I did my Masters of International Business from Monash University in Melbourne Australia in 2002-03. One of my favourite things during the course was to read and know about various case studies with regards to management. Out of those, one which I vividly remember is the case study of Continental Airlines when Gordon Bethune was the CEO.

 The case study mentioned various ways on how Gordon transformed an airline, which was on the verge of bankruptcy into one of the best airlines in America. It is was inspiring and with many things to learn. I learnt – what it is not to give up; how important employees are; which business strategies help to earn money; the importance of what customers think about your business; keeping an eye on the expenses; focusing on key issues; and many more.

Out of these, one of them specifically caught my attention. The case study read that unlike most CEO’s or MD’s Gordon would never keep the doors of his cabin shut. It was always open. Any employee could just walk-in without appointment. That act indirectly lifted the morale of the employees. They felt more a part of the company and hence rose their commitment and passion towards Continental Airlines. In its turnaround story, leaving the CEO door open was a major factor!

As a manager/ owner of a business, DO YOU LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN?

Are you approachable by your juniors? Can your employees easily get in touch with you/ someone higher in organisation if your lower rung isn’t resolving issues? Do everyone’s problems get a hearing irrespective of their role in the organisation?

How much ever we scale up, certain basic things always need to run smoothly for the organization to function efficiently. Having happy employees is one the most important basic thing for a business to operate with full capacity. Unless your employee feel the business to be a part of them, they will never put their heart at work. The moment that happens, the employee is working only for the salary and never to delight the customer.

Here are some things I did at Jain Ceramics to keep the morale high of my staff –

• Always kept my door open for anyone to discuss anything
• There was no boss-chair. Anyone could sit anywhere in our store
• Never had any pre-assumption about a person. I would take every discussion and event neutrally
• Treated all employees equally without any differentiation according to their ranks
• Organized team games atleast once every month to create unity amongst each other
• Shared with them lessons of life that I used to get either by visiting satsangs, or reading books etc. We used to have meetings once a month
• Incase there was an issue between two staff members, I would talk with them together
• Always use to have celebrations at office – be it someone’s birthday or any festival
• We used to decorate our showroom with – theme of the month. There were people who would come to our store just to see what was our monthly theme

I can bet that if you have a good atmosphere within the organization, the business will prosper. On the flip side if your employees have tiff’s within, how much ever good product or service you have, the business will always suffer.

#management #continental #gordonbethune #airlines

References:- 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freeenterprise/2015/08/03/management-advice-from-the-ceo-who-saved-continental-airlines/?sh=2fccf3214c00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Airlines

https://www.uschamber.com/co/good-company/growth-studio/continental-airlines-gordon-bethune