Consistency in communication – what can be learned from the Southwest/Kevin Smith debacle
Posted: February 16th, 2010 | Comments: | No Comments »The Twitter-storm set off against Southwest Airlines by Kevin Smith (film director and disgruntled customer) — exposing a problem with Southwest’s policy enforcement/communication consistency — is a cautionary tale that other companies should take note of.
If you haven’t been paying attention to this customer service debacle, in a nutshell it’s this: Kevin Smith, a film director, was kicked off a recent Southwest flight because he was deemed to be too large to safely occupy a single seat even though he said he met their criteria for safety (being able to raise the arm rests). He then told his story via Twitter which resulted in an unflattering media spectacle for Southwest.
But the truly interesting aspect of this story is the reaction and shared stories of other passengers who complained of the uneven enforcement and communication of the Southwest policy. For example, here is a comment posted on the Wall Street Journal web site:
Peg wrote:
The problem is with the randomness sw uses on this policy. Listen to the people complaining about the obese passengers sitting next to them that did not get kicked off the flights- why not? If this is policy why not use it every time. Before I lost weight I flew sw and was asked twice to buy an extra seat, ( I had flown at least 5 times that year without being asked) which I did – even though I was sitting with my mother. One time they then promptly sold my extra seat to a stand by and sat him in the open seat. I did not get a refund because according to SW it was my responsibility to kick the guy off the plane (seriously- read their policy on this).
When you have formally communicated policies related to customers, employees, suppliers, media, investors, etc., for those policies to be adhered to, you must enforce “walking the talk” . Consistently. If the enforcement in sporadic (or non-existent), not only will the policy in question be disregarded but the credibility of all of the other policies issued by the company are lessened (not to mention the image of the company itself). And there could be legal trouble in some cases, as well (e.g. spotty enforcement of a “zero tolerance” harassment policy.)
What apparently set Kevin Smith off was not the policy itself (which is nothing new and fairly consistent with other airlines), but the uneven enforcement of it (the waffling on the “arm rest test”, larger customers than Smith occupying a single seat on the same flight, etc.) Southwest could have prevented this publicity nightmare by simply adhering to their stated policy — strictly and consistently.
Obviously, this is easier said than done. However, by clearly and broadly communicating policies, effectively training those who need to enforce them, and consistently adhering to them, mishaps like the one that Southwest suffered can be prevented.
