Required steps are useful only if they do not obscure the desired outcome.
Mark B., a manager in a large consulting company, was taking the four P.M. flight from New York to Chicago. His plane had already left the gate and was lumbering over to its designated runway. Suddenly_ the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom, announcing: “There is a weather ground stop at O’Hare. At this time, no planes are taking off or landing. Some delays may be possible. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.”
As a passenger, this is a singularly depressing announcement. A ground stop is worse than a cancellation. At least with a cancellation you know for certain that you will have to make other arrangements. With a weather ground stop, who knows what you should do to take control of your situation. You might be delayed for five minutes or two hours. The weather gods are fickle.
So Mark pressed his call button and asked the flight attendant: “Please, do you think we could go back to the gate and deplane?”
The flight attendant had obviously heard this plea before and was already shaking her head. “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t want to miss our Place in line. Besides, you never know when a ground stop will be
Mark smiled weakly and settled down to try to find something to do.
With no computers allowed and one hundred passengers battling for the three phone lines, he opted for a vacant stare out the window. He was still staring three hours later. He had seen squadrons of planes take off, but apparently none of them were destined for Chicago. Thinking that time might have softened her stance, he beckoned to the flight attendant and tried a more persuasive approach:
“Look, it’s been all afternoon. Why don’t you take us back to the gate? We’d all be happier. You’d be happier—you wouldn’t have to deal with a planeload of short-tempered passengers. The airport would be happier—we’d be spending money in their stores and restaurants. Please take us back to the gate.”
The flight attendant, perhaps feeling sympathetic, knelt down and whispered conspiratorially: “Sir, I’m afraid that the quality of this airline is partly measured by on-time departures. And unfortunately, on-time departures are measured by when we left the gate, not by wheels-up. So you see, sir, we really aren’t encouraged to take passengers back to the gate in situations like this.”
At this, Mark broke down and wept. Well, no, he didn’t, but it’s fair to say that he was less than pleased.
This is a classic example of where the very steps designed with a particular outcome in mind—in this case customer satisfaction—actually hindered the achievement of that outcome. And in fact, when you investigate this specific situation still further, you discover that there are other, even more compelling reasons not to return to the gate: flight and cabin crews are paid a higher wage, a command wage, when their plane leaves the gate.
Of course, many pilots will use their own judgment and decide that the present discomfort of the passengers is more important than the airline’s future on-time departure rating or their own pay packet. But you can hardly blame the ones who choose to stay on the runway. All the signals are telling them to ignore the most important outcome_customer satisfaction.
As you look around, you can see many examples of steps hindering, the very outcomes they were designed to facilitate. During the wave of quality initiatives, many hotel reservation centers decided that customers would want to have their call answered within three rings. Jobs were redefined, departments were reshuffled, and compensation systerns were changed to ensure that the reservation agents would meet the three-ring goal. However, it gradually emerged that customers didn’t really care about how quickly the phone was answered. They just wanted to have their questions, all of their questions, answered when they had the agent on the line. With agents hurrying to complete the call and move on to the next one, customers were feeling rushed. The steps were obscuring the outcome.
Perhaps the most obvious example, though, is scripting. Many managers seem to feel that the only way to ensure that employees deliver a consistent level of service is to put words in their mouth.
How many times have you heard a variation on this?
“Welcome to New York, where the local time is approximately 8:06 P.M. For your safety and for the safety of those around you, please remain in your seats until we reach the gate. Please be careful when you open the overhead bins, as contents may have shifted during flight. If New York is your final destination, welcome home. If not, we wish you a pleasant journey on to wherever your final destination may be. We know you have a choice of airline, and we hope that you will think of us again whenever your plans call for air travel.”
You might think that the Federal Aviation Administration requires that flight attendants read this script. It doesn’t. The FAA requires only that passengers be told about seat belts, oxygen masks, safety exit operations, and the water evacuation procedure if the flight is due to cross a large body of water. The rest of the script has been designed by managers to ensure consistency of service. Some airlines insist that their employees read it word for word. Others simply offer it, or some version of it, as a guideline. Although the level of enforcement may vary, most flight attendants are encouraged to use this script to show concern and Warmth for their customers.
This is quite a trick. Concern and warmth, if you are going to attempt them, must be genuine emotions. And a script, even when designed with the best of intentions, makes it supremely difficult to convince a customer that you are genuine, even when you are. The problem here is not that managers provided their people with a script—all employees, Particularly new hires, appreciate help in finding their feet. The problem here is that following the script, rather than showing genuine concern for the passengers, has become the definition of good performance. The creed has been allowed to overshadow the message.
Southwest Airlines, for the last six years winner of the Triple Crown Award—fewest complaints, best baggage handling, best on-time performance—is one of the few airlines that has succeeded in maintaining its focus on the message. Ellen P. is their director of in-flight training:
“Everything is focused on ‘fun‘ here at Southwest. Obviously safety is important—all our flight attendants must follow FAA regulations. But the whole purpose of our company is to help the customers have fun. How he or she makes that happen is up to each flight attendant. We don’t want them all sounding the same. In our training classes we will give you ideas and tools, but you’ve got to use them in the way that fits you. For example, we give every single flight attendant our Fun Book. In the Fun Book we have a section on jokes, a section on five-minute games, a section on twenty-minute games, a section on songs. But you don’t have to use them if that’s not your style. It sounds simple, really, but what we do here in my department is train you how to be the best. You possible for our customers. Because at Southwest, we don’t want clones.”
Southwest Airlines, with their unabashed focus on fun for the customer, can then allow each flight attendant to find his or her own route to that outcome. Ellen says it better:
“At Southwest, I think everyone is expected to color outside the lines.”
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