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JetBlue High Performing Culture - Facilitator Guide
This discussion guide was developed to accompany the video, JetBlue, High Performing Culture. The
objectives of the video are to (1) discuss the important role culture plays in an organization, (2) to discuss
how JetBlue uses culture to succeed in a failing industry, and (3) to provoke thought and discussion on how
organizations can use their culture to improve business performance.
Themes: Three main themes will be discussed:
•
Deep leadership involvement.
•
Commitment to core values.
•
Immersive on-boarding experience.
Screening the video: To introduce the video, explain that it was designed to demonstrate the role
culture played in JetBlue’s success despite overwhelming challenges in a highly competitive industry.
Discussion after viewing the video: Take a few minutes to facilitate a discussion with the group
summarizing each of the themes in the video. Use the discussion questions included below to
stimulate additional conversations about how these concepts can be adapted to your company.
1. Introduction - Airline Business Challenges
Summary: Two challenges JetBlue faced in beginning their airline included: no one has ever made
a lot of money in the airline industry and the business is subject to unique problems that can turn
a solid business model into a fiasco. JetBlue overcame these challenges by brainstorming on
specific operations that were broken in the airline industry and solving them through common
sense applications.
Questions:
a. What are some challenges your organization has faced with current and emerging
competitors? Specifically, how did they challenge your organization? How did your
organization assess, plan for, and execute against strategies to outperform the competition?
b. What are some challenges your organization currently faces? What processes is your
organization utilizing to solve them?
Phone: 212.213.2828
Web: www.corpu.com
(JetBlue High Performing Culture - Facilitator Guide Cont.)
2. JetBlue’s Commitment to Core Values
Summary: JetBlue developed its people-first focus by centering their initial business development
plan on who they wanted to hire and what behaviors they were looking for. Their major concern
was how to take this idea of culture and push it down to the employees they hired. After brainstorming on the challenges they would face working in the airline industry, they discovered
common areas of opportunity and developed these into 5 themes, which became the core values
and the basis for the integration of employees into JetBlue’s culture. These values are the cornerstones for the decision-making process they use today.
Questions:
a. How does your company identify the people they want or what behaviors they are looking for?
b. What are your organization’s core values?
c.
How are they communicated to new employees?
d. How does your organization expedite the process of new employees adapting and becoming
engaged in your culture? What processess are in place for cultivating employee talent and
increasing retention? Are these processess working? How can they be improved?
e. What is the process for decision-making in your company?
3. JetBlue’s Deep Leadership Involvement
Summary: With its growth, JetBlue quickly realized it would need to build its own corporate university. With that in mind, JetBlue modeled it after several other leading corporate universities. One of
the key components of their corporate university is their leaders as teachers approach. In its over 400
orientations at the university, the majority of JetBlue leaders have participated in and led sessions to
help show new employees that they are all just people working towards the same goals.
At the JetBlue U, new employees spend time with other team members, from baggage handlers to
senior managers, to simulate real-life work interactions. Interacting with crewmembers, pilots, and
technicians, helps increase this same type of interaction on board JetBlue’s flights. Taking that one
step further, employees take part in training sessions on an in-flight simulator that mimics normal
takeoffs, landings, turbulence, and emergencies. Creating real-life scenarios helps employees feel
comfortable in transferring their learned skills to the job. JetBlue feels this is a big part of the reason
they have been so successful, and that well-trained employees will act appropriately in stressful
situations and thereby protect the brand.
Questions:
a.
How do your leaders support your corporate university?
b. What are some of the philosophies that new employees take away from it?
c.
How does your training prepare new employees for real-life situations they may encounter?
d. What are some ways your company can improve in this area?
Phone: 212.213.2828
Web: www.corpu.com
(JetBlue High Performing Culture - Facilitator Guide Cont.)
4. JetBlue’s Immersive On-boarding Experience
Summary: JetBlue provides an immersive on-boarding experience, which reviews their mission
and summarizes the economics of the airline industry with employees on their very first day of
orientation. Their reasoning is that by defining where they are going and the challenges the
company faces, those same employees have the best information to the best business decisions
they can and will in turn keep JetBlue in business for years to come.
Additionally, JetBlue involves families in their on-boarding process so the whole family can
embrace JetBlue’s culture. Making families a part of the JetBlue culture helps them to get a feel for
the company and understand its mission and values alongside the employees. Ultimately, defining
common goals and involving employees’ families helps JetBlue succeed by encouraging
employee input and a small company environment at one of the largest companies in the US.
Questions:
a.
What are some ways your company communicates their mission to new employees?
b. How do your employees learn to make better business decisions to help grow and protect the
company brand?
c.
How does your company encourage families to be involved and to understand its mission
and values?
d. What are some ways your company can improve in this area?
e. What are some of your company goals and how are they communicated to new employees?
Additional resources: To learn more about culture and how it can help improve business performance visit
any of the following links:
- What Will Be the Next New Management Breakthrough Since the 1890s, there have been, arguably, only a few major management breakthroughs, along with
several minor ones. What will be the next big advancement in management that can differentiate leading
organizations from the also-rans that lag behind them? (http://performance.corpu.com/whitepapers/what-will-be-the-next-new-management-breakthrough.html)
- Management vs. Culture Do you wish your organization was performing better? Of course, the answer is yes. Similar to the "nature
versus nurture" question about whether one's genes or environment contributes more to an individual's
personality and character, consider this question: What influences an organization's future performance
more - the competence of its current executive management team or the culture?
(http://performance.corpu.com/white-papers/management-vs.-culture.html)
Phone: 212.213.2828
Web: www.corpu.com
(JetBlue High Performing Culture - Facilitator Guide Cont.)
- Culture Differences are certainly influenced by unique HR teams doing their best thinking about what constitutes a
good performance management process. However, survey participants said that corporate culture significantly influences the way performance management plays out in each organization.
(http://performance.corpu.com/reports/culture-3.html)
- Performance Management Executive Summary Business performance starts with a clear, consistent strategy. Unless that strategy is communicated
throughout an organization from the CEO down to the third-shift production worker, there is little chance
of that strategy succeeding. Performance management is the tool that enables that communication.
(http://performance.corpu.com/reports/executive-summary-2.html)
- Research on Employee Performance This research study included over 150 quantitative surveys and 15 in depth qualitative interviews that
resulted in a 46-page report available only to CorpU members and study participants. The most insightful
and actionable parts of the report as well as additional reference materials are presented here.
(http://performance.corpu.com/reports/research-2.html)
Phone: 212.213.2828
Web: www.corpu.com