The day everything went right

I had a really strange experience on Kenya Airways recently. Everything went right!

It started at the check-in desk. A smiling young man greeted us and was all too willing to make a complicated change to our booking. Next, the lounge, where a chef full of early-morning fizz was making omelettes at a live egg station. Huh? That never happens.

Oh, and believe it or not, the plane left bang on time! I didn’t believe it at check-in; I didn’t believe it while staring at the flight info screens; I didn’t believe it at the boarding gate; I didn’t believe it even when sitting on the plane. I finally had to believe it when the aircraft was in the air as scheduled.

And then there was the flight crew. Beaming with smiles, attentive to a fault, making extra effort to please.

It felt great to be a Kenyan, and to take pride in our national carrier.

Why am I making a big deal of this? Because I have dozens of blighted KQ flights in my past. So many delays, so much surliness, so little attentiveness to passengers. 

None of what I experienced that day was extraordinary. That is exactly the point. We don’t really need airlines to dazzle us. We just need them to be dependable. KQ did not need magic dust; it just needed ordinary things to be done properly.

What this new customer experience proved was this: we have the people, the talent, the can-do attitude. We can do this CX thing as well as anyone, and better than many. Our people can work hard, and work to high standards. We are blessed.

What should we make of this? Here are three pieces of advice for you in your business.

First, we need stable systems, not heroic individuals. The behaviour of individuals matters, but a great customer experience should not depend on catching the right person on the right day. That’s not a system; it’s a lottery with terrible odds. Design the experience so that good people don’t have to fight bad systems.

Second, before you delight, just deliver. For an airline, safety and on-time departures are the foremost KPIs. It’s nice to get pleasant surprises, but it’s much, much better to get the basics right.

Third, we can all do brilliant CX days, but few of us can pull off a pattern of repeated excellence. That takes discipline and grit and predictability. And that’s where most fail and fall. One good experience creates pleasure. Many good experiences create trust. And trust is the real currency of customer experience.

The test for KQ is not whether it can produce a good day. It can. I saw one.

The test is whether it can make that day normal. And that depends not on the visible talent at the front line, but that perched at higher altitudes. Leaders set course, standards, and priorities. Leaders fund and defund key parts of the business. Leaders inspire or demoralize. 

Don’t fixate on KQ. The same test faces your business. Build the discipline, systems, controls, and most importantly, the culture that make excellence routine. If you’re the leader, you’re the standard bearer and the role model. The patterns of performance are caused by you.

THE SIGNAL IN THE NOISE

A good day proves capability. A good pattern proves leadership.

Like it? Hate it? Engage here