Years ago, Hewlett Packard introduced the concept of MBWA, Management By Walking Around. The new reality show, “Undercover Boss” from CBS takes the concept one step further and introduces MBDTJ, Management By Doing the Job.
The show follows CEOs as they slip anonymously into the rank and file of their companies. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and they get an up-close look at both the good and the bad of work life in their organizations.
“Undercover Boss should be required viewing for every corporate executive and everyone who aspires to be one because it demonstrates the power of listening and the deeper understanding that comes from seeing a situation from the eyes of others,” says Erik Van Slyke, founder of Solleva Group and author of the award-winning book Listening to Conflict: Finding Constructive Solutions to Workplace Disputes.
Van Slyke points to two recent episodes:
Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management had no idea that the corporate office’s demand to increase productivity would result in an employee having to run to a time clock so she wouldn’t get docked twice her rate of pay. He was shocked that a woman working on one of the garbage trucks has to “pee in a can” so she can meet her daily average of 300 homes a day. As he said at the end of his episode, “In my role there are a lot of policies that I put out there and you all have to live with them. I feel more of a connection with the folks that do the really hard jobs of this company. I’m going to be a different manager because now I have a whole new appreciation of the impact of some of my decisions can have on you folks.”
Dave Rife, one of the family owners of White Castle, can’t keep up with the pace of a bun production line, and as a result, shuts it down causing waste of almost 5,000 buns. He talks about going into the role with a procedural mindset hoping to identify ways of making the operation better. What surprised him was the way he connected with the people.
Says Van Slyke, “Both of those comments show a very real leadership challenge. The demands of executive roles detach leaders from the reality of the organizations they lead. They risk being disconnected from employees, disconnected from customers, and disconnected from the realities of daily work life ---- which causes them to make decisions that are analytically incomplete because they lack a critical element of contextual understanding.”
In his recent op-ed piece called “The Power of Elite,” David Brooks of the New York Times suggested that the meritocracy of our current world has made society fairer, but has created huge gaps in leadership capability. The modern era emphasizes technical knowledge over contextual understanding, encourages excessive dog-eat-dog competitiveness, and creates huge chasms between social and professional classes. He doesn’t suggest that we return to the days of white shoe elitism, but he does question whether the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction where our leaders lack the breadth of understanding required of their roles.
The lessons of Undercover Boss suggest that leaders can develop some of this insight when they actively listen to their organizations. Van Slyke urges executives to take note. “If this became part of the regular routine for executives we would see higher levels of employee engagement, more innovation, real—not paper—gains to productivity, fewer layoffs, and best of all, leaders with the wisdom required to serve their organizations.
Erik Van Slyke is the founding partner of Solleva Group (www.solleva.com). With nearly two decades in consulting and HR leadership roles, he advises executives for both domestic and global organizations on organizational change, operational transformation and HR strategy. He is also the author of the award-winning Listening to Conflict: Finding Constructive Solutions to Workplace Disputes. For addition insights, Van Slyke can be reached at 609.460.4102 or erik.vanslyke[at]solleva.com.