I have to confess. I wasn’t going to write an “Undercover Boss” post because everyone else already has. But Bryon Abramowitz over at The HR Technologist blog is doing a special HR Carnival – Undercover Boss Edition. I like supporting the carnival, so I’m caving in writing a post about the show.
Just in case you’ve been out of the loop, here’s some background about the show. CEOs of major corporations are spending a week undercover in their workplaces. They secretly work alongside employees under the guise they’re filming a documentary. They have some good experiences and some not so good ones. At the end, they have an epiphany about being a manager and leader, reveal their identity to the people they worked with all week, and presumably implement some initiatives to make the workplace better.
While the show is being labeled “reality” television, it’s important to keep perspective. Other shows that have held the reality label include “The Anna Nicole Show”, “Jersey Shore” and “Strange Love” featuring Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen.
But all that being said, there are some business takeaways (should you choose to spend your time watching the show):
Management by walking around still works. The whole premise of this show is about CEOs who feel they’ve lost touch with the rest of the company. Their answer is to go undercover. That’s the part I don’t agree with. It seems sneaky (but makes for good television.) But the real point is stay in touch. Walk around, talk with employees, and find out what’s going on. MBWA is nothing new, people. It’s been around for nearly 40 years and it still works.
Open communication is key. One of the things that struck me during both of the episodes was the look on the leadership team’s faces when they heard the CEO was going undercover. You could see the shock. My perception was these managers didn’t want anyone snooping around the kingdom they had created. It wasn’t addressed on the show, but the “I’ve been caught” looks reminded me open two-way communication is essential.
Speak up when something is wrong. In the first episode, there’s a point where Waste Management President & COO Larry O’Donnell is working with a female trash collector. During the day, he finds out that the only way she’s able to get all of her work done is to use a coffee container for her bio breaks (read: pee in a coffee can). Now folks, that’s just wrong. Not only is it wrong that an employee is subjected to it but it’s equally wrong that no one in management ever said, “Ya know Larry, I’m all for productivity and profits, but you do realize in order to hit this goal, employees will have to pee in coffee cans as they continue working.”
If there’s stupid stuff going on at your company and you don’t speak up, you’re just as guilty as the person who created the stupidity in the first place.
Talking to customers is important. During the second episode, Hooters CEO Coby Brooks spent some time on a street corner with a couple of Hooters girls talking to customers and potential customers. He listened to men and women talk about their perception of the Hooters brand (i.e. “degrading to women.”) Even if you don’t stand on the street, think about your brand and what your customers might say about you. It’s a valuable exercise.
Training is not optional. In the Hooters episode, a manager held a contest to see which server would go home early. In the contest, servers had to eat a plate of beans by putting their face in the plate (no utensils.) Two points I’d like to make here – (1) obviously, this manager was promoted and given no training because I’d like to think that no one in their right mind believes this is appropriate. And, (2) if by chance this manager did lose his mind and start these games, then Hooters on-going training would have reinforced the concepts of mutual respect, employee engagement, etc. and this might not have gotten out of hand.
While I was initially not looking forward to writing this post, I must say I’m happy to have gotten “Undercover Boss” off my chest. The fact that the show is even on television is a testament to why customer trust is at an all-time low and employee disengagement is at an all-time high. Companies better start dealing with that. Now, I’m looking forward to spending my Sunday evenings doing sometime productive, like playing Farmville.
1
Michael VanDervort says
Have to agree with those points! Thanks for the link!
hr bartender says
Thanks for the comment Mike! Have a great weekend.
NextJenHR says
I commend the executives willing to take the risk of showing the issues within their companies. I’m really interested to see if the the trend of change continues within these organizations after the shows have aired. I do wish the show would spend more time on the changes that occurred as a result. It seemed like Larry O’Donnell “got it” and was adamant about changes that would be made. I’m not so sure about Coby Brooks. I’m also left wondering about the female Assistant Manager who took a “less stressful” job at the company. The little comments made about her needing to spend more time with her kids and the male Assistant Manager asking Coby if he needed one of the girls to help him push a cart reflects the overall view of women in the company. Coby received feedback on how the public views Hooters and his answer was to pair the two girls that were with him with the PR team to make an internal video about community service. Not sure how that makes me as a consumer feel any better about your brand, Coby. I’ve never eaten at a Hooters and still don’t plan on it.
Jen
Melissa DeAngelo says
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on “Undercover Boss.” While the show is not without flaws, as you’ve pointed out, your takeaways do provide important business lessons. Though these points seem like they would be obvious rules of business, as evidenced by this show and in many workplaces, CEOs and other people in leadership positions often lose sight of the bigger picture beyond the bottom line. There are two points that you mention that really resonate with me: management by walking around and training is not optional. I think CEOs let themselves become so busy with meetings and various other things that they forget that even just a few minutes spent walking around talking with their employees would make all the difference. Maybe they really are that busy or they are afraid that these encounters will turn into whine fests, but being disengaged from one’s employees is a recipe for disaster. If CEOs don’t engage with their employees how will they know when changes need to be made before it’s already too late?
Also, I really appreciate your point about training not being optional. I have worked at several different companies in the past few years and not one of them has offered adequate training. Instead they take the learning by doing approach, which can make for a great challenge at first, but after a while I find myself wondering how I can be held accountable for not doing something right when I was never given the proper tools to do my job in the first place. Spending money upfront on employee training ensures that people know how to do their job, which can play a large role in job satisfaction because employees will be confident in the work they are doing.
As job satisfaction continues to decline, I hope that as people watch shows, such as “Undercover Boss,” they will be able to take away some of these points and use them to make their own company a better place to work.
hr bartender says
@NextJenHR – I agree it would be nice to see more of the reforms and less of the mishaps. Maybe the network will have one of those ‘reunion’ episodes where they show what has been accomplished. Many of issues they show are not quick fixes and I’m not sure that comes across. Thanks for the comment!
@Melissa – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you that training can demonstrate much more than just teaching people how to do something. It shows that the company is willing to make an investment into the success of their employees (and ultimately the success of the business). Goes a long way toward keeping people engaged with the organization.
Ginger says
I watched the Waste Management episode of Undercover Boss. The whole time I just kept thinking “Seriously? You SERIOUSLY expect me to believe that NONE of these people know what their CEO looks like? Whaaa?” Has anybody else thought that? Also, when that man told the CEO “What kind of technique are you looking for? It’s just trash, Randy. Pick it up and put it in the bag,” that was hilarious.
That aside, your points about staying in touch with both your employees and your customers, open communication, speaking up and training are so true. They seem obvious and simple, but they so often get overlooked.
What about CEOs that come to their stores/offices on a semi regular basis (yearly, bi-yearly) to visit – they let you know they are coming, the facility spends the two weeks prior preparing for the visit, the CEO comes is with an entourage, and is gone in 30 minutes. Is that effective? I have always wondered, but I really don’t know. I feel like they are making the effort, and it’s good they come in, but it seems more pomp and circumstance than anything.
Ginger says
Oh, and Farmville – fun! I heard puppies are coming to the farm in the next couple weeks…yay.
Melissa says
My husband is a production supervisor, and his response to the CEOs being enlightened from going on-site was “Well, that’s what is called ‘going on a gemba walk’ in lean manufacturing. Of course, you learn something from that.”
I also agree with Ginger’s final point. If the CEO is making a planned visit and the facility managers pull out the stops to clean up and put on a happy face, that doesn’t get at the root of the problems.
hr bartender says
@Ginger – Thanks for the comment. I didn’t buy the “don’t know what the CEO looks like” either. Every place I’ve ever worked showed pictures of the leadership team in orientation. You bring up a great point about orchestrated corporate visits. Maybe if they were a little less planned and more open, some real progress could be made.
Oh, and thanks for the heads up about puppies for Farmville. I did think it was odd dogs weren’t getting equal time. Ha!
@Melissa – Nice comparison to lean manufacturing and quality. It would be great to see more organizations take a process improvement approach to their challenges. Thanks for adding to the convo.
Blissex says
«During the day, he finds out that the only way she’s able to get all of her work done is to use a coffee container for her bio breaks (read: pee in a coffee can). Now folks, that’s just wrong.»
Ahhh but there are many Real Americans that say it is just right: because there is always the opportunity for the employee to take personal responsibility and go work somewhere else.
To Real American the issue is freedom, and the employee is entirely free to choose between a job where they have to pee into a can to avoid wasting shareholder money, and something else. There is a free market in employers, and may the best win. if the employee mentioned above peed in a can, that was because she freely chose to do so, rather than seeking another job.
Indeed a Real American would argue that perhaps employees *prefer* jobs where they have to pee into a can, because that allows the company to make bigger profits and thus their jobs may be more secure, or perhaps they get a bonus for higher productivity, and they value the bonus more than having to pee into a can.
In any case a Real American could also argue that employees like the above are losers, insignificant nobodies who produce and create nothing, and are out to take advantage of their employers with paid breaks for bodily functions, and nobody should care about them.
In Real American business there is no such thing as that “stupidity”, just making the biggest bonus/profit if you are a winner and taking personal responsibility if you are a loser.
Marsha Keeffer says
Training – yesssss! Hard to believe that any manager could be so clueless as to stage a no-hands bean-eating contest…but there you have the reason why training is so critical. Even the best screening during the hiring process can’t guarantee that employees have a similar baseline on what’s OK behavior and what’s not. Training instills the corporate expectation. It’s not optional.
hr bartender says
@Blissex – There are plenty of companies around the world focused on profitability. I see a real shift in employee priorities taking place. People placing more emphasis on time versus money and on quality of life versus bonuses. The problem: the current economy offers very few options. It will be interesting to see how the stereotypical model of capitalism holds up as a result. Thanks for the comment.
@Marsha – Totally agree with your comments about training in the workplace. Couldn’t say it better if I tried…so I won’t. Thanks for adding to the conversation!