What does DEI have to do with operations?

I know we’re a few news cycles out from the Southwest Airlines debacle over the holidays, but this post from Southwest pilot Larry Lonero titled “What happened to Southwest Airlines?” hit home for me, and I believe it’s important to keep at the forefront of our minds as we move into 2023.

“As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?”

Oooof. I’m sure this rings to true to anyone who has ever had to deal with any kind of large and flailing system, whether it’s an airline, cell phone carrier, car rental company, hospital, health insurance company, public school system, bank, or pretty much any aspect of the government.

The way this shows up in our work at CCI is exactly as described here - that frontline staff know what works and what doesn’t work and what needs to be fixed. They advise, then warn, then plead, to no avail.

What isn’t described here is that, for our clients anyway, frontline staff are often disproportionately BIPOC who then have to deal with irate and often racist, misogynistic and homophobic customers (they’re the ones most likely to feel entitled to take their frustration out on frontline staff, especially BIPOC staff). They get disciplined for any sort of reaction to this abuse, characterized as divisive or “not a team player” if they don’t unquestioningly follow orders and maintain a “professional” disposition through it all.

Customers may be prioritized over staff in the moment, but ultimately do not matter much more than frontline staff do when neither are rich or powerful. Unfortunately systems can hobble along for decades at the cost of those already most impacted by other systems of oppression. A system that is inadequate operationally IS in fact a system of oppression.

“The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.”

In the end though we are not all impacted equally but we are all impacted. In the end, no one benefits. Unfortunately, with little accountability, those most responsible can often get away with it.

“I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.”

We don’t have an airline industry client but we’ve worked enough with organizations that I can picture the entire thing, decade by decade. I can imagine the interviews we would have had, the data we would have collected, the recommendations we would have made.

You might be wondering, what does DEI have to do with operations?

Well, if you are not practicing DEI in order to get feedback from those impacted by decisions, if you are instead catering to those who are considered most traditionally powerful, your operations are sure to be in shambles.

I feel for the frontline staff at SWA because we talk to frontline staff regularly in our work. To be honest, it has shifted how I treat customer service representatives because I have a clearer picture of the shitshow they are likely dealing with behind the scenes. They are often the last to know about things that impact their customers and they don’t have what they need to be able to help them.

I hope the SWA situation serves as a cautionary tale to other companies across all industries but unfortunately I also have little hope that much will change and even if it does, the companies that most need to change are likely in so deep that it will take the longest to do so.

It does however validate the decisions we’ve made this past year at CCI to prioritize operations, systems and processes ourselves, not just to make things run more smoothly but to reduce the cognitive load that occurs when you rely on individuals and relationships to do so.

It also validates our emphasis with our clients on gathering and incorporating feedback from those impacted by decisions. We are not operations experts but we don’t have to be when you have in-house and especially frontline expertise that is underutilized.

How could you improve operations by listening to feedback from those on the frontlines in your work?

Banner photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

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