More than 38 million viewers watched CBS’s Undercover Boss following the Super Bowl last Sunday. It was one big splash first episode. I must admit that I was one of those viewers. And I loved it.
I am a huge believer in helping senior leaders better understand what happens on the front line – especially by getting them out on the front line. We often hear from survey participants that company leadership doesn’t understand what goes on in the field. Expectations are unrealistic, employees don’t have the tools they need to do their jobs, rules are put in place that simply don’t make sense to the people who have to live by them. So I suspect many of the millions of viewers have themselves wished to see their executives try to do their job.
In the first episode, Waste Management’s COO Larry O’Donnell went undercover to ride in a garbage truck, sort recyclables, pick up trash, and empty toilets. He learned first hand how decisions in the C-suite impact employees on the front lines. And he implemented several changes based on what he saw.
But as I watched the show, I couldn’t help wondering “Does Waste Management survey their employees? Do they have a systematic process in place to measure employee engagement?” (Our research shows that only about 1/3 of all employers do.) While the lessons Mr. O’Donnell learned undercover were valuable, there was no way to know how widespread the issues were. And although the decisions he made will, no doubt, have a positive impact on the employees he met, they may not have been the most impactful to the other 45,000+ employees who work for the company.
Still, I suppose an undercover executive makes for better TV than what I do for a living. And I’m thinking I’ll need to tune in again to find out what happens at Hooters!
Anna Erickson Ph. D. | Director, Consulting Services
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