How many of you like the new show, Undercover Boss? I kind of like it. First because it shows business owners and executives who really do care and are human beings. CEO bashing has become a bit of a blood sport. The goofballs get all the press.
My experience is that folks who own and run businesses large and small not only really care about their employees and communities they are the first to sponsor the kids baseball leagues, various charities and raise their hands to help out.
I have watched a few of the Undercover Boss episodes and it all boils down to the same thing. How easy it is for good bosses to lose the opportunity everyday to do simple, inexpensive things to engage and recognize their employees. I am as guilty as anyone. And we are in the rewards and recognition business, so really I have no darn excuse.
Business ownership and executive duties can be an all consuming life and carving out that time to really, really listen, recognize and value the little things staff does each day is something that absolutely should not, but sometimes does fall to the bottom of the list. I promise to do better!
Last nights show featured 1-800-flowers President trying lamely to do the little things that his company employees have to do each day to make the business work. The lesson was the same in this week’s episode as in others I have seen: the power of recognition and small, immediate rewards.
Two of the employees were moved to tears when one was asked to help design Mother’s Day arrangements, and another was visibly shaking with emotion when the Undercover Boss named an arrangement in their permanent line for her because of her exceptional customer service he witnessed.
And that cute 19 year old kid the Undercover Boss decided to mentor, well, even my husband did an “aahhh, that is so cool”, response. (He generally dislikes these reality shows.) These are super easy, inexpensive things to do.
An article in this month’s Fortune reinforced this idea of incremental and immediate rewards. Below is the link. The challenge us and for all in business is having a systematic, yet spontaneous rewards and recognition program that measure results.
Sometime throwing a gift card at someone is really nice but how do you sustain it, budget for it, program it and measure it. As this article shows the reward “thing” is secondary. It is the thought that counts, just like our mom’s taught us. And that thought is very, very powerful. http://tinyurl.com/yjmbbad
This next article is interesting too. It talks about the damage a “superstar” can do to an organization when employees, or in this case the entire professional golf field, ala TW (Tiger Woods), feels when someone talent is unattainable for them to reach.
Very interesting statistics and very counter-intuitive. Apparently in golf, superstar performers do not raise others game. Do you agree?
The moral of this story is: superstars can kill productivity, creativity and efficiency. And when taking a big test with many people, always sit at the front of class. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/yfojwpj