You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental. ~Richard Branson

Over the years, there have been surprisingly few breakthroughs in the airline customer experience - until recently. Sir Richard Branson’s venture into the U.S. market, Virgin America, (VX) is redefining air travel by providing passengers with a fresh, distinctive on-board experience. The carrier is less than two years old but it’s quickly becoming a template for what’s possible in the future.

The choices VX is making demonstrate a “customer experience mindset” that’s all too rare in the industry. It’s evident that the VX team devoted their attention to passenger comfort and convenience. Features “baked in” to the customer experience include seats with power-outlets and USB ports. Cabins in their new A320s have soft mood lighting.

Healthy, appetizing meals designed by star-chef Luke Mangan show that the company knows what their customers prefer.  Features like these aren’t found on any domestic airline, let alone a low-cost one.

Last week, VX announced that its fleet is 100% WiFi-equipped (Gogo). They only have 28 planes, but they can boast that they’re the world’s first airline to reach that coveted milestone.

What’s most impressive is VX’s touch-screen, interactive entertainment system. The platform, known as Red, enables passengers to watch movies and live TV, play games, chat on-line with other passengers, and sample or even download MP3s from a massive digital library. Passengers can also use Red to order and pay for food and beverages which they receive “on-demand”.  For the digitally-inclined traveler, this is the way to fly.

Given the prohibitive cost of installing systems like Red on their existing fleets, it’s doubtful that any of the major network carriers will soon match VX’s “at-seat” amenities. But, the toughest feature for VX’s rivals to co-opt is its “customer experience mindset”.  These advantages could give the carrier a strong lead in the service innovation race for years to come if it stays healthy during this slowdown.

The airline serves only a handful of markets (New York, Boston, DC and the West Coast).  But, they’re big league markets where VX is attracting a cadre of loyal, well-heeled fans.  As an industry guy, I’m tipping my hat to Sir Richard Branson and VX’s San Francisco-based team for rethinking the in-flight experience, and for executing it well.

What do you think?  Have you sampled Virgin America?  I appreciate your perspective.

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Want more on this subject?

Richard Branson (Reuters, 6-2-09): “It’s unlikely all the big U.S. airlines will survive.”

Read Red Orbit’s piece (10-16-08), “Virgin America Wins Best Domestic Airline in Conde Nast Traveler’s (’08) Readers’ Choice Awards”.

Check out SimpliFlying’s series on Richard Branson and Virgin America.

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It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential  is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Business stories about “empathy” are springing up again. BusinessWeek ran one (Empathy = Growth) last week.  Fast Company covers the subject periodically. Authors are urging readers to consider the merits of empathy despite the need to cut operating costs as demand for services declines. It makes sense for businesses to re-evaluate their customer relationships in this environment. I think empathy remains widely misunderstood and its role is undervalued in the business community.

Simply put, empathy is rooted in the capacity to see the world through the eyes of another person.  Empathy enables a provider of service to recognize the buyer’s feelings, needs, and wants in order to fulfill these drivers through various means.

I’m interested in a broad spectrum of “relational competencies,” including empathy, and how they are used in business. Skillful practitioners use these competencies to show their understanding, respect and appreciation for others.  These skills include self-awareness and various social competencies that enable the practitioner to listen to and validate customers which forms the basis of relationships.

I admit to a strong bias on this subject that stems from my work and research in this area: I’m convinced that an organization’s relational skills — meaning its collective capacity to engage customers — can be improved, and that it pays to do so.

Success depends on the company’s cultural climate among other factors. Leadership is essential. Organizations need robust, efficient service systems and analytical tools for gauging their performance. Traditional service training programs have been disappointing.  But research shows that effective learning solutions are helpful if they are properly designed, delivered and supported.

Why do so many companies struggle with this? Many suffer from a form of relational deficit disorder. They’re not facile with the “people” part of the business. They describe relational competencies as “soft skills,” implying that they aren’t essential — a message that undermines their relationship-building efforts.

Smart companies know better.  They recognize the link between relational skillfulness and customer retention, net promoter index, spend rates and other relationship metrics. They’re explicit and concrete about relational skills as a criterion for hiring, rewards and advancement.

Since its early days, Southwest Airlines’ approach has been “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill”. The motto is now old hat. But the first time I heard that, it hit me like a sledgehammer:  Here was a company — a rival at the time — that could distill its talent management strategy in six words.

It’s no surprise that Southwest has flourished through every business cycle. During lean times, they grow stronger  than their rivals. They’ve run a tight ship, no doubt about it, but they do know how to relate to people. What’s amazing is that they operate 3,400 flights a day, yet they don’t let the noise of running an operation get in the way of serving the customer.  Their culture is “casual” and even “whimsical,” but there’s no doubt that it’s about the people.

It sounds cliché but forging stronger relationships is a winning strategy, and it works across industries and markets. It’s as true for the Belgian bank as it is for the UAE mobile operator, or the Singaporean airport. It applies to the South African resort, the British retailer, and the U.S. airline.  Relating to people is at the heart of what we do whether we sell handcrafted rugs in an Uzbeki bazaar or design luxury cars in a German high rise.

Observing service encounters around the world convinces me that people everywhere crave understanding, respect, and appreciation.  How people demonstrate that varies from place to place, but the need for feeling valued is deep-seated and universal.  If your company’s culture and infrastructure don’t support delivering your offerings with relational competency on a consistent basis, there’s work to be done.

Engaging people is necessary but not sufficient to delivering an exceptional customer experience.  Companies must deliver their products and services efficiently. Firms like Southwest Airlines that can balance relational competency with process rigor and execution have a powerful advantage over their rivals.

As more companies bring customers into the product and service design process, relational skills will become more coveted.  Collaboration with customers requires that we relate to people more skillfully.  The challenge in working with people shoulder-to-shoulder or across the globe is to understand and relate to them as we pursue common goals.  Tapping the power of collaboration requires high-level relational skillfulness.

As the world grows smaller, our ability to capacity to relate to others becomes a strategic advantage. Psychologist Daniel Goleman wrote, “The ever-pressing need to serve customers and clients well and to work smoothly and creatively with an ever more diverse range of people makes empathic capabilities all the more essential.”

Some organizations have a lot to learn about relational competency. What are the business implications? How can these skills be developed to retain customers and influence their behavior? No two companies face the same challenges and opportunities.  Firms are well served to re-evaluate their approach to relationships as demand for services declines.

As businesses focus on surviving in lean cycles, they tend to cut spending in areas that impact the customer — that’s understandable. The smart ones manage to find a balance between restructuring costs and building relational mastery. I’m betting on them to win.

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Want more on this subject?

For my money, the “go-to” resource on this subject remains Daniel Goleman. His ’98 book, Working with Emotional Intelligence (which followed his ground breaking work, Emotional Intelligence) looks at the skills people need to relate to others in the work place.  Goleman explains that emotional competencies are crucial to building successful relationships.  He supports his recommendations with findings from cognitive and behavioral research.  Goleman was among the first social scientists to discuss the correlation between emotional intelligence and success in the workplace.

Goleman offers an Emotional Competence Framework upon which his recommendations are based. His model is divided into two sections, personal competence and social competence is found below.

PERSONAL COMPETENCE

How we manage ourselves

Self awareness

Knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions

• Emotional awareness: Recognizing one’s emotions and their effects
• Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits
• Self-confidence: A strong sense of one’s self worth and capabilities.

Self-regulation

Managing one’s internal states, impulses and resources

• Self-Control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check
• Trustworthiness: maintaining standards of honesty and integrity
• Conscientiousness: Taking responsibility for personal performance
• Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change

Innovation:  being comfortable with novel ideas, approaches, and new information

Motivation

Emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals

• Achievement drive: striving to improve or meet the standard of excellence
• Commitment: Aligning with the goals of the group or organization
• Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities
• Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

These competencies determine how we handle relationships.

Empathy

Awareness of others’ feelings, needs, and concerns

• Understanding others: Sensing others’ feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns
• Developing others: Sensing others’ development needs and bolstering their abilities
• Service orientation: Anticipating, recognizing, and meeting customers’ needs
• Leveraging diversity: Cultivating opportunities through different kinds of people
• Political awareness: Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships

Social skills

Adeptness in inducing desirable responses in others

• Influence: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion
• Communication: Listening openly and sending convincing messages
• Conflict management: Negotiating and resolving disagreements
• Leadership: Inspiring and guiding individuals and groups
• Change catalyst: Initiating or managing change
• Building bonds: Nurturing instrumental relationships
• Collaboration and cooperation: Working with others toward shared goals
• Team capabilities: creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals

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