Welcoming change:  Are your people ready?

By ExecutiveBrief Staff

Southwest knows that the staff can contribute to the organization in their own unique ways. When the staff is empowered to do the things that are needed on a moment to moment to basis, public relations disasters can be averted. Even for a big organization of 33,000 employees, this company is considered lithe. When flights are delayed by blizzards or unruly weather, both the ground crew and the in-flight service staff can actually deal with the problem without immediate command from management. This is an outcome of proactive leadership.

Northwest Airlines.The kind of leadership of Southwest Airlines can be contrasted to that of Northwest Airlines’ (NYSE: NWA). On January 2 to 3 of 1999, a blizzard hit the Detroit airport, shutting down all flights for those days. The landing strip and adjacent lanes leading to the terminal were constantly being plowed of snow. Majority of the airlines were able to send their passengers off the airplanes and put safely into the terminal, albeit with slight delays.

Northwest, on the other hand, was unable to do so. Their 30 planes were circling around the airport for as much as eight-and-a-half hours. The planes did not have food any more, plus the lavatories were not in proper order, much to the discomfort of their passengers. What caused all of these? Their staff got paralyzed with the situation. They were not empowered to deal with such an event. Pilots could have coordinated with one another and the ground crew. They could have landed in other airports and then shuttled to the Detroit airport. A lot of things could have been done but the staff didn’t see themselves as part of the solution. Reactive leadership can only do so much.

John Kotter, an expert in change management, said once in an online interview that “empowerment is blasting barriers out of their way so that they can take a vision and a set of strategies that they believe in and make something happen. We do not do enough empowerment and it is a mistake.” Though the statement primarily talks about empowerment, there are a number of skills that he believes managers should have--accessibility (blasting barriers), adherence to a vision, developing a set of strategies, initiative (make something happen), and empowerment.

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