By Guest Blogger: William Peppler
There is a popular television program on CBS called, "Undercover Boss". The premise of this program is that a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a selected company goes undercover, with an altered appearance and fictitious name/back-story, as a new employee seeking employment in a variety of entry-level positions within the company. The explanation for the accompanying camera crew is that they are filming a documentary on entry-level employees within a particular industry. The undercover CEO spends about a week working in different jobs within the company, and being faced with multiple predicaments that can be challenging (and amusing for the audience) at times.
In almost every case the CEO learns the value of their employees and how much that they contribute to overall success of their company.
In the last few minutes of the show the undercover boss reveals him or herself to the employee(s) that were involved in the trial segments and then offers them congratulations for their efforts and in most cases provides them with some type of reward. As a result, additional training or improvements in working conditions/organization are implemented based on the experience and findings of the undercover CEO.
The value of this show is that it demonstrates that a company's success is due in large part to their hard working and dedicated staff. Your staff is the backbone of the business. Keeping employees dedicated and happy is one of the most important duties of a manager/business owner.
Years ago Hewlett Packard established a strategic management program that encouraged their managers to know their people, know their worth, and make efforts to make themselves more visible and accessible.
I attended a training seminar called, "Management by Walking Around" and implemented the principles of that program and found that it produced valuable information and it helped me understand some of the problems that concerned my employees and as a result I implemented operational changes that increased productivity and employee morale.
This is one of those instances in life where you may need to walk a mile in your employees’ shoes (or at least listen to them) to provide the best working environment possible for them, and keep your retention rate high. Take the time to know your employees, know the tasks that they actually perform, solicit their input on recommendations for improvement and you should have a great business atmosphere in no time.
See other posts from William Peppler:
What Can We Learn From The Trapped Miners Incident?
What Does Pizza Have To Do With a Job Candidate?