“Will the flight attendants for AirTran Airways flight 110 please go to gate 16 for immediate departure?”

I heard that announcement on DFW Airport’s intercom. It answered the question as to why my flight to Atlanta was late and not boarding. Increasingly concerned that I would miss my connection and get stuck in Atlanta, the flight attendants finally showed up… carrying their to-go meals from Chili’s! And after take-off, passengers were stuck with parched throats while the flight attendants delayed beverage service to eat their lunch.

Why did AirTran profits drop 88% in 2004? My experience is symptomatic of the root cause for the decline. Flight attendants with an attitude of putting pasta before passengers can become pandemic. Like most financially strapped airlines, AirTran appears stuck with outdated processes, policies, perspectives, purpose and people.

One of my favorite books of 2005 is Unstuck. If you are stuck in an undesirable situation, authors Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro offer three simple steps to get unstuck:

• Admit you’re stuck… things aren’t going well, and you’re coming to terms with that fact.  “All great people get stuck at some point. The trick is knowing how to get unstuck.”[1]
• Diagnose why you’re stuck… you definitely feel stuck, but you’re not sure why. The authors list The Serious Seven reasons we get stuck:
  • We feel Overwhelmedbecause we lack a rudder or resources.
  • We feel Exhaustedbecause of fear or lack of fun.
  • We feel Directionlessbecause we lack a strategy.
  • We feel Hopelessbecause we lack purpose.
  • We feel Battle–tornbecause we fight each other, not the enemy.
  • We feel Worthlessbecause we don’t know what success looks like.
  • We feel Alonebecause we’ve lost our religion.
• Get unstuck… you know why you’re stuck, and you are ready to move forward. To get unstuck, the authors recommend trust … find principles and people you can trust. 
“Trust prevents having to hoard information, question other teams’ agendas, suppress wild ideas, or otherwise indulge in such time-wasting activities.”[2] 
In recent weeks, I’ve seen or experienced examples of how people and organizations successfully got unstuck.
  • Stuck on logic… Success is not logical. Logical is doing what everyone else does, yet everyone is not as successful as you want to be. The University of Northern Colorado’s business program was stuck, generally regarded as average, largely overshadowed by a number of competitors within a fifty-mile radius. Competition’s strategy was degree program proliferation. To get unstuck from the shadow of their competitors, UNC’s business administrators and faculty cast a new vision… become Colorado’s best undergraduate business educator. UNC’s Kenneth Monfort College of Business achieved their goal in 2004, winning the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Education. Among the tools administrators and faculty used to get unstuck were Six Sigma (Plan-Do-Check-Act) process improvements, Key Performance Indicators linked to their vision and improved costing. When asked if freshman consume the same amount of activity costs as seniors, assistant dean Tim Jares replied, “We currently do not have a differential tuition for upper and lower division, but starting next year that will change. We concluded that there was a difference and that upper-division should be charged more.” UNC is a great example of an organization that successfully applied all three steps over a period of years to get unstuck.
  • Stuck on the hard drive… According to Professor Robert Kaplan in the November 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review, many organizations are stuck with an Activity Based Cost (ABC) system they do not use.  “The solution to the problems with ABC is not to abandon the concept. ABC after all has helped many companies identify important cost and profit-enhancement opportunities through the repricing of unprofitable customer relationships, process improvements on the shop floor, lower-cost product designs, and rationalized product variety.” [3]
(To read the HBR article, click here.)
For organizations stuck with an ABC system they don’t use, co-authors Bob Kaplan and Steven Anderson recommend: (a) ask managers to perform their own activity analysis and activity costing; (b) use time as the cost driver for every activity; and, (c) update your ABC system on the basis of events (i.e., process changes) rather than the calendar (i.e., monthly or quarterly). I totally agree that (a) and (c) help organizations keep ABC unstuck. I believe using time as the single, simple method to allocate costs to customers and products is simplistic, but thought-provoking none the less.
  • Stuck on myself… “I can manage my own investments.” That was my attitude for too many years. Because I learned the basic principle of “Buy low, sell high” while getting my BBA in Finance, I felt asking for investment advice would be perceived as a sign of weakness. But when my stock portfolio failed to grow for several years, I admitted to my wife that “We’re stuck”and advised her that I might be the root cause. We agreed to engage the services of a certified financial planner to get unstuck. Our balance sheet in 2005 is markedly better as a result of our action. David Bach offers good advice to get unstuck in his new book Start Late, Finish Rich, “You can’t coulda-woulda-shoulda yourself to wealth or happiness. Instead, decide today — right now — to let it go. We all make mistakes. But let’s not waste one more ounce of your energy, spirit, or time thinking about them, because all that will do is hold you back.” (4)
  • Stuck on empty… Do any of the following questions sound familiar?… “It’s not like things are broken, but it doesn’t feel right either.”… “I’m pooped.”… “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” If left untreated, exhaustion slowly gives way to cynicism. Shutdown, due to a lack of resources, may not be far behind. While purposely stuck on achieving their mission… The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit…Southwest Airlines is not stuck on how to achieve it. SWA is continually implementing improvements to achieve the mission profitably, including the use of Activity Based Costing. According to Chuck Thomas, SWA’s Director of Financial Analysis, “Instead of implementing an enterprise-wide Activity-Based Costing model, we chose to model sub-segments of our business.” In recent years Southwest Airlines has used ABC to improve their Rapid Rewards frequent flyer process, analyze cargo pricing, and benchmark activity performance between stations. Unending, incremental improvement insures Southwest Airlines P&L does not run on empty.

People and organizations stuck-in-the-muck eventually die. Instead of remaining stuck as the nation’s number one most dangerous destination, Mayor Rudy Giuliani lowered New York City’s crime rate by fixing broken windows. AirTran can improve profits by fixing the broken attitudes of tardy flight attendants.

What procedures, people or processes are you stuck with that are holding you back? The positive attitude of Chuck Thomas and his peers at Southwest Airlines are a great reminder that making progress and having fun are not mutually exclusive. Make ’05 your year to “Get unstuck, be happy.”

[1] Unstuck, Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro, Portfolio Books, 2004

[2] Unstuck, Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro, Portfolio Books, 2004

[3] Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing, Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson, Harvard Business Review, November 2004

(4) Start Late, Finish Rich, David Bach, Broadway, 2005