would not leave them out to dry if they made a less-than-stellar choice. Instead, it would stand by them; maybe the CEO would razz you if you made a costly error, but your job would never be in jeopardy for sticking your neck out and trying to do your best.
Let's compare this example with something I heard from another front line employee at a different company just this week. We'll call her Sandra. And for context, this particular worker is the number one performer in her entire organization, of over one hundred people who perform her role.
"I don't post much on our internal blog. You can't be too careful, you know."
You can't be too careful. Hmn. Of what? Of expressing your opinion? To your coworkers? Really?
Let's leave it here for now. I want you to think long and hard about Sandra's words. About where she's coming from. And about what your own folks are saying, and thinking, and doing, and not doing, at your firm every day. About the type of talent you're attracting, and growing, and keeping, and driving away.
Fear kills.
Your comments are very important to me.
*****
For a related post on the dangers of negative emotions at work, read What's Really Dragging Your Business Down.
Hi Ted,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. And, an excellent example!
It's the first time I've heard of a company that would even allow a front-line employee to make that kind of decision. Wow!
I especially liked your initial question to leaders who SAY that they want employees to have more initiative. Unfortunately, it's extremely rare for them to mean what they say...
We should all mean what we say, say what we mean and DO what we say. Integrity and transparency are necessary for respect and trust to develop.
But, leaders didn't need (or want) respect, trust, initiative, etc. in 20th century business. Leaders need to learn that we're now in the 21st century.
Thanks!
Eric
@ericjacques
What a terrific lesson, Ted. I find that in the best performing cultures, two things blissfully co-exist: alignment about what's expected and freedom to act.
ReplyDelete"Fear kills." A sharp, clear way of reminding us that people - and the organizations they live in - need to breathe to be their best.
LCI
Culture is key. It either gives people the confidence to do the right thing, or the insecurity/fear to put rules above doing the right thing. How a company treats its customers starts from within.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Ted. If you truly want your employees to be empowered, you have to allow them to make - and LEARN - from their mistakes. For most leaders, this is lip service.
ReplyDeleteGreat post indeed! I had never heard of this JetBlue tale! The employee should have been promoted just based on capital thinking and cowboy tactics!
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Ted. I love the Jet Blue story! Goes to show that it doesn't take two guys with briefcases and a synchronized key-turn to make important decisions. The freedom to act on the spot is greatly appreciated by any front-line employee who truly wants to help their customers.
ReplyDeleteAs for Sandra, I sympathize with that kind of fear. My last employer had policy when I was there; Talk about work, say anything negative about the product or customers, even if no one knows you work there, and you're canned. It was paralyzing. My new digs is much more relaxed, with the simple guideline of common sense. Works for me.
So, when I started my new job here, about two years ago, I wanted to move mountains and light fires under the asses of management. I wasn't afraid to stand up at big meetings and talk about what I want to see changed. Being an entry level guy, that sort of thing was a little nerve wracking, but I was confident that at least I could make myself heard.
There was no reprimand from that. Instead, word filtered down the line through my supervisor that I need to work on my public speaking, and maybe my word choice. With a little coaching I'm hoping to work from being just a loudmouth to an actual innovator in the company.
In the meantime, we've really embraced employee feedback with an internal blog, forums and a wiki we're connecting everyone and soliciting ideas from about 13,000 other possible innovators. For a company that comes from the legacy days, living in fear of cigar-chomping warlord CEOs, that's quite a culture shift!
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI cannot think however that the JetBlue example is both good and bad. Great that the agent could make a decision on the spot and provide a solution to the customers. However, fact that he was able to make $160,000 purchase without anyone else in company required to approve is just bad business sense. There should be some point of collaboration/consultation to prevent costly decision mistakes.
I am sure the reason he was not reprimanded are multifaceted - 1> He acted on the company culture of finding a solution no matter what 2> He was successful in providing great customer satisfaction and WOW factor 3> He had the ability to make the purchases - hmm should he have had that?
As a Manager I think he had TOO much ability to make those purchases. Learning point for management level. He would have had to dig to find that empty jet that could have been used - if that information had been available to him in an easier format, without having to dig , he would have been able to make that decision. OR - at least he should have been able to run idea past other colleagues or manager with immediate response. Costly learning point for all.
Myself when empowering staff to provide the BEST Customer Experience, I also train common sense and when to seek out approval and collaboration. What if no one available? Well, that also is required to be put into place. And when in place demonstrates that the culture is top down and bottom up.
The other example is very common in many industries currently - fear of speaking out. There are still many companies and managers that believe staff need to have fear to be productive. Similar to old parenting practices that preached children should always have some fear of their parents. Of course this stifles innovation and change by making continual improvement - as well as a whole plethora of other human relationship mistakes.
I applaud JetBlue for taking the step to provide the culture to act on the spot. Now where are the checkpoints and collaboration. Such as what if - the agent was able to get David Neeleman directly on the phone and within 5 minutes be provided with fact that the empty jet was being readied to transport the stranded customers? WOW - I would be impressed. And the agent would still be empowered and additional support and ability to get instant assistance/collaboration would benefit all.
Empowerment does not mean the employee is an island and working alone, but should be culture of entire team working together to provide the BEST Customer Experience.
Good learning points and discussion. Culture-shift doesn't go without some mistakes being made, but simple safeguards in place and community within company can prevent costly mistakes.
Hi Ted,
ReplyDeleteYou have touched one deep truth -- many leaders say they want their teams to be more entrepreneurial yet they don't want them to take a risk!
The processes, the systems, the rules, the messages from leaders are mostly contrary to their claim of wanting more entrepreneurial. In customer service they script reps to reduce risk and then wonder why customers rank the experience less than great.
On teams, leaders often are in telling mode and sometimes even retaliate against staff who offer opinions different from theirs.
Admittedly, there are leaders that "get it" and truly encourage, develop, and recognize unique ideas. Our economy and future depends on this growing even stronger.
Great post. I will RT on Twitter!
Kate Nasser
Ted,
ReplyDeleteFantastic story from Jet Blue.
Sterling example of employee empowerment.
It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings, "Many want to go to heaven . . . few are willing to pay the price".
Empowering to the tune of $150K is beyond impressive. If that's not paying the price and walking the talk, I don't know what is.
Best,
Stan
@9inchmarketing
'The longest and hardest 9 inches in marketing . . . is the journey between the brain and heart'