Boarding a Plane

​Boarding a Plane
 
I was in the Nashville airport recently traveling home from a dealer visit.  The dealership I was at is very good and continually getting better.  An issue I have been helping them with is getting ahead of issues.  When there is an issue they are experts at making things right.  Few are better at making an unhappy customer happy again. Research tells us that customers who had an issue resolved to their satisfaction are more loyal than customers who never had an issue in the first place.  The problem is, it extracts a huge toll on time and resources.  Plus, we never know how many customers were unhappy and never let us know.  The related tension creates a culture focused on issues rather than successes and can be tough on employees.   Being in the airport reminded me of a recent article I read in Automotive News about how differently the auto industry and the airline industry think about safety. 
 
The auto industry has focused on crash survival for a century and have done an amazing job. Automobiles are vastly safer than they have ever been.  Even though there are more accidents, significantly fewer people are injured or killed than ever.  This is very good but consider this.  Nearly all the technology, time and money is focused on what happens after the crash.  There is a direct correlation to a typical managers’ day inside most dealerships.
 
When thinking of safety, the airline industry begins from a completely different starting point and mindset.  Since no one normally survives an extreme and rapid loss of altitude or survives a 500-mph sudden stop, they spend the clear majority of their time and resources focused on crash avoidance.  Because they think differently, they behave differently. 
 
So, what?  Well, look at the difference between avoiding and surviving as it applies to my friends’ dealership.  I think one of the clear differences is that when there is a crash at the dealership no one dies.  In fact, no one may even know.  The customer just goes away and we never hear from them again unless they are upset enough to take some of their time to post something nasty on the internet.  Same with employees, they seldom fall over after being injured by a manager.  They just decide to quietly look for another job and eventually leave.
 
Crash Avoidance: The airline industry usually gets its pilots from the military.  These are mostly young people who have dreamed of being a pilot, gone to college and spent thousands of hours conditioning their bodies and minds.  They have been relentlessly tested and earn higher rank as they prove their proficiency.  They don’t sit in the pilot seat until they prove themselves. Even then, they are with an instructor. 
 
Crash Survival: Managers are experts at apologizing, redoing and placating customers.  Why? They are the only ones with the skill or authority.  Nearly no-one grows up hoping to be a service advisor or car salesperson. We hire people with little or no training and put them in front of customers within a week of their arrival.  They learn their trade on your customers with no skill path or internal certification. Because of this, front-line folks are seldom equipped or have the authority and budget to do whatever it takes to make a customer happy.
 
Crash Avoidance: Whether a pilot, flight attendant or ground crew they use tools like the pre-flight checklist to ensure everything goes right.  They don’t leave things to chance. They document it. They measure it. They drill constantly.  They don’t vary from or change the established process.  Everyone knows what it is and everyone can see if it is being followed.
 
Crash Survival: Managers are experts at discovering what went wrong and pointing it out.  Why? They are the only ones that know what should have happened.  The processes are generally tribal folklore, stories passed down from one generation to the next. If the process is documented, few can find it or recite it. Process checklists and consistent process training are often non-existent. Process is used to assign blame for not following it in the wake of an issue.
 
Crash Avoidance: The airline pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, ground crew relentlessly practice. They use simulators and learn how to handle even the rarest situations they may face before they must. They don’t wait to practice until a plane hits a flock of geese on takeoff over one of the most heavily populated places on earth. They are prepared and confident. 
 
Crash Survival: Managers are experts at “keeping people on their toes”.  Why? They make sure their people are aware of their mistakes. They put employees in situations they have never dealt with before using equipment they are not familiar with and let them practice on their customers. Then they wait for the crash. When things go wrong the focus is on what their people did wrong instead of what their manager should have done. It is too late to reinforce the things employees do right.  We teach them to prepare for the crash, not how to avoid it.
 
Crash Avoidance: Everyone knows each other’s job and are empowered to say something. They work together.  If anything goes wrong everyone is affected. Studies show that airlines with the highest incident rates are the ones where it is unacceptable for a subordinate to question a superior. 
 
Crash Survival: Managers are experts at taking control and looking like heroes.  This is a huge red flag!  The very fact that there is a situation points to the fact that they didn’t avoid it.  To avoid a crash, you need to value everyone in the organization, their opinions and talents.  Create a culture where people speaking up is welcome.  You see, in a dealership no one dies.  In a plane, everyone does.
 
Start by tracking how many issues arise. The goal is to reduce the number.  If you are not good at that you shouldn’t be asking to fly the plane! I was with a pilot who told me that none of the items on a preflight checklist were put there just because someone thought it was a good idea.  They are there because something bad happened that we don’t want to happen again.  He said, “Good judgement is the result of experience.  Experience is the result of bad judgement”. An incident that results in no change in your routine is a sure sign that it will happen again.
 
Look at how you and your leadership are using your time.  Create a chart with two columns and track what you are doing every half hour for a month. You will begin to get a very clear picture.  Here is the thing to remember as a store owner.  You are paying for their time!  How it is being used is the most important thing! Are your managers spending their time prior to or after events happen?  Consider time spent preventing issues as extremely valuable. Consider time spent after the issue as worthless other than to clean up the carnage and settle the law suites.

How good is your organization at avoiding crashes?  You could point to your online reputation, customer satisfaction index or policy account, but I have a better idea.  Far more of your customers arrive at your store for service than sales.  Tomorrow, drive up to your service entrance.  Shut off the engine.  Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Imagine you are going on vacation with your family. Ask yourself, “If this place were an airport and the people inside were ground crew and pilots, would I board the plane”.

---