Roscoe-like attributes

As I sit in the departure lounge waiting for my flight back to the U.S., I find myself reflecting on the amazing trip we had touring Australia.  I had the opportunity to behold real beauty; natural beauty in the form of Uluru (the Red Center), man made beauty in the form of the Sydney Opera House and numerous others.  And yet, as I reflect on the amazing multi-week adventure we’ve been on, I can’t help but think about how impressed I am by the Australian people.  For an entire continent populated with the equivalent of the population of Southern California, the county’s population is small but mighty.  The intrepid Aussie spirit I encountered in every corner of the county I visited reminded me of the valuable role people play in organizations.  And, I am also reminded of the important role human resource practitioners play in bringing that brilliant spirit to bear on the organizational challenges we all face.

Derek, our escort through the Hunter Valley on a day tour during a torrential downpour, demonstrated his strong interest in both our enjoyment and our safety.  He did so in such a way that we didn’t mind his relentless reminders to wear our seatbelts.  The memories I am left with are his descriptions of the food and wine we enjoyed throughout the day; the descriptions made all taste that much better.  Then, there was Ted, our driver from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs.  Through his listing of every possible sight to see, Ted made Alice Springs seem like the most amazing city despite the fact that it is small, nearly dead center in the middle of the continent, and surrounded by desert.  I felt so at home in Ted’s hometown that I didn’t miss any big city hustle/bustle.  And then there was Roscoe, our Cameleer.  His focus on our safety and comfort, while we rode camels through the desert which is home to 3 of the world’s top 5 poisonous snakes, was coupled with a sincere desire to help us have a great time.  His genuine interest in our safety and enjoyment will stick with me forever, as will his personal story of walking off his family’s farm after a 3 year drought.  In all, the Aussie people made the difference to me, the consumer, throughout this amazing journey.

And then, I encountered a surly flight attendant who arbitrarily invoked a rule that didn’t apply during multiple previous flights.  While complying with the direction, I politely asked a gate agent why the rule now applied when it hadn’t before.  The reply was “we are inconsistent but it is up to the flight attendant’s discretion; they apply the rules.”  This leaves me to reflect on what corporations do to people that create customer experiences that are far from what any successful enterprise woiuld design.  What did the country’s largest air carrier do to create a flight attendant who thought her job was to quote interpretations of rules rather than to, like Derek, Ted, and Roscoe did, demonstrate a sincere desire to deliver the best possible experience, inclusive of the safety, comfort, and enjoyment of all involved?  We see this type of behavior far too often in organizations large and small.    

Thinking through the recent customer experiences I’ve had, I can’t help but reflect on Colleen Barrett’s wisdom, which has served Southwest Airlines so well.  Hire people because of who they are and then let them be themselves, not some rule book.   The Aussie spirit I encountered from innumerable people that I met throughout the trip, would have generated solutions much like the Southwest employee in the story Colleen shared with us.  While I was more at risk riding a camel (something I have never done before) through a desert with 3 of the world’s 5 deadliest snakes than I was while flying a world airline from city to city for about the same amount of time, I heeded every bit of advice offered by Roscoe and had a blast.  Maybe some of the world’s largest airlines could learn a lesson or two from Roscoe since they haven’t quite seemed to learn from the 40+ years of Southwest’s success. 

As human resource practitioners, I look forward to learning more about how I can contribute to workplace excellence at the upcoming Root Learning workshops on March 27^th and 28^th.  Strategically engaging the workforce in the most important business priorities should foster and support more Roscoe-like behavior.