A630.3.3.RB - A Day in the Life of the Culture Committee

Yes, the culture committee at Southwest Airlines is effective in establishing cultural norms. What is "Hokey Day"? When I first heard this phrase I thought about dancing, singing or some other type of sound or body movements. After watching the video I understood that the "Hokey Team" or "Culture Committee" at LAX was there to show deep appreciation and recognition for coworkers including pilots and flight attendants on "Hokey Day". Southwest serves millions of bags of snacks (peanuts, pretzels etc) each year and unfortunately some of the snackies end up on the floor carpet of the airplane. The flight attendants use a small portable manual sweeper cleaner called a "Hokey" to clean the aircraft in between flights. This is where the name "Hokey" came from. The Hokey Team travels around the Southwest Airlines system routes which gives flight crews a break in between flights and leaves the Hokey Team the responsibility of cleaning the aircraft and preparing it for the next flight. In addition, this is an important employee appreciation and recognition opportunity for flight crews. The video was an example at LAX where the Hokey Team grabbed snack bags in one hand and a Hokey in the other. The team waited for the aircraft to pull up and once the main cabin door opened the team would yell out (and maybe sing) "We're here to appreciate you! It's Hokey Day". The flight crew was in initial shock and maybe stunned by having the team standing and greeting them by yelling at them, however, realized that they were the recipients of Hokey Day. And there were lots of smiling happy faces! The team then jumped into action by "Hokeying" (sweeping) the aircraft. They cleaned the floor carpet, newspapers, magazines and straightening seatbelts. And if they found a cell phone or books what would they do? They would make the extra effort to reunite a customer with the cell phone. Great customer service and focus too! Another big thing and impact. The t-shirts of the culture committee had several great points of emphasis: 1. the logo motto: "whatever it takes" 2. warrior spirit 3. servant's heart 4. fun-loving attitude. Yes, culture in action! What is the supporting infrastructure for all of this? Southwest leadership has developed a set of ten company guidelines and operating principles that apply the principle of "relationships" and "relationship-building" to its operations, strategy and culture. These are the foundation and pillar of Southwest: 1. Be a leader who cares. 2. Place more supervisors at the front line. 3. Look for the right qualities in prospective employees. 4. Confront conflict and use it to your advantage. 5. Realize that employees have a life. 6. Utilize "boundary spanners". 7. Look for improvement rather than blame. 8. Don't get hung up on job descriptions. 9. Reach out to the unions. 10. Reach out to suppliers. (Gittell, 2003) What are the learning points and application from all this? Southwest's success, secret ingredient and pivotal factor is "relationships" and "relationship building" both internally and externally. Effective relationships and effective communication come together and form the concept of relational coordination. Southwest's reliance on relational coordination is the secret ingredient to Southwest's success story. The importance of rewards, recognition and appreciation is another learning point. Everyone likes this based on good performance. From a personal and professional perspective, my (and company) success is rooted in relationships and relationship building. My goals, projects, focus and direction is all based on having and building relationships. References Southwest Airlines "A Day in the Life of Culture Committee" (2008). [On-Line] Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7P0T9IbYKU&feature=player_embedded Gittell, Jody Hoffer (2003). The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance. New York City: McGraw-Hill.