JetBlue Airways & Organizational Development: Partners for Change

Volume 2, Issue 1, 2007
casestudy
JetBlue Airways & Organizational Development: Partners for Change

Pulling Off the JetBlue Experience In this tumultuous environment a critical need emerged
As JetBlue Airways Flight 15 taxis to the runway at to proactively investigate the department’s strengths,
JFK International Airport bound for Fort Lauderdale, weaknesses, and areas where transformation was
customers enjoy the JetBlue Experience in their needed to be prepared for the future. To address
comfortable leather seats while flipping through 36 this need, a partnership between the SOC and the
channels of live television. While most of the customers Organizational Development (OD) team within JetBlue
on Flight 15 can tell you they appreciate the on-time University (the airline’s centralized learning group) was
departure and seamless execution of the “experience,” forged. The goal of this partnership was to create
they may not realize the level of complexity behind the a stronger foundation within the SOC by building a
scenes to safely and efficiently operate a major airline. healthier organizational culture that will support JetBlue’s
crewmembers and customers and enable a consistent
The System Operations Center (SOC) is the heart of the delivery of the JetBlue Experience.
airline – the epicenter where effective decision making,
communication, teamwork, and leadership are critical Let’s Get Engaged
to ensure that crewmembers (JetBlue vernacular for Managing the daily operational performance of a major
employees) are able to meet and exceed customer airline is a full-time job. So how would leaders and
needs. This department has a direct impact on ensuring crewmembers within the department find the time
that JetBlue’s vision of “bringing humanity back to air to engage themselves in this improvement process?
travel” is achieved. Today, the SOC is comprised of five The on-time departure of Flight 15 alone (one of 500
teams, including Maintenance Control, System Control, daily flights) requires the full attention of the SOC team
Crew Services, Dispatch, and BlueWatch (i.e. security). including:
• dispatchers who must monitor weather and generate
By fostering an environment that puts crewmembers the flight plan for the cockpit crew
first, JetBlue Airways has broken new territory in an • crew schedulers who activate a reserve flight
industry known for bad customer service and disgruntled attendant and a pilot to ensure the aircraft is
employees. The low-cost airline entered the market in adequately staffed
2000 and has survived competition from major airlines; • maintenance controllers who communicate to the
its main competitors being American Airlines and Delta maintenance department at JFK when a part needs
Air Lines. As JetBlue grew and changed, a culture shift to be changed prior to departure
occurred. Processes that once were sufficient became • SOC managers who coordinate an aircraft swap
outdated. The 150 crewmembers of the SOC were at the for the flight when the scheduled plane is delayed
forefront of these organizational changes, which included inbound to JFK
turnover in leadership, expansion into international
markets, increased number of departures, and the These key players represent the teamwork required by
introduction of a new fleet type. Compounding the stress the diverse departments who together comprise the
of these internal changes were the external pressures of SOC team. Their decisions directly impact customer
competing carriers emerging from bankruptcy, increased and crewmember satisfaction as well as bottom-line
fuel prices, as well as an increasing number of low-fare performance.
carriers entering the marketplace.

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These same people, while recognizing their success in getting Flight 15 off the ground today, realize that tomorrow’s
operating environment will look very different. Crewmembers in the SOC, as well as the senior leadership team,
ponder whether or not their efforts will scale to a larger more complex operation. The Senior Vice President of
Operations sought an outside perspective from the OD team to help him “look under the hood” to identify what
was working well and what could be changed. The organizational culture at JetBlue embraces change, so the
decision to help the SOC continuously improve was supported by all within the department from directors to frontline
crewmembers. Once the sponsor for the project was approved, the OD team met with key stakeholders, mainly
leaders from the System Operations Center, to begin developing a comprehensive contract that outlined the scope
of work and to establish clear roles and expectations. After the sponsor and the OD team established an agreed
upon contract, the planning of this large scale intervention commenced. Engaging both internal and external SOC
stakeholders during the planning process strengthened the level of commitment to the initiative.

Project Overview
Project Data Action
Follow-up &
Request & Planning Collection Planning &
Phase Assessment
Contracting & Review Implementation

Request from Communication Focus groups Working team Change Monitor
SVP received plan created and & interviews alignment & feedback
launched conducted conducted sessions
Key stakehold-
ers identified by Data Evaluation plan Weekly OD Interviews
SVP & COO collection plan created meetings with
including tools rotating director Best practices &
Activities
Contract for Denison as leader lessons learned
including key collection Organizational
deliverables created Culture Survey Crewmember Action
drafted & conducted involvement planning
approved plan created

Sponsorship Participation Data & Themes Buy-in & Momentum &
& Scope Secured Relationships Process Accountability
Results Defined Built Development Maintained

Tell Us What You’re Thinking
One of the decisions made in the planning phase of the project was to utilize a familiar tool to gain feedback
from SOC crewmembers. JetBlue is a progressive company and invests in its crewmembers by focusing on
the development of leaders with the expectation that they will in turn treat their crewmembers right and lead the
company to prosperity. JetBlue already utilized the Denison Leadership Development Survey in their leadership
development program, The Principles of Leadership (POL). Because the model that comprises the Denison
Leadership Development Survey so closely represents the POL series at JetBlue, the tool was well received
throughout the organization. It therefore made sense to use the Denison Organizational Culture Survey as the
diagnostic tool for the SOC change initiative. Visually, the model was appealing and easy to interpret; more
importantly, it linked to bottom-line business performance, including market share, sales growth, and employee and
customer satisfaction. Since the decisions made within the SOC directly impact customer satisfaction, understanding
the strength of the department’s culture would be valuable given the link between organizational culture and
customer satisfaction proven by Denison. In addition to the quantitative data provided by the Denison Organizational
Culture Survey, capturing qualitative data was also critical. Accordingly, 40 interviews and several focus groups from
all departments and all levels within the SOC were conducted to gain insight into the perceived strengths and


weaknesses of the department. As an internal and interpreted (These guidelines are to be developed
representative in the organization, the OD consultant once departmental and team goals are finalized.)
was able to leverage existing relationships with SOC
crewmembers, creating a comfortable environment for The OD consultant stressed to the leadership team
crewmembers to speak openly and honestly during that focusing on a few relevant areas was much more
interviews and focus groups. effective than creating a laundry list of opportunities.
The correlation of these themes with the Denison
After synthesizing the data, the OD consultant met with Model would also provide a platform to monitor the
SOC leadership to interpret the data during a one-day department’s progress and to build accountability into the
working session. During the session, the details of the process.
Denison model were explored and case studies were
reviewed to ensure that the participants understood Navigating the Roadmap
the model so they would be able to interpret their own
Collecting and analyzing the data was only the first
results. Additionally, the leadership team spent time
step in the change process. The OD consultant met
anticipating and discussing what their results may look
regularly with each member of the SOC leadership team
like before seeing them.
individually to educate them about the role of leadership
during the change process, reasons why people resist
Once some initial hypotheses were presented, the
change, and how to develop strategies to overcome that
results were reviewed and the group was able to focus
resistance.
their attention on two things that were working well
(high scores on the survey) and two things that were not
The five themes were communicated to the entire
working well (low scores on the survey). The group then
organization through an appreciative email from the
reviewed specific information about the gap in scores
Senior Vice President. In addition, the OD consultant
between directors and managers. This gap illustrated
facilitated intensive weekly meetings for the first month to
important perception differences between these
develop and execute an extensive action plan. However,
leadership levels, about the SOC department as a whole,
leadership knew that a single email and a weekly meeting
as well as their respective team results.
behind closed doors would not be enough to gain the
crewmember buy-in necessary to transfer those themes
In summarizing the information captured from the
into action. In order to capture the hearts and minds of
Denison Organizational Culture Survey, the focus groups,
the crewmembers in the SOC and to bring credibility to
and the interviews, five key themes were identified and
the effort, leadership needed to “walk the talk” to truly
translated into action. These key themes correlated
become a higher performing culture. Leadership ensured
directly with specific indices on the Denison Model,
that their behaviors were in line with the verbal and
reaffirming the models value to strategy development and
written communications that were dispersed. Directors
culture change:
and managers attended weekly action planning meetings,
1. Goals and Objectives - Communicate meaningful and
consistently participated in goal setting sessions, and
understandable departmental and team goals that are
took time to meet with frontline crewmembers about the
aligned with the company goals.
vision and the action plan. An action planning roadmap,
2. Crewmember Development - Provide technical
including goals, deadlines and responsible owners, was
and soft skills training to support crewmembers by
created and displayed in the middle of the SOC to serve
establishing a partnership with JetBlue University.
as a visual reminder of the changes that were underway.
3. Customer Focus - Gain insight and respond to
internal customers’ needs by defining consistent
In addition to visible leadership support and extensive
processes and increasing internal communication.
communication, creating a coalition of crewmembers
4. Willingness to Change - Identify and adopt new ways
that would serve as ambassadors was critical to
to work to achieve goals and manage growth with
the successful implementation of the five themes.
the tools and resources available by utilizing internal
Crewmembers within the SOC were nominated by their
resources, developing strategic plans, and creating
peers to serve on a “roundtable.” The purpose of the
forums to generate innovative ideas.
“roundtable” was to get frontline crewmembers – real
5. Guidelines - Develop guidelines that can be followed


- involved in the change process. In essence, the group department in order to track stated goals, provide
was designed to help implement changes to improve current updates, and reward and recognize
performance based on the feedback from the data crewmembers.
collection. At least once a month, this group would meet
to discuss issues, provide updates about changes that 2. Crewmember Development:
were underway, and remove obstacles that potentially • Conduct a complete needs assessment in order to
blocked the new vision from being achieved. identify the specific training needs and performance
support requirements of SOC crewmembers.
Finally, in order for crewmembers within the department • Develop training common to all of the teams in
to quickly see that the effort was producing quantifiable the SOC such as stress management and phone
results, short-term wins were identified. Town hall customer service skills training.
meetings with senior leadership were instituted; • Develop an orientation program to familiarize new
professional development courses began; and an crewmembers with the roles, communication
on-boarding program to help new crewmembers processes, software, and key regulatory guidelines of
successfully join the team was rolled out. Leadership each team within the SOC.
actively looked for opportunities to obtain marked
improvements so the project’s excitement and sense of 3. Customer Focus:
urgency was maintained. To reiterate the department’s • Create process and communication maps that the
ownership of the data and the execution of the resulting SOC can follow during irregular operations in order
action plan, the OD consultant transferred the weekly to ensure consistent decision-making and a positive
meeting facilitation responsibilities to the SOC Directors experience for crewmembers and customers.
within the first month. The Directors took turns • Leverage a company-wide shadow program to allow
facilitating the meetings on a rotating basis, symbolizing SOC crewmembers to gain insight into other teams
their buy-in and commitment to the initiative. Each inside and outside the department.
week was considered to be a working session and all
efforts were aligned with the key themes. Out of those 4. Willingness to Change:
weekly sessions, detailed action plans were created and • Create and maintain a coalition of change
executed in relation to the five themes: ambassadors to serve on a “roundtable” committee
to develop plans, execute action plans, and identify
1. Goals and Objectives: challenges and potential obstacles.
• Create a compelling vision in order to create
alignment across levels among different teams and 5. Guidelines:
to inspire the actions of the people in the department • Once goals have been set forth for the department,
regarding their decision making and overall the development of guidelines will begin based on
motivation. individual team needs.
• Conduct goal setting session in order to be able
to communicate meaningful and understandable Maintaining the Momentum
departmental and team goals that are aligned
The tremendous amount of work that SOC leaders
with the company goals so SOC crewmembers
contributed to make these actions possible created a
understand how their decisions supported the goals
positive atmosphere in the working meetings and met
of the organization.
the needs of the SOC crewmembers. With all the work
• Schedule town hall meetings where the president,
that went into making the SOC a better organization,
CEO, and other leaders communicate the state
it would have been easy to declare victory. However,
of the organization and reinforce the vision of the
instead of simply celebrating the launch and completion
company with crewmembers.
of various initiatives that resulted from the hard work
• Improve overall teamwork and cross-departmental
of the crewmembers, a follow-up Denison survey was
relationships through quarterly off–site events such
administered to reassess the state of the department
as a Manhattan scavenger hunt, BBQs and softball
and to adapt the action plan accordingly. The five themes
games.
were resurveyed to formally assess the progress that
• Send bi-monthly leadership newsletters to the

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was made since the commencement of the initiative to both justify the time spent and determine if any redirection
was necessary. Accordingly, the Denison Organizational Culture Survey: Change Monitor was administered six
months after the launch of the project.

The Denison Organizational Culture Change Monitor Survey allows organizations to monitor their progress by
measuring progress in up to four indexes. JetBlue chose to implement the Culture Change Monitor because it
promotes accountability, ensures that the group follows through with its action plans and helps test the effectiveness
of the change initiative. Similar to the original survey’s debriefing sessions, a feedback meeting accompanied by
an action planning session was conducted by the OD consultant with leadership to discuss the results. From this
process came a refined action plan – a tighter focus on the areas that needed to be leveraged. Also, resurveying
allowed the leadership team to assess the perception gap between levels of leadership. The data from the survey
indicated much greater alignment among directors, managers, and supervisors than prior to the intervention.
Department members were apprehensive that the Culture Change Monitor survey scores may not be very high
primarily because they were concerned that not enough time had passed for progress to be made. This was not the
case.
JetBlue System Operations
JetBlue System Operations
JetBlue Systems Operations Center
Previous Results
Previous Results Current Results
Current Results
Previous Results Current Results
External Focus Focus
External External Focus Focus
External

66 66 72 72
45 45 29 29
80 80
45 45 Beliefs and
Beliefs and Beliefs and
Beliefs and
Flexible Flexible Stable Stable Flexible Flexible Stable Stable
Assumptions
Assumptions Assumptions
Assumptions

33 33
65 65

Internal Focus Focus
Internal Internal Focus Focus
Internal

Using the Denison Organizational Culture Survey: Change Monitor, JetBlue compared their scores in four key
N=N=73 N = 91= 91
areas of the Denison Model 73 their original scores in February 2006. These circumplexes show the improve-
to N
ment in scores eight months after the implementation of the change initiative.

While the improved scores speak for themselves, feedback from interviews was also captured to assess the
JetBlue
progress made. Comments from crewmembers include:
JetBlue
SB 2004
SB 2004
25-Aug-06
25-Aug-06
• “Communication has drastically improved around here causing us to work better as a team which has impacted
the decisions made and the impact on the operation has been extremely beneficial.”
• “Now I really enjoy my job – there is a much better team environment.”
• “Since the OD initiative, leaders in this department have sought out to make frontline crewmembers happy and
have fulfilled their requests. We have become fun again.”
• “Numerous projects have been started and finished based on what crewmembers said was important in the
Denison survey. The newsletters are very informative and the onboarding process is a huge improvement.”


Table 1: Changes over Time
Theme Level Previous New Percent
Score Score Change
“Communication Goals & Objectives Directors 97 90 -7
has drastically Managers 15 66 51
improved Supervisors 12 64 52
throughout our Crewmember Development Directors 92 94 2
department Managers 15 86 71
resulting in Supervisors 4 94 90
better decision Customer Focus Directors 85 95 10
making -- which
Managers 44 91 47
has benefited
Supervisors 12 79 67
our operation”
Willingness to Change Directors 97 97 0
-JetBlue Airways Crewmember.
Managers 12 71 59
Supervisors 86 96 10
Guidelines** Directors 4.33 (mean)
Managers 3.30 (mean)
Supervisors 3.86 (mean)
**Custom questions designed by JetBlue, results are reflected as mean scores on a scale of 1 (Strongly Dis-
agree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). All others denote percentiles.

Passing the Baton
The organizational development and culture change work in the SOC continues today. The SOC leadership team
owns the process and the culture of the department, making the OD team’s involvement very low and leadership’s
involvement very high. No longer is the kind of work that resulted from this project considered additional duties that
leadership “must” perform. Because the OD consultant set the foundation from the beginning by delegating key
tasks to stakeholders, having clear sponsorship and having accountable leaders, a mindset shift has occurred – the
idea that creating a high performing culture is part of every leader’s job. This shift has created a new way of doing
business as leaders realize that better performance and organizational success can be achieved through continuous
improvement. The action plan that resulted from the Culture Change Monitor Survey is underway and bi-weekly
working sessions are held to execute the plan. JetBlue plans to continue their work with the Denison Organizational
Culture Survey, administering the survey annually to assess strengths and weaknesses.

So as Flight 15 bound for Fort Lauderdale prepares for another departure, the System Operations Center team
is better able to prepare crewmembers for success, leading to the consistent delivery of the JetBlue Experience.
The captain receives accurate information from the dispatcher in a friendly, timely manner. The crew is upbeat
as they know exactly where and when they are supposed to report for their flight. The possible disruption to the
flight due to the late-arriving aircraft is avoided as the leaders of each team within the SOC communicate to each
other in an efficient, effective manner. The customers, unaware of the activity behind the scenes now driven by
improved processes, tools, and more satisfied crewmembers, sit back and enjoy JetBlue’s leather seats, DIRECTV®
programming and award-winning service.

Contact Information Copyright Information
Denison Consulting, LLC Text by: Brian J. Glaser, JetBlue Airways
121 West Washington, Suite 201 Copyright 2005-2007 Denison Consulting, LLC
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 All Rights Reserved.
Phone: (734) 302-4002 Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.
Fax: (734) 302-4023 The Denison model, circumplex and survey are trade-
Email: research@denisonconsulting.com marks of Denison Consulting, LLC.


JetBlue Airways & Organizational Development: Partners for Change

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