Share all of it
At Southwest, everyone knows: Planes in the air make money. Planes on the ground don't.
One day a baggage handler had an idea: What if we loaded bags in a way so that the handles faced out, to make it faster for the handlers to unload the plane on the other side?
Across all flights, every day, this idea was worth tens of millions of dollars.
It only happened because everyone was equipped with information.
“Magic happens where the workforce is.”
We all want to empower our teams. We talk about autonomy, ownership, and initiative. But sometimes, our actions don't match our words.
We hold back information, telling ourselves:
It shields them from noise & complexity
We own the big picture
It'll be a distraction
It's too sensitive
But by holding back we’re holding everyone back from:
Faster problem-solving
Higher engagement
Greater innovation
More trust.
“Leaders who are unwilling to share information with their people will never have their people as partners in running the company successfully and will never have an empowered organization.” - Kenneth Blanchard
“Don’t use information to intimidate, control, or manipulate. Use it to teach people how to work together to achieve common goals and thereby gain control over their lives.” - Jack Stack
Open the floodgates of information. Push yourself to share, to share more, to share all of it:
Give your people access to all relevant data and insights.
Be transparent about your decision-making process.
And encourage questions and feedback.
Because knowledge isn't power;
Shared knowledge is power.
