JetBlue Airways, launched in 2000, has redefined America's airline industry. When you fly with this New York-based carrier, you'll experience great customer service, while sitting in leather seats and watching satellite TV broadcasts on seat-back video screens. Innovation, employee involvement and leadership have been the driving forces for the airline's success. And a recently introduced learning and development program – focused on reinforcing the company’s core values and strategies – is helping JetBlue sustain its unique culture and positive business results.

Led by its visionary founder and CEO David Neeleman, JetBlue Airways has emerged as one of the world’s most successful low-fare air carriers. In addition to fostering a strong culture, the CEO and his management team have paid close attention to developing effective leaders and encouraging teamwork.

Denison 360 supports firm’s business objectives
Since 2004, the Denison Leadership Development Survey (DLDS) has been an important tool used at JetBlue in support of the company’s human resources, learning and business objectives.

At age six years and counting, JetBlue has survived and thrived during one of the airline industry's most tumultuous times ever. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, mounting price competition from other carriers, and escalating fuel costs all have presented major business challenges. As a soaring start-up company, JetBlue has faced especially complex issues in hiring and training hundreds of new employees, and in mobilizing an effective infrastructure to attract, serve and satisfy customers.

At JetBlue, Neeleman has been committed to staying close to the business and its people resources, all of whom are called “crewmembers.” Employee surveys have been done on a routine basis, generating valuable insights on employee satisfaction, operational issues and other concerns.

JetBlue tackles emerging leadership challenges
In 2002, the tone of crewmember polls reflected growing employee concern about potential performance gaps in leadership and teamwork. JetBlue’s management team responded by developing and implementing a customized learning and development program. Michael Barger, the company’s chief learning officer, was the driving force in creating this unique initiative.

The Principles of Leadership (POL) program was deployed beginning in 2004. It is based on five key expectations of JetBlue leaders:

• Treat your people right
• Do the right thing
• Communicate with your team
• Encourage initiative and innovation, and
• Inspire greatness in others

Currently, the initiative consists of two sequential leadership courses; a two-day POL Foundations course, and a three-day POL in Action course. Developing the program took hundreds of hours of work, including research, instructional design, and testing – all focused on finding the right combination of theoretical and practical learning.

Denison leadership survey is key learning component
JetBlue managers decided to utilize the DLDS tool as a key component of the POL in Action course. Before participating in the program, crewmembers are expected to complete the survey. Based on the Denison model of organizational culture, the DLDS tool is designed to measure the effectiveness of each leader based on feedback from him/herself; boss(s); peers; direct reports; and other colleagues. Results from the survey are applied to create an individual learning and mentoring program for each person.

In evaluating prospective “360-degree” leadership feedback tools to support the POL program, JetBlue officials reviewed a wide range of possible alternatives. The DLDS tool was chosen primarily because of its research-based validity, and because the Denison model closely matches the five Principles of Leadership promoted by JetBlue.

Airline enhances leadership, and flies high
Two years after its launch, the POL program continues at JetBlue, and according to company officials, results have been outstanding. Many of the leadership and teamwork issues that had been identified early on have been addressed effectively. And JetBlue continues to develop its current and future generation of crewmembers and leaders, as an important strategy to keep flying high in America's airline industry.

Shure, Inc. is the premier maker of professional and consumer audio equipment in the United States and has an emerging presence in Europe and Asia. Shure’s history is one of innovation and excellence. Their SM57 and SM58 mics are still the world's top sellers - over 30 years after they were introduced. Shure’s products are, quite simply, the tried and true gold standard of the audio industry.

In an effort to maintain its leadership in the marketplace, Shure used the Denison Organizational Culture Survey to identify core strengths and weaknesses of the organization.

Utilizing Denison’s culture survey allowed Shure to discover the essence of its unique Associate population by:

• Measuring Associate awareness of a newly introduced strategic vision
• Checking understanding and commitment to Shure core values
• Diagnosing barriers to cross department collaboration
• Gauging involvement and work ownership of Associates
• Evaluating the company’s connection to it’s customers and knowledge of the environment in which it competes
• Measuring the progress of several company initiatives

Survey Insights
Three key insights emerged from the survey. First, while most Associates were clear about Shure’s vision and strategy, they were unclear as to how to execute it. Second, Shure’s quality brand image could be jeopardized due to multiple interpretations of its core values. The company had on-boarded 400 new Associates in the last 2 years. The underlying culture supporting Shure’s vision was growing more unfocused. Finally, value meaning varied widely depending on geographic region.

Training Initiatives
While Shure continued to aggressively communicate its new strategic vision, Bliss Training & Consulting began using its unique instructional design approach to create a multi-tiered values-based program. Following extensive input from all levels of the company, BTC identified the key learning targets, program outcomes, and conducted a creative design session to devise the strategy and tactics for delivering the training.

The resulting design targeted three key audiences within Shure: Executives (who must model and mentor the values for others), Managers (who must engender value-based behaviors in their teams, and Associates (who must both practice living the values and confront others who are acting outside their guiding principles).

International considerations were incorporated into the learning design. While value definitions remained the same across Shure, the actions indicating Associates are living the values were acknowledged as different for Mexican, European and Asian Associates.

Bliss Training & Consulting specializes in organizational learning designs – that is – experiences designed to teach new skills, expand business knowledge, and positively influence a corporate culture. Our goal is to help our clients uncover and teach the behaviors required for individual and organizational effectiveness. To accomplish our goal, we start with insight assessments for an introspective look at performance, brand and cultural strengths and identify necessary impact area for learning. From these insights, we create active and dynamic learning experiences – from large-scale culture and values initiatives to practical skill-building workshops.

Bliss Training & Consulting, 954 W. Washington, 4th Floor NW, Chicago, IL 60607
312-733-7600, info@blisstraining.com

When it comes to delivering positive, bottom-line results, an organization’s culture can make a significant difference. According to the latest research conducted by Denison, companies that demonstrate higher levels of performance in key areas of organizational culture -- including adaptability, consistency, mission and involvement -- tend to deliver better results in return-on-assets, sales growth and shareholder value.

“It’s possible to measure, monitor and influence organizational culture, and our scientifically valid tools enable the accomplishment of such vital tasks,” said Dan Denison, who co-founded Denison Consulting, along with his business partner Bill Neale, in the 1990s.

Ryan Smerek, a Denison research analyst, led the most recent study. He examined data from a sample of 102 companies that had deployed the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) between 1996 and 2004. Businesses that achieved the best scores in the poll were compared with those earning the lowest scores in the survey. In effect, the top quartile -- or 25 percent of the sample -- was contrasted with the lowest quartile group.

Companies with the best organizational culture scores earned an average return-on-assets of 6.3 percent, vs. 4.5 percent for firms with the lowest organizational scores. The top-quartile firms achieved average, one-year sales growth of 15.1 percent, as compared with 0.1 percent for the lowest-quartile group. And companies with the best culture scores also led in shareholder value, with average market-to-book values of 440 percent as compared to 350 percent for firms with the lowest culture scores. (A company’s market-to-book value is the ratio of the market price of its shares over its book value in total equity.)

“These results represent a dramatic affirmation of the importance of organizational culture, and its link to real-world business results,” said Smerek. “The companies that achieved higher scores on mission, consistency, involvement and adaptability earned $6,300 for every $100,000 in assets, while those with lower cultural scores earned $4,500 for every $100,000,” he said. “That’s a huge difference -- a return-on-assets difference totaling 40 percent.”

Researchers at Denison Consulting also took a longer-term look at the 102 companies in the sample. During a three-year period, the firms with the best organizational culture scores significantly outperformed their industry peers, as well as the companies with the lowest organizational culture scores, in all three outcome areas -- return-on-assets, sales growth, and shareholder value.

A previous study by Denison Consulting found that organizations with higher DOCS scores do a better job in satisfying their customers, vs. organizations with lower DOCS scores.

“Organizational culture is extremely important to business success, and the really good news is that it is not a soft science,” said Denison. “With valid data on an organization’s culture, we can pinpoint areas for improvement and predict the positive business results that are likely to be achieved with the right interventions and action plans.”

Another month, another initiative? Sometimes it can seem that way to busy managers. Each initiative, taken alone, may make sense, but most organizations have too many priorities. Everything is important. The end result, of course, is that nothing is really important, and the organization lacks focus.

The new book by IMD professors, Peter Killing and Thomas Malnight, asserts that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can break the stalemate by focusing your organization's resources and energy on the three to five key battles that you must win in order to achieve your most important goals. Once established, these must-win battles become the focal point of decisions and action plans, and command the resources and commitment they deserve.

Must-Win Battles tackles one of the biggest challenges facing executives today – making strategy work. It’s a multi-faceted problem: defining strategic priorities is just part of the equation. Your priorities only become real when people, both teams and leaders from across the organization, give them full support. A great strategy with no commitment will go nowhere. But a great team without a clear sense of direction will do no better. And without strong authentic leadership at many levels of the organization, even both together are not sufficient.

Must-Win Battles is for business leaders who want to harness the minds (understanding and ownership) and hearts (passion and commitment) and hands (actions) of their organizations to bring focus and renewed energy to their organizations and create sustainable competitive advantages. Over time, individual battles will be won or lost: the enduring victory that drives further success is in the new ways of working together that emerge from the must-win battle process. You start by winning battles; you end by transforming your organization.

See www.mustwinbattles.com for more information and related articles, video and news.

Nowadays, nearly every business leader recognizes the crucial importance of culture. But, in many organizations, attempts to handle culture issues remain "squishy," unfocused, and unlikely to bring any value or results. Now, IBM's leading experts reveal the way to make culture tangible to everyone involved - and how to effectively deal with a variety of culture challenges.

The new book Can Two Rights Make a Wrong? Insights from IBM's Tangible Culture Approach by Sarah J. Moulton Reger leverages the lessons learned during IBM's $3.5B acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting: insight that IBM has crystallized into a powerful methodology for transforming business culture.

"Leaders wouldn't think about doing a major project without a plan and a project manager, but how many consider the cultural implications? This book fills a key void because it clarifies the topic of culture so that it is easier to understand, and includes examples for applying the framework to many types of situations, including business-to-business alliances and cross-geography teams."
- Cindy Berger, vice president, American Express

For more information about IBM's approach to culture or about the book, please visit www.tangibleculture.com.

Denison Consulting recently added a new eResource on its Web site that is useful for both current and prospective clients. The Survey Process A to Z for DOCS is a comprehensive set of information that takes users through every step of the cultural change and survey process associated with the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS).

A wide range of topics are covered, including Culture Change; Change Initiative Planning; Designing a Survey; Preparing for a Survey; Survey Administration; Reports and Feedback; Action Planning, Survey Follow-up; and Resources.

Additional demonstrations and tours are available in the eResource, along with access to white papers, relevant presentations, and other guides. Users can access information easily via contents, index, and search functions.

To experience the new Survey Process A to Z eResource for DOCS firsthand, click here.

The Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) and Denison Leadership Development Survey (DLDS) have some new features! The DOCS Dashboard and the DLDS Dashboard are new web-based tools that allow Denison clients to interactively manage survey projects in “real time”.

The DOCS Dashboard provides up-to-the-minute survey participation updates along with several types of more detailed participation reports. While the survey is in progress, clients can use the new tool to monitor the progress of a survey, identify dates when survey participation is highest and lowest, and distinguish specific areas in an organization where participation is especially high or low.

The DLDS Dashboard also allows clients to have more control over their Denison Leadership Development Survey projects. In addition to viewing DLDS participation updates and reports in real time, clients can edit participant information, resend participant invitations, extend deadlines, and send deadline extension notices to participants and raters.

To view a demo of the DOCS Dashboard (for culture surveys), click here.
To view a demo of the DLDS Dashboard (for leadership 360 surveys), click here.

Members of the Denison community will meet at the Second Annual Denison Best Practices Forum in May. Keynote speakers will include David Brandon, CEO of Domino's Pizza, and Mike Barger, CLO of JetBlue Airways.

The Forum will be held at one of America's premier history attractions: the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI.

To learn more about the Denison Best Practices Forum, contact Ryan Muir.

Dan Denison – founding partner of Denison Consulting – often makes the business circuits sharing the benefits of measuring, managing and improving organizational culture. Dan also travels a different set of circuits, as a driver at some of North America's premiere racing events.

In 2006, Denison will drive a Formula Ford 2000 Zetec racecar in a series of races tentatively scheduled for venues in Atlanta, Georgia; Mansfield and Cleveland, Ohio; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The races will be run as part of the 2006 Formula Ford 2000 Championship Series, and will be held in conjunction with Champ Car and American LeMans series competitions.

New driver joins team for 2006 season
Denison has been racing for more than a decade, and entered the Cooper Tires Formula Ford Championship Series for the first time in 2005. He is one of two drivers this year on the Adams Racing Formula Ford 2000 Championship Team. Joining the team as a newcomer for this year’s season is Clark Cambern, of Lansing, Michigan. Cambern, who is 26, has been involved in amateur and professional racing for 18 years.

The Cooper Tires competition is a rapidly emerging, high-visibility program for drivers with professional aspirations. Those who achieve success in the series have a chance to move into the top levels of professional racing.

Sponsorship opportunities are available
Denison Consulting is a primary sponsor of the Adams Racing Formula Ford 2000 Championship Team. Representatives of the team currently are offering additional sponsorship opportunities for the 2006 season. Additional information about the team is available from Ken Stockton, of Stockton Communications, at (734) 662-5034. More details about the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Championship Series are available online at: www.cooperseries.com.