More on Encouraging Ideas to Spread in a Company
Last post on Kelleher we talked about how he encouraged workers and managers to get ideas flowing across the company.
This post we'll talk a little more on what happens if the answer to the idea is "no."
When Kelleher, or someone in leadership in Southwest Airlines (LUV) received an idea that they said no to, not only did they respond back one way or another within a week, but they would then be required to give a complete explanation to the one that offered the idea on why it wouldn't work.
The important reason for that was it showed that leaders weren't simply exercising arbitrary power by giving a "no" simply because they could.
Second, it gave people the opportunity to give feedback and show why the "no" was wrong, and that something had been missed in the decision.
If they needed to take it further, one of the best things the company did was to go to the site where the suggestions were made and work in the job how it currently was being done. There were times when they changed their answers because they found that how it was being done was sometimes a little too difficult.
The overall process was very encouraging to everyone, as it makes managements job easier when people are happy and make contributions to making the workplace better. Workers are happy in that they are making a difference and feel part of the process and team - empowered.
This is definitely a good way to handle saying "no" to a worker's ideas. When they see that everything has been done to see if the idea will work, if the answer is still "no," they won't have that bad feeling that can come from not doing what we can to make things better.
Other Herb Kelleher Sources:
Leadership: The Essential Herb Kelleher
Speeches and Presentations from Southwest Leaders
Southwest Airlines: The Hottest Thing in the Sky
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