How Southwest’s CIO modernized the airline by turbulent instances

Taking the helm as CIO is a significant transition for any IT chief, however Lauren Woods’ expertise at Southwest Airways stands aside.

Two months earlier than she was formally named CIO in February 2023, Southwest skilled one of many largest operational disruptions in aviation historical past, proper in the course of the busy vacation journey season, with outdated software program methods on the heart of the meltdown. 

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan later attributed an imbalance within the firm’s progress mindset and a scarcity of funding in digital transformation as central causes of the journey disruptions the airways incurred throughout the December 2022 holidays. Targeted on progress, the corporate’s management had deprioritized modernizing inner methods, hiring IT employees, and updating inner processes to maintain tempo with its progress agenda. The end result was a PR firestorm with greater than 15,000 cancelled flights, unprecedented refunds and reimbursements, a $220 million income loss throughout This fall, and a $140 million civil penalty when the mud settled.

Woods was thrown immediately into that deep finish, with little time to regulate to her new management place. She calls it an “accelerated studying alternative,” noting that if you tackle a brand new position, you usually count on round six months to be taught and develop into the place.

Woods didn’t have that luxurious. As a substitute, she discovered herself going through not solely an accelerated studying curve, but in addition “accelerated visibility.” Nearly instantly, all eyes had been on her as she sought to proper Southwest’s operations.

“That was fascinating as a result of I feel among the high management who knew of me and supported me into this position actually hadn’t seen me,” she says. “So now they bought to see me in motion.” 

Main throughout turbulent instances

Woods’ background main transformative initiatives at Southwest, in addition to her method to management that she has developed all through her tenure main IT groups, suited her properly in taking up IT because the airways was plunged into chaos.

Leaning on these bona fides, Woods rallied and guided her groups to overtake Southwest’s technical operations with a shared dedication to doing proper by the shopper. The truth is, buyer options is the place Woods started her tenure at Southwest 14 years in the past, having signed on to handle Southwest.com throughout a time when the corporate was transitioning from C++ to Java, and adopting agile growth methodologies.

Woods spent the subsequent decade studying the ins and outs of Southwest’s business facet, overseeing the transition to a brand new reservation system, integrating new methods when the corporate purchased AirTran, and ultimately shifting into extra integration work throughout the corporate, earlier than coming again to the front-end a part of the enterprise as a director.

When Kathleen Merrill, then SVP of know-how and CIO, tapped Woods to work on operational methods, Woods was hesitant as a result of the majority of her expertise was on the business facet. However Merrill acknowledged that Woods understood software program growth and had each a robust working information of the airline and deep area experience — all of which singled her out as a robust candidate to make the shift.

“I ended up leaning on my companions within the enterprise and studying a lot from them about how our airline labored and what it was like on the operational facet,” she says. “It gave me insights into how vital knowledge, cloud applied sciences, and different issues had been that we actually wanted at the moment.”

As Southwest launched into its cloud transformation, Woods was promoted to vp of know-how platforms and structure, taking over bigger digital transformation and modernization duties alongside the way in which. And in September 2022, Woods was introduced as incoming CIO, set to take over the IT mantle from Merrill in February 2023.

Woods says the expertise navigating Southwest IT by that turbulent interval was a time of maximum private progress, forcing her to dig into the chief position and determine what was wanted from her, displaying up for her staff, and main them to higher organizational footing. Whereas the occasions that led to Southwest’s most up-to-date modernization had been regrettable, Woods and her colleagues are pleased with what has come of their efforts.

“We’re a greater airline for it,” she says.

Woods benefitted from the truth that Southwest IT was already launched into a modernization journey when she was named incoming CIO. The December 2022 meltdown merely pushed the corporate to speed up that course of, with a give attention to updating outdated and irregular operations all through the enterprise.

One key challenge Southwest confronted throughout the 2022 vacation meltdown included mass flights cancelations resulting from operational methods struggling to get well from the preliminary weather-related disruptions, rendering the corporate unable to find crew members at instances to employees flights. Woods and her groups addressed this challenge by constructing a software known as Crew and Plane Built-in Restoration and Optimizer (CAIRO).

Based on Woods, CAIRO is “the primary of its type,” enabling Southwest to automate, prioritize, and reset the crew and plane networks concurrently and flag potential flights that may have to be cancelled, whereas minimizing the potential impression on crew members.

Woods’ staff was additionally supported by work they already did in response to COVID-19, which pushed them to give attention to core knowledge basis modifications. These made it simpler to implement real-time knowledge streaming, decreasing the time to drag knowledge from an hour or extra, to only minutes.

Authenticity and braveness

Woods additionally credit firm management with serving to her staff efficiently flip issues round, noting that she had the total assist of the chief staff, who had been open to listening to what wanted to be modernized, what wanted to be improved, and the place the most important investments wanted to be made.

“In order that’s the place we’re centered — ensuring we have now these dependable and efficient methods so we are able to create that aggressive benefit the place we need to be centered on having the ability to produce a very good product, as a result of we have now actually nice prospects,” she says.

As CIO, Woods oversees a “extensive breadth of labor and focus,” as know-how performs a job in each a part of the enterprise, from airline bookings, to employees scheduling, to the monetary methods that preserve the corporate afloat, she says.

Previous to coming to Southwest, Woods labored in consulting, an expertise she feels helped make her the chief she is at this time. As a part of that work, Woods grew to become very accustomed to navigating conditions through which she was the one lady within the room — a actuality she says she has by no means shied away from. As she has superior her profession, Woods has made some extent to determine leaders she will be able to be taught from, in addition to these she doesn’t need to emulate. Regardless of working in a male-dominated trade, Woods says she’s additionally been lucky to have a number of girls leaders who got here earlier than her at Southwest, together with Kathleen Merrill, who was VP of technique when Woods joined 14 years in the past, in addition to EVP and CFO Tammy Romo, Chief Administration Officer Lunda Rutherford, and SVP of Buyer Expertise Teresa Laraba.

“What was wonderful about Southwest was that once I got here in, there was a great quantity of feminine management. That was a beautiful alternative for me as a younger chief to return in and say, ‘Okay, I see myself there.’”

That illustration proved to be a cornerstone as Woods developed her management type, and seeing different girls leaders within the group helped her envision the same path ahead for herself. She discovered herself drawn to genuine leaders, particularly girls who weren’t involved with being “good,” and who confirmed up as their true selves at work.

“Lots of instances after we are arising in our careers, we see individuals who appear very skilled,” she says. “You get the elder statesman, the very quaffed feminine chief, and I didn’t relate to any of these. I need to be very genuine. I wish to lean into being very brave, however I’m additionally very a lot not good.”

In creating her management type, Woods has recognized authenticity and braveness as her main values. To Woods, authenticity is vital as a result of she feels it’s the one manner she will be able to present up as her greatest self; braveness in the meantime permits her to deal with the tough elements of her management roles successfully, whether or not it’s having tough conversations or being crucial of processes and platforms.

“I all the time need to lean into that braveness, however I need to do it in an genuine manner that matches my values. I need to be type and respectful, even when I’ve to be robust and exhausting. I need to discover readability in my position, and my staff wants that readability from me. After which I want to hunt that readability from my stakeholders and govt leaders,” she says.

These values served Woods properly as she navigated one of many hardest transitions a CIO can endure.

Whereas Woods acknowledges that management approaches could be formed by those that got here earlier than you, with regards to mentors, Woods advises aspirational leaders to make sure that they aren’t solely trying above them for mentorship. Whereas it’s vital to be taught from and make connections with leaders within the group, you may be taught simply as a lot from friends in your group, or folks outdoors your division or profession path, she says.

“I feel there’s lots of people who search for mentors to be your boss, or any individual who’s already in these positions,” she says. “And I’d actually encourage girls to search for folks prepared to spend money on them no matter their place, as a result of among the individuals who had been most influential to my profession aren’t executives.”