No matter how much I fly, I’m always amazed at the process. And the process usually works pretty well! You know why? Because the members of the flight crew — people who may have never met before — come together and, in a matter of moments, start working together as a team. Why? Because they have a common vision of exactly what needs to happen. Now let me ask you a question: Do your people come to work every day knowing exactly what they need to accomplish? Do they have a vision of a common purpose? And do they work together flawlessly?
Hello, and welcome to this session of Go on the Road!
It doesn’t matter how much I fly, I’m always amazed at how the process works. The process usually works pretty good. Here’s a group of flight attendants that may not know each other; here’s a pilot and a copilot that may have never met. Yet, they get together; they get on that plane, and everything goes according to plan. The pilots do their pre-flight checks; the flight attendants get the cabins ready for departure, get everybody seated, make sure everything’s taken care of the way it should be.
Then the pilot’s goal is to get you to your destination as quickly and as safely and on time as absolutely possible. The flight attendants’ #1 concern is your safety; their #2 concern is to take care of you as a passenger and to meet your needs and concerns, serve you some nice refreshments and things like that. People that have never met come together and, in a matter of moments, start working together as this incredible team. Why? Because they have a common vision of exactly what needs to happen.
Let me ask you this about your business. Do your people come in to work every day knowing exactly what they need to accomplish? Do they have a vision of a common purpose? Do they work together flawlessly? Now, these are people that know each other.
These people I talk about, sometimes they just met. Sometimes a flight crew might fly together on three or four legs of a flight. But on that first flight, maybe they’ve met each other for the first time. Yet, you’ve got people that work together every day. Sometimes the harmony isn’t there; sometimes the commitment isn’t there; sometimes the teamwork isn’t there. Maybe we can learn a few things from the airlines.
Why don’t you think about how things are working in your business and are they working at the same level of commitment, consistency and efficiency that the folks at the airlines do? It might be a lesson for us to learn.
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