Customer experience management can be enhanced by walking a day in the shoes of your front line staff. I’m not a fan of reality television, but there is one show that has recently caught my attention for a very good reason.
Undercover Boss is a new show that takes the CEO’s of huge corporations and infiltrates them into the front lines in order to see what is really going on behind the scenes. This gives the CEO an opportunity that they would otherwise never have. They see, hear, and experience everything that their teams experience. If they went in as their titled position, there would most likely be a positive spin on everything since most people want to impress leaderships, or figure that they really aren’t interested and are just presenting themselves to make an impression.
The CEO’s are introduced as someone who is documenting the process of their job search, or some story that explains why there is a camera crew following them around. The CEO is presented to a trainer or manager for a given department and does the work of a regular staff member for the shift. They perform a variety of tasks throughout the week – loading trucks, working on a dump truck, cleaning “Port-a-Potties,” making food in a restaurant, sorting recyclables, answering phones in the customer care call center, etc.
During the week long process, the CEO’s get the opportunity to really talk with the people they are teamed up with. They find out what motivates these people, what their stories are, what they think of the company, how they feel about their jobs, etc.
The part that I like the best is that the CEO gets a chance to perform a job that they themselves have never done, yet make decisions about regarding performance and need. Often times, the CEO has no idea what challenges the teams are facing when actually doing their jobs, yet they are asking companies to work harder and faster, often time with less resources. They have gotten so caught up in the productivity and business aspects of their companies that they have lost sight as to who makes their companies actually run – their teams and staff.
My second favorite part is the realization on the CEO’s part that spirit and attitude is the key factor in determining the success of their company. Staff with the best attitudes are the one’s that make the leadership proud and they are often offered positions to help ingrain their attitudes into the culture of the company. They also see people who have physical and medical limitations operating with such a positive attitude that it becomes an emotional time for some of the CEO’s.
The hiring decisions that you make within your organization must be centered on the culture and atmosphere that you desire to convey to customers, both internal and external. If you hire someone that does not exemplify the values and characteristics of your ideal culture, this one employee will damage your reputation further than you can imagine. In the eyes of your customer, the person they are interacting with IS the company.
The message of this show is that as a leader, you must know what your teams are facing while performing their responsibility in keeping your company alive. Become familiar with the demands and requirements of the jobs. As a leader, every decision you make regarding productivity impacts your teams. It will strengthen the rapport you have with your teams when you make your decisions with them in mind.
When the show wraps up, the thing that strikes me the most is how much the staff appreciates the acknowledgment for the work that they do. Most of them become very emotional as they are appreciated for their attitudes and efforts and feel that they are genuine team members within the organization.
Again, the point of this message is that it is essential for leaders to understand the responsibilities that every position has in the company. As leaders, we make decisions each and every day about working harder, smarter, faster, and often with fewer resources. But what we sometimes fail to recognize are the consequences of our decisions when we are removed from the front lines. How does quality service suffer? What are the consequences to the morale of our teams? Does the customer feel the impact of our decisions? How can we expect our staff to promote a positive attitude toward the customer when we are making their responsibilities more challenging?
Work side by side for just an hour per week with various team members. They will show you how the customer contact points are faring and will give you insights as to how to make some changes to improve the company in everyone’s best interest.
