On a few occasions, I have watched the CBS TV show, "Undercover Boss" with intrigue. For those who haven't seen the show, the basic premise involves the CEO of a large organization going into disquise and working with the front-line employees doing the daily jobs that make their organizations tick. Through this process they get to see first-hand the good, bad, and ugly about their organizations and the people who work within them. As the show concludes, the CEO is revealed to the employees they worked along-side and the CEO pledges to make changes to various aspects of the company that they saw needing improvement while recognizing some of the unsung heroes they encountered.
At first, I was shocked to see how many employees could work side-by-side with their CEO and not have a clue as to who they were - not to mention with camera crew in tote following them around! But then I realized that these are large national organizations and many of these employees have likely never had the chance to meet, talk, or interact with their company leadership before and so maybe that wasn't so far fetched to expect. I was also interested to see how some of the employees in different episodes treated their new "trainee" as they described to their boss unknowingly the job and culture of their company. Through both good and bad examples, it becomes very clear to see how every company is a representation of their people and not just their product.
4 comments:
Marty...
My feeling is you'd be very pleased with what you saw in the trenches at your organization. I've been there... more than I've wanted in the past two weeks with an injured employee and then an injured daughter with repeated visits.
I was blown away by their professionalism, especially after a horrible encounter (which your people had to clean-up) with one of your competitors.
Your people and organization are top-drawer, and you should be very proud of them.
Rich, thanks for the feedback and compliments. I'm sure that we can still find areas to improve, but appreciate the vote of support - Thank you! MB
I too watch this show and think it is very interesting. No one really knows how things are til you walk in their shoes. I think it would be great if you did this, both for the staff and maybe even yourself. Many CEO's learn a lot about themselves too. Many people here do lots of things and are never recognized for their hard work, it is nice when someone notices.
I have seen a few episodes of this show and think the premise is quite clever. Going undercover at a hospital would be interesting since there are so many collaborations of employees and volunteers (not just doctors and nurses) whom make it functional and gaining a perspective from all levels could contribute to greater success.
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