Learning From Undercover Boss

The popular TV show "Undercover Boss" features leaders going incognito within their own companies. By immersing themselves in the daily tasks and interactions of their teams, leaders gain invaluable insights into the realities faced by frontline workers including process inefficiencies, employee morale, and customer experiences. This process often prompts strategic changes and improvements that can only emerge from direct exposure and a deeper understanding of the company's dynamics.

This newsletter explores key takeaways from "Undercover Boss", delving into skills leaders can cultivate to establish open communication, promote employee engagement, enhance productivity, and create an environment where employees feel valued and empowered. The newsletter features insights from brilliant minds including? Richard Branson , Mimi Nicklin - Empathy Advocate , Toyota Motor Corporation icon Taiichi Ohno, Mollie Amkraut Mueller , Richard MCClure , Traci Chernoff , David Clarke , Neil Bryant , HR Daily Advisor , Harvard Business Review , and more.

This "Undercover Boss" clip shows former Best Western Hotels & Resorts CEO David Clarke impossibly having to clean 72 filthy rooms in under 15 minutes per room. He found out this was not reasonably doable, and that the relentless schedule was the result of the hotel laying off some of their cleaning staff.

This quote from Toyota Motor Corporation icon Taiichi Ohno is something leaders and managers at all levels in every organization should be keeping in mind.

On this episode of HBR On Leadership, Mimi Nicklin - Empathy Advocate explains how to build common ground and tackle generational tensions on your team as a leader using plenty of real-world examples.

"Estimating is a big problem too. You know, we've had jobs where we've had other agents that go out and say like for instance this is supposed to be 15,000 pounds right? But you know, we get out there and it's like 30,000 pounds. I only have room for the 15. So now I have to hire an extra two, three guys and go get another truck because I don't want to inconvenience the shipper and the company's not gonna pay for that. So I have to come out of my own pocket in order to get that move done."

After hearing this, Undercover CEO of United Van Lines Richard MCClure said with astonishment that this is "something we need to take a hard look at".

In my opinion, the most important aspect of the first sentence of this Richard Branson quote is letting your employees have a go. Leaders and managers must allow their employees to try, fail, grow, and excel.

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Listen to Mollie Amkraut Mueller discuss how managers actively listening to their employees and advocating for them unlocks talent at every level in a way that fully supports team development, on this episode of Traci Chernoff 's Bringing the Human back to Human Resources podcast.

This "Undercover Boss" clip features former Best Western Hotels & Resorts CEO David Clarke gaining awareness of countless issues within one of their hotel kitchens. Chefs are working 80+ hour weeks with no overtime pay, they're understaffed, the kitchen lacks necessary equipment and broken equipment was never replaced, the owners of the hotel have never been seen by the employees, and much more.

Qualtrics found 86% of employees feel people at their workplace are not heard fairly/equally, and 47% say that voices of underrepresented people in their workplace aren't represented.

Understand why leadership communication is not one size fits all on this episode of HR Daily Advisor 's HR Works podcast featuring Neil Bryant .

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