I’m a Southwest geek. There, I admit it. Five years ago, I made fun of Southwest passengers, and their boarding rituals of lining up like a bunch of second graders getting ready for recess. I raised my nose at the idea of not having a first class cabin. Living in Orlando, I couldn’t imagine flying with all those casual flyers and their dozens of kids. I was a Delta snob, and I was proud of it.
Then, one day I received an offer from Southwest to earn A-List status by only flying three roundtrips during the next few months. Since I’m also a status geek, I did it … and I’ve never looked back. Today, I’m the guy that shows up at the gate 90 minutes before take-off, asking who has A18. I’m the guy who sizes up the passengers in front of him to determine who else could possibly take the exit row seat with no seat in front of it. I’m the guy that’s looking at the plane on the way down the tunnel to see if it’s a new model that has two of those seats, because then it’s completely different strategy of seat selection. Yep, I’m that guy.
On Monday of this week, I flew to Toronto on Air Canada. As I drove to the airport, I realized I had a couple checks to deposit, so I casually stopped at the bank ATM. I also made a pit stop at 7-Eleven to pick up some protein bars for my trip (they have terrible protein bars in Canada). I strolled into the parking garage about 55 minutes before take-off, and hung out in my parked car for a couple of minutes to hear the last part of a Mike & Mike segment. There was no rush. After all, I had my seat assignment already. I showed up at the gate at the very last minute with about a dozen others. When we boarded, they had to gate check our bags because there was no room for any more carry-ons. I finally got to my seat two minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. It didn’t matter – we took off about 15 minutes late.
From these two scenarios, it’s obvious why Southwest seems to have the record for most on-time departures every single year. Southwest rewards their passengers to check in and arrive early for their flights. Most of the time, Southwest planes are fully boarded 20 minutes before take-off time. While the dozen or so Air Canada employees were working hard to get our flight away on schedule, Southwest has their employees and 140 or so passengers working together for the same objective. Do the math: 12 employees or 150 or so people working toward the same goal – which one has a better chance of achieving their objective?
So, what lessons can a leader learn from Southwest?
If you empower your people to help you reach your objective instead of telling them what to do, you’ll have a much better probability of winning. For example, a sales manager that presents a sales strategy to his team and tells them to move forward with the plan will have a much smaller probability of succeeding that one that engages her team in building the strategy in the first place. The latter team will have a much better plan because of the various ideas from multiple people rather than just one manager. Also, the sales people will feel some ownership in the plan. I actually feel like I’m part of the team when I’m on a Southwest flight because they need and expect me to show up early – and will reward me for it.
So, next time you’re trying to bang out a large initiative and are concerned about delegating or asking for any input, imagine the few Air Canada employees trying to get that flight departed on schedule vs. a Southwest flight that has all the passengers and staff working in line for the same purpose. Engage your people, ask them for ideas, and give them ownership in the outcome.
