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Culture Committee Fun...Albuquerque E-Team Visit

jmalone
Adventurer A
IMAG0011.JPGIMAG0005.JPGIMAG0001.JPGIMAG0008.JPGOne of the things that I'm honored to be a part of here at Southwest Airlines is the Culture Committee.  The Culture Committee was started back in 1991, by Colleen Barrett, our President.  She saw the need for us to keep that family feeling as the Company began to grow.  The Culture Committee has approximately 120 Active Members and numerous Alumni Members.  You are selected to be on the Committee for 3 years, and during those three years, you attend quarterly Culture Committee meetings and participate in three Team Events.  After that, you become an Alumni Member, and you participate in two Team Events, one of which has to be a "Hokey" Day.  A Hokey Day is where you go to an airport, provide the Flight Crews with a box snack and use a Hokey (a type of manual carpet sweeper) to help them clean the plane.  The pictures here are of the Albuquerque E-Team Visit.  E-Team stands for Encouragement.  We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers outside for the Albuquerque Station Employees and the Flight Crews that flew through the city that day.  It is great to be a part of the Culture Committee.  Perhaps Sunny could share some more about it with ya'll.  ;-) IMAG0002.JPGIMAG0003.JPGIMAG0009.JPGIMAG0010.JPG
4 Comments
Nona_Rogers
Explorer C
James: Always remember to invite the airport fire department to the barbeque . . . just in case you set off the sprinkler system. Learned that from experience! LOL Nona/MSY
Jenny4
Explorer A
James, I am a student working on a semester project for an org. theory class. I wanted to learn a bit more about Southwest and have come to this blog for a ton of information you don't find anywhere else! Your Culture Committe sounds fascinating. You mentioned you were a part of the E-Team "Encouragment" - what other Teams are there and what are their functions. Additionally, places where I've been employeed in the past, there is a lot of grumbling about having to participate in anything "extra." Perhaps this is another characteristic of the Southwest Culture - everyone actually enjoys participating in events. You also mentioned there are 120 people - for a large group, how do you come together for the meetings? Do you have the opportunity to really get to know everyone on the committee? I laughed too at the comment posted about the fire department...how big of a scene did that cause??? Jenny Frasco
jmalone
Adventurer A
Jenny - We have teams dedicated to Reservations, Ground Operations, Inflight, Flight Operations, Provisioning, Heros of the Heart, and I think I'm missing a few. Perhaps someone could jump in and name the rest. The teams operate in much the same way as the E-Team. We go to a location, cook lunch / provide lunch, play games, give away prizes, etc...The Inflight Team we do something special. We have "Hokey Days". A Hokey Day is when we go to a particular Inflight Base and we provide a boxed snack for the Flight Crew. We then let them take a little break while we clean the aircraft and grab a Hokey. A Hokey for those of you that don't know is a small human powered vacuumn picker upper (is that a word?) 🙂 We then hokey the plane to pick up all the peanut debris from the aircraft floor. It is a BLAST and the Crews really appreciate this small amount of time to enjoy their snack and get a little rest in a hectic day. We come together 4 times a year at HDQ to meet with Colleen and her Team of "Culture Chicks" and we also have the opportunity to hear from Sr. Leadership at these meetings. In addition, Colleen normally brings in a guest speaker to share with us. The meetings are very beneficial in that there is a TON of information shared and there is also a lot of time for Q & A. We are then able to go back to our respective work groups and share this information with them. I hope this has helped a little. Regards, James Malone MDW FA
Jenny4
Explorer A
James, Thank you so much for the response. Yes, the information shared was insightful and again - demonstrates how Southwest shows appreciation for Employees and how you all understand it takes teamwork to be successful. This site is so awesome! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to contribute and share your experiences. With much appreciation, Jenny Frasco