A week or so back I was contemplating what it is that makes Southwest flights seem a bit more laid back with employees that displayed a great deal of humor. I even wondered what a flight attendant interview might be like. It turns out my answer was not far away. The next time I flew Southwest (a week or so later) I happened to read the CEO and Chairman's greeting in the August issue of the Southwest magazine where it was explained that three characteristics were sought in Southwest employees: a Servants's Heart, a Fun-LUVing Attitude, and a Warrior Spirit. Combined, these three traits are referred to as “Living the Southwest Way”. The result is a company and its personnel who are recognized for their incredible acts of kindness, ability to take the competition seriously but not themselves, and success in finding ways to beat the competition. To me, this very much sounds like a brand promise.
Strategic Communications has shared their strategic plan with the Communications Advisory Board (CAB) for feedback before a broader release. The plan includes efforts to intentionally weave the UC ANR promise into and throughout communication efforts for the division. This means highlighting the relevant elements of the UC ANR promise by perhaps establishing common vocabulary or sections of communication pieces (i.e. sections of a magazine that appear in every issue with the content within a section changing in each issue). Once widely distributed, take a look at the strategic plan and the UC ANR promise and see where your own efforts weave in.
Along those same lines, the Southwest magazine takes the approach of having regular sections in each issue that include an employee feature, a passenger spotlight, stories to support the Servant Hearts of the Southwest employees, and a community outreach article. This month's community outreach piece talked about the airline's Heart of the Community program that partners with local organizations to create spaces and opportunities to bring people together with an intended outcome of strengthening communities. That concept of building relationships in order to facilitate collaborative problem solving sounds very familiar, doesn't it? There weren't any cities in California identified as having received any of the $6.4 million invested by Southwest to date. But given the prominence of the airline in California, coupled with some overlap in core values and mission, it seems like there is some potential here.
It's shaping up to be a very bust next 7 days. True to its name, Labor Day is shaping up to be a bit laborious. I'm not sure when I will get back to another post – perhaps not until after Labor Day. If that's the case, I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and official end of summer (can't believe we are facing September already!). In the meantime, I will be processing the conversations and discussion that took place during the workshop we held with program team leaders, SI leaders, statewide program and institute leaders to develop condition changes that reflect the public value statements developed by these leaders back in May. Great discussion but a lot to absorb.