Senior executives should spend some time "incognito" with front-line staff to find out how the company really works.
Senior executives are often removed from the day-to-day realities affecting the vast majority of a company's employees. This disconnect is caused by a number of issues, including:
(a) the several layers of management that separate executives from front-line staff;
(b) the physical separation between home office and the field;
(c) the highly orchestrated, scripted and superficial nature of the typical field visit.
On a regular basis (e.g. each year), senior executives go under cover as an entry-level employee (or potentially mid-level manager) in his company.
The executive alters his/her appearance and assumes an alias (alongside a fictional background). He spends one week undercover working in various business units and functions of the company. The executive would take up a different job and location each day. For each job, the executive would paired up with another employee (or employees) to "learn the ropes."
At the end of the week undercover, the executive reaches out to the employees that he/she came into contact with to (a) reveal his/her identity, (b) share the lessons he/she learned during their time together, and (c) engage on what can be done to improve the satisfaction and productivity of front-line staff.
This hack gives executives a direct, unfiltered view of how company strategy, policy and norms impact employees, and how employees perceive their jobs and the company overall. Used wisely, this knowledge can help identify major blind spots for senior management.
Start with one undercover experiment, for a couple of days. Gauge success based on lessons the executive learned and the response from employees directly impacted.
This hack is inspired by:
King Abdullah of Jordan, who has a track record of disguising himself to verify first-hand how his subjects are being treated.
Undercover Boss, a television series on CBS produced by Studio Lambert. It is based on the 2009 British Channel 4 series of the same name.
CEO 007. I like it Michele—anything that gets the boss out of the executive suite, off the golf course, and closer to people in the trenches and customers, the better. I have a couple thoughts and suggestions:
First, as much as I relish the thought of Steve Jobs soldering circuit boards with a fake moustache (!), I wonder if the undercover aspect of this hack might breed more distrust and anxiety than it would valuable "intel." As you suggest in the challenges, employees might begin to be on the lookout for this kind of drop-in and might resent it afterward. So, a couple builds:
1) why can't the CEO and other top execs roll up their sleeves on a regular basis and work alongside various frontline employees *without* the disguise? In this case you get the benefit of all the learning of working in someone else's shoes, working alongside your employees at different levels in the company, and exercising a more informal/open mode of leadership. That said, if the boss acts like a stiff among the working stiffs, it could backfire.
2) I'm all for the "undercover" part if it's about stepping into the shoes of the *customer*--there's less chance that employees would see this as a kind of "betrayal" and lots to learn. On of my favorite CEOs, Feargal Quinn of the Superquinn grocery chain in Ireland, used to not only roll up his sleeves and work at the register or in the grocery aisles on a regular basis, he and his colleagues spent a lot of time as "mystery shoppers" trying to understand every aspect of being a Superquinn customer
3) I think you're getting at a really fundamental issue for every "boss": the imperative of getting out behind your desk and mixing it up with all kinds of people and all kinds of situations that are not your "natural habitat." It's a crucial personal discipline for any leader to continue to invent new ways to see the world with fresh eyes, to stay awake and open to all the insights and ideas bubbling up from all over. One great example of a leader who is quite playful and open when it comes to this is Kip Tindell of Container Store. Check out the piece in Fortune about his "job swap" with Maxine Clark of Build-a-Bear: http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/news/companies/build_a_bear_container_st.... I'm curious what other habits of learning, getting low-to the-ground, folks have come across here. I'd be curious what a CEO like Jim Lavoie (see the Rite-Solutions STORY) would add to this conversation.
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I think the 'undercover' approach might be too bold, as most employees would have a good idea about who's in the C-level suite. On the opposite this presents us with a great opportunity to reach out, openly, honestly, and show employees that Management cares about them and what they do. It would be an opportunity to have individual front-line staff present their day, engage with management and together openly innovate. This doesn't have to be done 'undercover', but can be done by a good leader showing empathy and interest.
Challenge: Won't work if front-line staff feels that this is done to support some hidden agenda.
Solution: Managers have to be good listeners, show interest and really give the employees the possibility to lead change.
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Yes, very simple. MBWA – management by walking around (http://bit.ly/cOEZS6). Undercover, overcover (is that the right term? :)) as long as it is done. In any way possible, we need to make sure to decrease the Toxic Tandem (http://bit.ly/cHYko6) our managers are suffering from. The effects on the culture (http://bit.ly/di1I2S) on understanding the other side (http://bit.ly/63M4KS) are enormous. Send those c-level, suit wearing managers out to talk to the employees and customers. Send them to feel what some of their decision look like from the perspective of the employee or customer. Then and only then, can they make smart decisions.
Elad
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I think this is a good idea. We know from IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad that he visited his stores incognito all his life.
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Good idea. In fact, I have read about kings roaming their country incognito to see/hear what their people had to say. This is a 21st century implementation of that practice.
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I'll admit to watching Undercover Boss from time to time and would love to understand the long-term outcomes of those visits (maybe they'll let us do the research!) A baby-step addition: use social media to keep tabs on the organization all the time. I wouldn't suggest a fake account, but a combination of open culture and interaction via social steam and/or wikis might increase accessibility of the information to more managers.
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