Jetco Delivery: Creating a Just Culture
By Brian L. Fielkow CEO
As the CEO of Jetco Delivery, a freight and logistics company based in Houston, Texas, I’ve been fortunate to work alongside my team to create our Driving to Perfection (D2P) culture, which puts safety, accountability, communication and respect above all else. D2P is a way of life and one that our team embraces.
One of my more inspiring culture stories is when our team moved from a traditional discipline HR system to a “just culture.” In my opinion, a just culture is a superior business model that differentiates companies through attributes that dramatically enable elevated organizational performance. Progressive discipline involves documentation and “strikes.” The first strike might be a warning. The second might be suspension, etc. It is robotic, robbing managers of the ability to use their judgement. It also breeds mistrust and resentment among employees.
In contrast, a “just culture” is about facts, circumstances, and fairness. In most situations, documented coaching replaces discipline. It is a balanced business standard that provides a variety of benefits:
● Systemic accountability. There should be accountability between designed management systems and the employees working inside those systems.
● Workplace dignity and justice with a purpose. It demonstrates in real time that the senior management is committed to living up to organizational values.
● An employee-centric, values-supportive approach to customer service. Most service initiatives place the customer as the principal focus. In this approach, excellent customer experience is a by-product of engaged employees working inside well-designed systems.
● A coherent approach to operational performance improvement initiatives. This optimizes return on investment through enterprise alignment and balancing competing business priorities in safety, human resources, risk, and logistics.
● Improved labor relations and worker satisfaction. Employees are respected as partners in achieving strategic alignment and stronger operational performance.
In my company, we began looking at a failure as either reckless behavior or an honest mistake. If we see that the employee demonstrated reckless behavior, then, of course, the severity of the action or offense requires consequences. It is critical that employees know what behaviors will generate this type of action. Swift action must be taken for gross violations of your core company values. For example, our team created the “Serious Six” – which includes speeding or using a handheld device while driving. Those are the rules, that, when violated, could kill or seriously harm the employee or a member of the public. For violations such as this, many times the “one strike and you’re out” mentality is the fair and just guiding force in a decision.
If we determine that an error is the result of an honest mistake, then coaching takes precedence over formal discipline. In a culture where fairness rules, decisions are made looking at all relevant factors as a whole: seniority, performance, attitude, behavior, and other relevant considerations. Careful thought is given to each area.
Practicing the tool of organizational accountability also can help shed light on contributing factors to what happened and identify any policies or procedures that need changing or updating to help ensure that similar problems and mistakes won’t be repeated. The finger of blame is not frozen in the path of one individual.
The goal of leaders in a vibrant culture is for employees to know they will be treated fairly in any situation. Since moving to a “just culture” HR system, we’ve clearly seen employee turnover decrease and accountability increase. By steering away from a rigid, rule-bound method of treating your employees and operating with a broader sense of fairness and justice, trust will grow. As trust grows, your bond with your employees also will blossom.