Friday morning, Bournemouth to Luton, the traffic was OK and I was well ahead of time – perfect!
But when I arrived at Luton airport, things changed! It was terrible, why would anyone choose to use Luton airport?
The experience was awful. It was crowded, hot and under construction! There were delays, no communication and stressed out parents with bored children, standing around waiting, waiting, waiting!
How can an airport forget it’s customers and not appear to care about the people that fund it’s existence? I was not the only person thinking this and I could see the frustration and anger building the longer we waited.
The staff were pleasant enough and did their jobs efficiently but, due to the environmental problems, you could sense the atmosphere was less than positive. It goes to show that you can have the best people in the world doing a fantastic job, but if the environment is not great, all of that goes out of the window.
When people travel they want it to be an effortless experience. They want things to be as expected – easy and comfortable and, if you are in the service industry, you know this is what makes a big difference for repeat business.
So how have Luton got it so wrong? Why is no-one feeding back to the top tier / decision makers?
When I arrived at my new RAF station the first thing my boss asked me to do was to walk around the gymnasium and sports facilities and take note of anything that was wrong, broken or out of order.
A fresh pair of eyes can notice things that others count as normal, and have ignored, telling themselves “That looks dangerous, I’m sure someone will fix it soon!”
How often do we do this or do we get used to what we always see and know? The norm becomes something that is less than perfect and something that is not effortless.
How is it for you? Do you need a fresh pair of eyes to state the obvious?
Have a walk around your place of work and note down things that need attention. How long have they been like that and what needs to be done to improve the environment?
Is your environment a 10/10?