Shannon Cooper, who runs the business, says: “Our values are not only relevant to us but to our customers as well. We not only think about the things the company values but what our customers value as well. We use technology as a way of bringing people together.”
“If we have those values and if they are available to our customers, the business by default will be successful.”
He says companies need to ask themselves hard questions when formulating values, but in the end, most of them can do it.
“If you’re a BHP, you think about how BHP customers feel about the company and about the communications. I don’t think it’s as complex as many people like to make out.”
He says the manifesto was a document that was not developed as part of a strategy. It evolved naturally “rather than something we wrote on a weekend away in Byron Bay.”
Cooper acknowledges that keeping the values system going as the company grows and recruits wider will be a challenge but he is confident it can be done if they find people who also believe in the value system.
“It won’t be done like putting an ad on Seek, it will be more like a boyfriend coming around to meet a girlfriend’s parents for the first time,” Cooper says.
Virgin Blue’s core values of safety, innovation, value, quality, challenge, fun and caring are all aimed to build a deeper connection with customers and helping the company stand out in the market. As Richard Tanner, Virgin Blue’s group executive for people puts it, Virgin Blue with no values would be like any other airline.
“There is only so much you can differentiate around a round piece of metal with 100 or so seats in it,’’ Tanner says.
“Essentially they are all the same but what we try to do is innovate wherever we can.”
The company recruits people who embrace the values and trains them over eight weeks. That includes scripts, role play, teaching trainees how to use their voice, how to wear the uniform and with women, how to put on make-up. Staff members are also encouraged to show their flair. By teaching them how to use their own style to handle situations, it becomes more personal.
Even the uniforms are designed to highlight the values.
“With the others, they don’t tend to have much red in them,’’ Tanner says.
“They are usually not as casual as ours in terms of open neck and short sleeves. That says something about who we are. And at the same time, they are immaculately presented, with not a hair out of place.
“The core differentiator of Virgin Blue to the other Australian carriers is our crew. They are more connected to the guests, they do look like they enjoy their jobs more, they do help you more, they are more engaging and on balance they are a better presented group of people.
“We recruit as best we can to fit the brand, we train well to ensure the focus is predominantly on customer service.
When it comes to hard business decisions, Virgin Blue claims to have an eye on its values. Last year during the height of the global financial crisis, for example, there was speculation the airline would sack 400 staff. Tanner says that forced Virgin Blue to look at the problem through the prism of its values.
“Because of our values, it was our view it was not acceptable to us to cut 400 heads out of the business. We needed to find a more innovative way.’’
Airline management went to staff members who came back with such ideas as job sharing, more part time work and leave without pay. A crisis was averted.
“As a result, we didn’t have any redundancies because of the GFC and we have been able to bring those people back into work as we have come out of all of that. That is an example of our values in action.”
Values are not window dressing. They can attract customers and quality staff. But as Atlassian, Virgin Blue and Rentoid have shown, it can only happen when the company makes an effort to incorporate it into the operations.
Otherwise, it really is just fluff.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
