Guest Post – Transparency On The Tarmac

You know when you get on the phone with someone for the first time and instantly hit it off? That’s how I felt when chatting recently with Mike Owcarz of PCRecruiter.net. Mike is one of those instantly likable people, so please be nice to him… this is his first blog post ever. Take it away Mike!

To be candid, my understanding of company transparency was fairly limited before my last vacation. I thought being transparent was having a firm presence in Social Media – Facebook groups, LinkedIn profiles, and Twitter company accounts. You know, being accessible to your clients and patrons whenever, wherever.

To test this theory, I had recently started following JetBlue on Twitter and thought it was really cool to have a different means of reaching their company. Since my family was planning on flying JetBlue on our vacation to Orlando, I decided to test Twitter’s power by reaching out and asking them about my pregnant wife and whether there was anything special we needed to tell them about her flying. I sent off my Tweet, half thinking I was going to have to call customer service later on in the day. Much to my surprise, I received a message back with their company policy in less than thirty minutes. How sweet it was to get a quick and easy response from an actual human! I did not have to go through the normal routine of hitting “0″ as many times as I could to get someone in customer service via an 800 number. Ah, this is what transparency was all about! I was an official fan of JetBlue and sang their praises on my Twitter account! And just like that, we were off to Orlando.

The flight home was a different story all together. It was about fifteen minutes prior to boarding when the “gate keeper” announced that our flight was delayed due to mechanical problems. G-R-E-A-T…. a plane with mechanical problems. We all started wondering aloud what the issue could be. Engine trouble? Compression issues? Just as my imagination started running wild, I checked my Twitter account to get my mind off of things, and I received a random message that read, “Worry is a misuse, or even an abuse, of imagination”. They could have not been more right, and it was exactly what I needed at that moment. [Side Note: My parents live in Clarence Center, NY, now infamous for the tragedy of Flight 3407. The plane crashed about one block from their house. The day before our trip, my mother walked me to the crash site.]

With my anxiety waxing and waning, we suddenly heard a new voice over the loudspeaker. JetBlue Pilot “Captain Awesome” (I wish I knew his real name) informed the waiting passengers about the true issue at hand. There was a malfunction with the external cooling system. If we loaded the plane we would have been stewing in 100 degree temperatures and there was no way we could have boarded or left. What was amazing to me was that “Captain Awesome” was the one making these announcements. He spoke to us calmly and clearly. He even came back to present options, including – a) Trying a different fan to cool the plane; b) Starting the engines (which the supervisor would not let him do); or c) Securing a different plane (which wasn’t going to happen).

They were finally able to cool the plane down and we departed for Buffalo. Once we landed, the Pilot stood near the cockpit and apologized again to everyone as they exited. He himself was just wrapping up a fourteen hour workday, but he took the time necessary to express his gratitude for our business and appreciation for our patience.

So here’s my point. The fact that the pilot was the one talking to the crowd and explaining the entire situation was the greatest act of company transparency I have personally witnessed. It is a lesson in leadership and accountability, regardless of whether the issue is your fault or not. And it is sometimes the simplest acts of transparency that can make your organization stand out among the crowd. It made the three hour drive to Buffalo from Cleveland worthwhile and is the reason that JetBlue will always be my number one option.