Richard Branson - Like a Virgin

Another executive complained to me, ‘I’ve sent the guy a bunch of text messages. I know he’s there, so why isn’t he responding?’ Clearly it would have been better to pick up the phone or walk over to that person’s desk and discuss the matter face to face, a move that would have resolved the issue and immediately eliminated the growing tension.

In short, if these managers had tried walking and talking instead of typing and griping, they could have solved these problems quickly and easily, saving themselves time and effort.

Why not pick up the phone? As technology has evolved, so has business etiquette. People tend to rely primarily on email and text messaging because these communications are precise and less intrusive, while a phone call now signals that a matter can’t be solved by ordinary means. But there is nothing efficient about allowing a small problem to escalate.

To break down this new barrier to effective communications, make face-to-face employee contact part of everyday life in your office. The Australian term for it is ‘going walkabout’; many business management consultants call it ‘management by walking around’. Whatever you call it, it works, and if you and your senior staff aren’t doing it, you are missing out on one of the most inexpensive and effective management tools around.

I have always enjoyed getting to know people at Virgin companies. I find it a much better way to get a feel for what’s really going on than sitting in my office-okay, lying on my hammock at home-reading reports. As not everyone is outgoing, here are a few tips:

Be egalitarian. Don’t restrict your walkabout only to your area of the company; try to meet colleagues at (literally) every level-not just on the top floor! Go on your walkabouts at random times-you don’t want front-line employees thinking, ‘It’s three o’clock on Tuesday. He should be here any minute.’ If managers or department heads ask to tag along, politely explain that you will get to know people better if you are on your own.

When you meet an employee for the first time, be sure to shake hands and always introduce yourself by name, no matter what your position at the company. Keep it informal: ‘Hi, I’m John Brown’ is a lot less intimidating than ‘Good afternoon. I’m the chief financial officer, Mr Brown.’

Don’t restrict the conversation to work matters. If you notice a family photograph on a desk, a comment like, ‘I see you have a tennis player in the family? My kids love to run me ragged all over the court’ will help to break the ice.

Relax and have fun, ask questions and listen. Ask your colleague what she sees as her area’s strengths and stumbling points, and listen to her thoughts on the challenges the business faces. Jot down anything that strikes you as worthy of follow-up. (When I don’t have my notebook handy, I am notorious for writing reminders on my hands and arms.) If you have any news to share, provide a balanced view-positive developments as well as concerns. It’s less likely that shop-floor employees will know as much about the bigger picture, so they may need your help to put matters in perspective. But they will have ideas and opinions that can be every bit as relevant as your own so listen up and take more notes.

Above all, try to catch employees doing something good-recognise and celebrate people’s strengths and achievements on the spot. If, however, you stumble on a problem, it’s far better to quietly bring the matter to someone’s attention later, rather than embarrass the staff member by having the head honcho calling them out in front of their peers.

One boss with no such qualms was Robert Crandall, the legendary leader of American Airlines in the 1990s. Bob used to love using the old dog sledding line that went, ‘if you’re not the lead dog the view never changes’. The irascible Mr Crandall would seem to have failed to recognise that in business it is the job of the lead dog to go out of his way to make sure that the rest of the team gets to see the bigger picture.

We have found at the Virgin companies that, when senior managers make the effort to foster relationships with employees and colleagues, a real community spirit results. So please get out of that economically correct office chair right now-there’s no time like the present for a trial walkabout. It will get easier with practice.

If you need to explain your sudden presence in unfamiliar territory, you can simply say ‘Richard sent me’-or then again, maybe not!

If death and taxes are the only sure-fire things in life, then the only certainty in business is that one day things will go wrong. If you’re lucky it needn’t be a catastrophe, but when you first start up a business, one of your priorities has got to be emergency planning.

Put a disaster recovery plan in place that fits your situation: in case supply lines are cut, a hurricane hits or other natural catastrophe looms. Because if disaster strikes, rest assured that a lot of people are going to be looking to you for answers.

On 23 February 2007, at around 8.15 p.m. we were hit with our first real emergency. One of Virgin Rail’s new Pendolino tilting trains had derailed in the north-west of England, on a remote part of the West Coast Main Line. Margaret Masson, an elderly passenger, was badly thrown around in the coach as the train slid along the railbed and then careered down a steep embankment.

For ten years, Virgin Trains had safely carried millions of passengers all over Britain. Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, had flown tens of millions of customers around the globe without a single injury. That night, life changed for all of us at Virgin. Margaret Masson was dead. Several other people were seriously hurt.

I was on a family ski trip in Zermatt, Switzerland, when I received a text message that said there had been a rail accident. After speaking to Tony Collins, the chief executive of Virgin Trains, I hired a car and drove through the night to Zurich, where I got the first flight out at 6.30 a.m.

When I arrived in Manchester that morning, the BBC was reporting that the train was intact, and that had helped to save many lives. That was heartening: all our new trains had been built like tanks for this very reason. A later report, which was confirmed, suggested that a rail track was responsible for the accident due to track failure. Twenty-four people were taken to hospital.

I met Margaret Masson’s family in the mortuary at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire. They were clearly devastated, and I offered them my condolences. We found ourselves hugging each other.

Soon I was facing a barrage of television cameras and a pack of journalists who wanted answers. I thought I was going to choke up. I came very close, but kept it together and stuck to the facts as we knew them. At the time, ahead of the official accident investigation findings, there wasn’t much I could say other than sorrys and thank yous. I expressed my gratitude to the train driver, Iain Black, who had stayed in his seat at the front of the train as it crashed, doing everything he could to save his passengers, and in the process sustained serious injuries. Our other employees on board had all behaved in an exemplary fashion, ignoring their own minor injuries in order to lead customers to safety.

Why were we able to react so quickly? When Virgin Trains was putting its emergency procedures in place, we had analysed a number of serious rail incidents and had been appalled by the length of time that usually passed before anyone in charge started speaking to the press. Confusion and then blame set in quickly as anxious people waited to find out what had happened and why.