I always enjoy the TV program Undercover Boss, where disguised CEOs take entry level jobs in their companies for just a day in order to really understand what is going on in the company. They always seem to learn a lot, and are often surprised to learn that things aren’t in line with the perceptions they had sitting in their offices back at headquarters.
At the end pf the show we usually see the CEO giving a report to the top management of the company with the directive to make some changes. Then we see the undercover boss rewarding the employees they came in contact with who showed them the real truth about their companies
It makes for entertaining TV, but does Undercover Boss hint at the difficulty some owners and managers have in going to the heart of their organizations to learn what is going on and what might need to be fixed?
Blue Gill Consulting Group has helped organizations build electronic, customized, targeted, and confidential employee surveys which enable management to ask the questions they might not feel comfortable asking their employees face-to-face. The results of these surveys provide the honest answers management can’t even get through tapping into the company grapevine.
The owner of one company was convinced that his organization was filled with unhappy, even angry employees who blamed upper management for lower productivity and slowing sales. After working with Blue Gill to pinpoint specific issues, the resulting 50-question survey revealed to the management that employees were not as angry with upper management as they were frustrated that they weren’t being asked to help resolve production issues and move the company toward productivity once again.
Management learned that they had the answers they needed right under their noses, and used the information they gained through the survey results to start tackling their tough issues.
It might be fun to be an “undercover boss,” but it probably isn’t the most productive or economical way to get the information a company really needs for continuous improvement.
