The Four Service Culture Profiles

June 6, 2012
Both technical skills and what we might call “relationship” skills are part of every excellent organization’s service culture

Over the years, Gene has been a part of or worked with many different organizations within aviation: charter management companies, corporate flight departments, flight planning organizations, and airports. Gene’s breadth of experience has given him exposure to many different cultures within aviation, but there seem to be consistent patterns in the culture of competitive companies. Gene’s observations are captured below, in the explanation of the parameters that define a true service culture.

First, both technical skills and what we might call “relationship” skills are part of every excellent organization’s service culture. Twenty years ago, a mechanic, line services employee, or pilot might have thought that as long as they possessed the technical skill to do their jobs, then they were assured of a job. Today, that is no longer enough. True, customers expect that everyone has excellent technical skills; but they also expect effective, friendly communications—what might be referred to as relationship skills.

Second, competitive aviation companies understand that the culture of service delivery happens both outside and inside the organization. Many of us instinctively understand that we must apply technical and relationship skills during the delivery of service to our paying customers, but outstanding companies understand that those same skills are needed when delivering services within its own organization. Thus, the second dimension of a service culture directly speaks to the effectiveness of service delivery to external and internal customers.

In sum, technical and relationship skills must be applied to internal and external customers.

Next week’s article witll highlight the four possible service culture profiles: technical/internal; relationship/internal; technical/external; and relationship/external.