I often use Southwest Airlines (SWA) as a model company for how things should be done. Leadership, effectiveness, corporate responsibility, employee motivation, you name it – Southwest Airlines has a program for it. So, when pondering real-life situations where leadership skills approach has been successful (on a large scale), who else but SWA!
Image Source: Southwest Airlines One Report (2011), p31
As Northouse (2013) explains, unlike other leadership theories that limit leadership to those possessing certain inherent attributes, the skills approach makes leadership available to any individuals that have the capacity and motivation to learn. This approach asserts that certain knowledge and abilities (skills) are needed for effective leadership, which can be developed through training and experience. Technical, human, and conceptual skills constitute the three-skill approach. As defined by Northouse (2013), technical skill is knowledge and proficiency in specific to a job and associated tasks (i.e. computer skills for data entry), human skill is the “ability to work with people” (p44, pp3), and finally, conceptual skills are “the ability to work with ideas and concepts” (p46, pp2). The overall concept is that an organization can maximize the effectiveness of leadership by developing these types of skills.
The Southwest Airlines Example
“Hire for attitude, train for skill” is a cornerstone of SWA’s training and development programs (Bryant, 2007, p36, pp4). Indeed they are so dedicated to their employee development that they created University for People (U4P). A training facility focused offering college style, company specific training and development courses. Some courses are self-help type training, some are mandatory for all employees and others are dedicated to professional and leadership development using a skills-based approach (Bryant, 2007)
Technical Skill
In addition to on the job training, each employee has mandatory training for their job family (i.e. ground operations or pilots) and fulfill training requirements for the many regulatory directives involved in their work (i.e. Federal Aviation Administration or Department of Homeland Security requirements) (Southwest Airlines, 2011). From there, employees can take advantage of additional training opportunities offered at the University for People where they gain other technical skills needed for leadership, such as business finance and organizational goal setting (Bryant, 2007).
Human Skill
Employee behaviors and attitudes are a large part of SWA’s mission and success (Southwest Airlines, 2011). Each employee is indoctrinated in SWA culture, history, and spirit. Their first day is dedicated to educating them on expectations and behaviors consistent with the “Southwest Way” which is “…the warrior spirit… everything that is required to achieve excellence; a servant’s heart… putting others before yourself; and a fun-luving attitude… not taking yourself too seriously, enjoying work, and maintaining balance in your life.” (Bryant, 2007, p36, pp4). As SWA has many programs that foster community involvement (charities), caring for fellow employees (job sharing, leave donation), and excellent customer service (star of the month awards, SWA blog), it allows them to provide tangible references to teach human skills in their company (Southwest Airlines, 2011). Training becomes more focused on teamwork, and collective problem solving as leaders progress within the company, further refining human skills in line with SWA’s values (Bryant, 2007).
Conceptual skill
The most relevant example of SWA approach to developing their leaders conceptual skills is their Manager in Training program. The first part of this training is designed as survival program where future leaders are dropped in the forest and must establish teams, set up camps, and compete for supplies (etc.). During all of this, instructors are reinforcing teamwork, critical thinking and behaviors consistent with their leadership expectations. The participants progress to the business aspects of SWA where they are educated on every department within the company. Finally, training is focused on developing strategic thinking skills. The entire program entices leaders to be creative, to hone their abilities to develop and implement ideas, all while keeping the company interests at heart (Bryant, 2007).
Closing
Northouse (2013) criticizes that the skills-approach has not been widely adopted in organizational training packages and furthermore that it does not explain how these skills lead to effective leadership. However, based on the SWA model, I would beg to differ. They managed to create and adopt a skills-based approach. Evaluating the history and development SWA’s training program it’s clear just how they did it. Bryant (2007) describes that initially SWA had “26 leadership characteristics and competencies” (p36, pp8), but they realized that this was unrealistic and impossible to develop and simplified their approach to leadership expectations. Once they identified their leadership expectations, they evaluated the gaps in skills needed to meet those expectations, and developed programs around those that would also be adaptable to change (Bryant, 2007). By focusing on leadership skills (technical, human and conceptual) specific to their company values and needs they facilitate leadership effectiveness and maximize benefit to the company and the employees (Bryant, 2007). Developing skills creates loyalty, dissolves questions about how a company expects its leaders to act and therefore they become more effective. This is the overall intent of the skills-approach and SWA’s demonstrates a successful application of it. As a testament to their effective leadership, I close with a few statistics.
· The latest performance report reveals their 40th consecutive year of profits (not an easy feat when you consider the economy over the last few years, especially in the airline industry), ranked Customer Service Champions by JD Powers, and named one of Americas Top companies by Barron (Southwest Airlines Co, 2013).
References:
Bryant, E. (2007). LEADERSHIP SOUTH WEST STYLE. T+D, 61(12), 36-39. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=587ecfc9-a8b8-424f-bc41-03c37149f5e6%40sessionmgr12&vid=7&hid=108
Southwest Airlines Co. (2013). Southwest Airlines Reports Increase in Annual Profits; 40th Consecutive Year Of Profitability. Retrieved 06 February 2013 from http://www.swamedia.com/releases/southwest-airlines-reports-increase-in-annual-profits-40th-consecutive-year-of-profitability
Southwest Airlines. (2011). 2011 Southwest Airlines One Report. Retrieved 04 Febrary from http://www.southwestonereport.com/2011/#!/people/overview