TRUST – HOW MUCH DO YOU HAVE?

Benchmark yourself (or your organisation) against Management Today's, Britain’s Most Admired Leader 2015/16 - Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO of EasyJet.

1.0      TRUSTED BY CUSTOMERS - measure:  growth in turnover

“easyJet is a safety business and

trust in easyJet is paramount.  

Reputation is everything.”

Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO easyJet

• Customers trust easyJet to deliver on its clear vision:  to be Europe's preferred short-haul airline - delivering market-leading returns and making travel easy and affordable for all.
• "You have to have a clear vision and then make decisions quickly, particularly about people because you need to have the right people in the right roles,” says Carolyn McCall.

2.0     TRUSTED BY HER TEAM – measure: how much you team add to your business (the discretionary talent/effort they bring) 

• “You tell them the truth even if it’s unpalatable.  You’re always open and accessible – people know they can always talk to you even about the stuff that’s not easy to hear,” says Carolyn McCall. 

  IPSOS-MORI says her colleagues are probably her biggest fans[i]. The easyJet team is more engaged than any of its competitors.

  “My guiding principles are to treat people as you’d like to be treated.  You deliver profits to shareholders while having great power to do some good such as providing a service like no other in an enjoyable work environment,” says Carolyn McCall.

3.0     TRUSTED TO LIVE BY THEIR VALUES – measure: the gap between what you promise and what you consistently deliver

Take two easyJet values:

One team – means flat hierarchy.  People bring their whole selves to work – mind, body, heart and soul.  They feel able to find ways around obstacles which makes it easier for the easyJet team to deliver on their promises. Keys to cost-effective, copper-plated customer care.

Simplicity - costs are kept low.  For instance, easyJet’s offices are open plan to keep the company’s culture open and collaborative.  Quiet conversations take place in a coffee shop.

4.0     TRUSTED BY SHAREHOLDERS – measure: profits and/or shareholder return

easyJet’s numbers speak for themselves:  profits are up to record levels and the share price has quadrupled - all with a happier-than-average team.

easyLife?  Hardly – all this has been achieved in five years against a backdrop of regular currency crises, the odd ash cloud grinding the whole easyJet network to a halt and consumer expectations constantly climbing to stratospheric levels.

The Management Today Britain’s Most Admired Companies research is the largest peer review of its kind and is conducted by Professor Mike Brown of Leeds University Business School.

Unilever was voted the Most Admired Company and has featured in the top 20 every year since the study began in 1990.

[i] IPSOS-MORI says easyJet is 19 points above any other airline for employee engagement, worldwide.  IPSOS-MORI is leading market research company in the UK and Ireland.