Roads to Resilience

your family, and that you can focus on doing your job well ” (General Manager Corporate Safety and Security). Virgin’s values are simple, yet combined they bring people and activities together across a complex and dynamic global operation, inspire a collective sense of identity and empowerment, as well as a desire to remain vigilant and continually do better. Customer focus As a brand, Virgin Atlantic is very customer-centric: “ It is all about the customer and the experience. People are always looking to do things better, deliver a better experience for the customer, and deliver it cost efficiently. The mantra I hold is that you have to see it through the customer’s eyes, because if you try to be too clever and design something that actually has zero impact on the customer then why are you doing it? ” (Chief Operating Officer). The company uses a number of different approaches to stay on top of customers’ needs, wants and expectations: • regular in-flight customer surveys • mystery shopper programme • bespoke research to understand particular topics • focus groups with regular flyers to explore new concepts • in-flight trials of new concepts In addition, the company’s senior leaders travel the network regularly: “ I recently did a flight to Lagos, and I went as a passenger. I checked into economy, went through the airport, and onboard the aircraft I interviewed people travelling in that cabin. I asked them about what they expected of Virgin Atlantic. People were very open. They were not struck by ‘can I tell you this or not’ – they tell you about the good, the bad and the ugly. For me, that was very good, because it enables me to see what our passengers experience ” (Chief Operating Officer). Senior leaders also try to maintain a first-hand understanding of the challenges crews face to deliver a superior customer service: “ I make sure I regularly travel in all cabins and sample the products to see what works and what does not. I do that by flying on the rotation of the crew and putting myself in their shoes. If the crew lets me, I’ll even serve ice-cream on board. You have to be ready for a lot of input, because if there is one thing that our people do not do, that is to hide their input. They are incredibly passionate about what they do. They really care about the passenger, and they really care about the business. Therefore, they can be quite vocal about what they think we have or have not got right. So you get a lot of input, which is great ” (Director of Operations, Safety and Security). People involvement Virgin Atlantic is very much a people company, both for their employees and customers. The airline prides itself on seeing passengers as individuals, not as tickets or bookings. As a result, Virgin recognises that a customer’s journey is longer than travelling from airport A to airport B. In Virgin’s perspective, this journey starts from the moment an individual starts thinking about travelling and ‘ends’ with the memory of an enjoyable flight when they arrive home again. The intention is to keep Virgin Atlantic at the front of the customer’s mind and change the interaction with them from a short relationship – based around a single journey – into a lifelong relationship.

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Roads to Resilience: Building dynamic approaches to risk to achieve future success