Hire more supervisors, keep job descriptions vague - Leadership Lessons from Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines. 37 years old airline. $ 10 billion in revenue. 37 consecutive years of profitability. Over 500 aircraft.

Check out these concepts they follow:

a. Increase the number of supervisors: That's right, you heard that right. When people all around are downsizing the number of managers, Southwest has actually increased the number of managers. Why? Because they say when managers are less, they only end up doing exception management, that is fire-fighting. When there are enough managers, they are then able to coach frontliners better leading to improved productivity of assets. The better productivity more than makes up for the extra personnel cost. Eg Southwest has the lowest turnaround time in the airline industry 20 mins. Faster turnaround means more time in the air, therefore higher revenues per aircraft.

b. Hire for Relationship building ability: Most companies hire on job skills or experience. Southwest also looks for "ability to build relationships". Detailed questions are asked on this subject and track records are checked during hiring. Focus is on looking for proof of having worked well with others and demonstrated evidence of "relational competence"

c. Have flexible job descriptions: Most companies specify very narrow and specific job descriptions. Southwest has job descriptions and also adds "and whatever else you need to do to enhance overall operation". This keeps job flexible at the boundaries and ensures people work with each other instead of blaming especially when things go wrong. The entire focus is on ensuring plane turnarounds are quick.

Intersted in more? Read "The Southwest Airlines Way" by Jody Hoffer Gottell