United Breaks Guitar video goes viral on YouTube with 3.5 million hits.
The issue with this video is more complex than just damaged guitars; it’s that the industry is still in the Stone Age when it comes to operating everything but the planes.
First, the airline industry could easily borrow technologies from other industries to cut the handing of baggage in half by employees. The problem is very much tied to baggage handlers being unionized. There is very little incentive to replace people with equipment and yet if UPS and FedEx worked in the same manner as the airlines do, you’d get your packages a week later.
The solution is baggage that is tagged at the gate and then transferred via RFID (or some other technology) to the plane and then in some situations directly into the hull. This would require sophisticated technologies and cooperation between manufacturers and firms that manufacture robotics and conveyor systems.
The benefits would be huge. FOD (foreign object debris) would be drastically reduced for airlines. Payroll would decrease and so would Workers Comp expenses from bag-related injuries. Passengers would get their baggage to the plane without damage, as well as receive the baggage at the other end. Tracking and total weight can be accessed at any time for CG, the weighting of a plane. The list is endless.
One may argue that the airlines are not doing well, and I’d argue that the airlines are in this position due to poor investment in technology, poor contracts with unions, and poor orientation to the future. Some of this tied to, in the US, the government’s handing of the industry including air traffic control systems that should have been updated long ago.
The good news is that if innovation curves are any indication of the future, the airline industry will be forced over the course of the next 50 years, to either make significant technological changes to keep pace or find itself prey to industries that will, such as improvements in holographic and digital meetings that eliminate the need for business travel. In other words, business travel, which provides a huge source of income for airlines, will be reduced and/or other modes of transportation will gain traction.
A bullet train from Boston to Washington DC or from San Francisco to San Diego and many other traffic lanes could reduce air passengers.
I showed up at the Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center in Okaboji, Iowa this summer for business, and like most guests, I spent just a few minutes at the front counter checking in. A few hours later, when I visited the counter again, Paula, the Front Desk Supervisor, responded to me by name as if I had been visiting the hotel for years. I shook the moment off all the while thinking, how did she remember my name.
Later that night, as I once again visited the front desk to ask about a good place to eat, I hear Paula respond to each person who walks up the counter by using their first or last name. I asked if these were regulars? “No, I just can remember names.”
She then went on to tell me a story where a guest had walked up the counter and like she always did, she used the persons name. “Hello Casey.” The lady stopped dead in her tracks and asked how did she know her name. Paula said that she remembered Casey from a previous stay at the hotel, and she pays very close attention to people’s names. Casey, in awe, said she’d not been in the hotel for S I X years!
I’ve heard of hotels that arm employees with ear pieces to make sure they can give each other the heads up on guests’ names so that they and their coworkers can address guests in the same way. Others post pictures on the walls of VIPs so that on one is overlooked.
If you have face-to-face contact with customers, what does your organization so to make customers feel special? Paula has a rare talent, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a system that accomplishes the same result. Maybe you can put in place a call routing software program that picks up a VIP based on their phone number, or you can distribute pictures of incoming guests’ faces on cards bearing their names before major functions. If you can’t see a solution for all guests, define your VIPs and target them first.
If you want to go for the gusto and have everyone be recognized, your systems are going to have to be much more complex and may require a unique identifier that a customer carries on their key chain or a facial recognition software so that no one is missed.
Strategy means different things to different people, which becomes a problem when we try to communicate with each other about what we’re trying to do as leaders, managers, and decision makers. The lack of a standard definition creates a gap that divides us and leaves room open for errors that are all too preventable. The original Greek translation comes from two words:
stratos: army
ago: to lead, to guide to move
A more modern translation would be for leadership to guide or move an “army” of employees, volunteers, soldiers, or any other group of people in a systematic and conscious direction. Knowing that you’re most likely not going to remember a Greek definition, think of strategy as where you are going.
Oftentimes people attach different meanings to the term, strategy, (such as the steps you take to get from Point A to Point B) but if we agree on one simple definition that gives us some flexibility, at least we’re all talking a similar language and understanding what others mean. Strategy is the objective or outcome or destination you desire whether you’re talking about a strategic plan, a project’s conclusion, the location of your next vacation getaway, or any other such outcome.
