Undercover boss, by Robyn Pulman

A note from Robyn

Recently, on 'Oprah', a story about an 'undercover boss' caught my attention. Larry O'Donnell, Chief Operating Officer of Waste Management, the largest trash and recycling company in North America, posed as Randy Lawrence, a man shooting a small TV show about entry-level jobs in the firm.

Larry travelled location-to-location staying in budget motels, applying for entry-level jobs. His first day on the job as an assembly-line worker had him picking up trash, cardboard and recyclables off a conveyor belt and placing them in the right receptacles. Larry was 'sweating bullets' as he failed to keep up with the piles of garbage whizzing past him. He was fired from his next role, collecting paper blowing away from landfill and putting it into a garbage bag. His third assignment, on a garbage truck, revealed the pee-can or portable toilet that the female truck driver had to use.

At the end of this adventure-filled week, Larry walked away with a new appreciation of the challenges of his employees and how his decisions impact them. He's using the lessons he learned to be a better leader and to improve the working conditions of his employees.

T H E  U N D E R C O V E R  B O S S

On days when the printer jams, the phone doesn't stop ringing and two of your team don't turn up, do you ever hope that your boss could walk in your shoes?

Do you ever wish that you had the opportunity to make suggestions as to how to improve your area of responsibility and point out the time-wasting systems ( or lack of ) that lower productivity and morale?

Have you ever wanted to scream at the top of your voice because it takes six weeks to get a $100 item approved for a purchase that would save the business thousands and thousands?

Would you like to see your leader walk out of his office and say hello to you and your colleagues every now and then?

In virtually every organisation to which I consult, staff lament that they would like more exposure to their manager and the opportunity to discuss their role and responsibilities. As for talking to the 'big boss', some have never even met them and this can be in a company with only a couple of hundred employees - and sometimes less.

Daniel Goleman, in his book 'Working with Emotional Intelligence', cites that "the most effective leaders frequently walk around and strike up conversations with their staff. They also let it be known that they want to be informed, creating an atmosphere of openness that makes it easier for communication to take place. This two-way channel encourage people at all levels to keep their superiors informed."

Leaders of one firm I coach were taught how to juggle three balls - literally. Written on one ball was 'Are my clients satisfied?"; on another,'Quality of work' and, on the third, 'Are my people satisfied?'. Walking into the office in the morning, they were encouraged to juggle the three balls in order to remind themselves of the importance of including all three into their hectic schedules. Too often, a business's most valuable asset, its people, is ignored.

A sound leadership principle is 'be out and about' - walk the floor, visit the work site, engage in causal conversations with your team and enjoy the benefit of improved morale and motivation.

The author of 'Good to Great - Why some Companies make the Leap and Others Don't', Jim Collins, writes that 'good to great leaders make particularly good use of informal meetings where they meet with groups of managers and employees with no script, agenda or set of action items to discuss. Instead, they ask questions like, "So, what's on your mind?" or "What should we be worried about?". These non-agenda meetings become a forum where current realities tend to bubble to the surface.

This week, commit time to your people. Walk the floor, smile and be real, relatable and open to listening. You never know what you might learn.

Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob. - Oscar Wilde

What's Robyn up to ?
Life is full, rich and rewarding as I continue to work with my corporate clients whilst developing ideas for maketing my book, Habits Aren't Just For Nuns, which will be launched later this year - keep it in mind as a great Christmas gift. It is full of inspiration and timeless wisdom on the power of habits in our lives.

In August, I also invested three days of my life in a Business and Marketing Masterclass with Kerwin Rae, founder of Business Mastery International. The information and insights were priceless and I have walked away with a plethora of online and offline techniques and strategies to take my business to a totally different level. Oh, the joy of feeding my mind.

This weekend, a visit from one of my 'bushie' mates has helped earth and centre me and remind me of the importance of taking time out and just being. Thank you my friend.

Robyn Pulman
CREATING WINNING HABITS
Organisational & Personal Coach Conference Speaker & Master of Ceremonies
M: 0414 514 012
E: robyn@robyn.com.au  W: www.robyn.com.au

About Robyn
Presenter
Robyn Pulman has extensive experience in national and international management and marketing and has invested the past ten years studying and researching the power of habits in our lives and how to change them.
She draws on her experience of over 12 years in Europe, Middle East and Africa, directing the marketing of Hyatt and Marriott hotels and overlays that with several years in her own family business, running a restaurant with her chef husband on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.

Today, Robyn expertly combines her high-level corporate experience with that of a small family business as she consults in the fields of leadership, customer service, teaming and personal achievement.
She has worked in dozens of organisations and with hundreds of people, studying the habits of winners - and losers.
http://creatingwinninghabits.com/
http://www.robyn.com.au/  (for information about Robyn's offering and services.)

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