It’s hard to argue that a primetime network T.V. show that debuts after the Super Bowl has any mission other than to entertain the masses. It’s perhaps unfair then to ascribe any responsibility to the “Undercover Boss” other than the blatantly obvious—we all knew what we were getting—another reality show.

In reality T.V., however, there is an endgame separate and apart from mere entertainment. The Bachelor promises love, American Idol fortune and fame, and The Apprentice, a dream job with The Donald. In the case of the Undercover Boss: the chance for an executive to “garner an up-close look at his company and workforce to see how and where improvements can be made.”

And so I found myself hopeful that Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management might provide both entertainment and some real lessons on management and leadership. Unfortunately, Larry missed the boat on the valuable learning of the day—namely the importance of a feedback loop within an organization.

Initial praise for the show ran deep, with the New York Times quoting executive producer Stephen Lambert “Anybody who has had a boss, or who has worked in a company, will understand this show…and for the person in charge, to be able to see what their employees are really doing seemed like an exciting idea.”

Exciting isn’t exactly the word many would use to describe a manager’s responsibility to know what his employees are doing. Shouldn’t it be expected (or at least aspired to) that leaders know what their front-line workers are up to?

With the five employees Larry shadowed on candid-camera, he proposed tailor-made remedies to each of their complaints—a task force here, a new policy there, a modest wage increase for another. Larry was genuinely touched by the challenges his employees faced and was humbled by the dignity and respect with which they carried themselves and contributed to the organization. Yet it’s not what Larry learned that was disappointing—it’s what he didn’t learn.

Standing on a podium presenting his “findings” to a raucous crowd of WM employees, Larry failed to consider the issues facing the remaining 45,000 employees of Waste Management. Larry didn’t look at the big picture of what the show revealed. Instead of fixating on the individual problems that surfaced during the show, Larry should have realized that WM appears to be an organization in which no effective feedback loop exists. To be sure, the five lucky employees who spent a day with Larry weren’t the only ones suffering at the hands of the productivity missives barreling down from the top.

It’s not just a problem that female garbage collectors aren’t given the decency of bathroom breaks: it’s a problem that Larry didn’t know that that was the case. It’s not just a problem that employees were dashing out of the cafeteria, petrified of being docked pay–it’s a problem that their behavior had never reached him. If Larry heads back to WM and makes only incremental changes in a few of the company’s practices, he’s missed an enormous opportunity to improve something much more critical to his company.

The key lesson for Larry is that productivity initiatives are a two-way street. There’s got to be an information channel that goes from bottom to top as well as from top to bottom. Based on his week in the field, Larry might have realized that Waste Management wasn’t doing a good job of listening to and soliciting feedback from its frontline employees—hearing from them what was working and what wasn’t, what was helping them and what was hurting them. Making people happy, giving them ownership in processes and policies, and treating employees like valued and respected members of a community or organization—that’s the way to increase productivity.

Senior leadership has a responsibility to know what employees are doing on a regular basis—it shouldn’t be treated as a special event. I believe management has a responsibility to work the front lines of every organization. There’s a reason we have a “take your kids to work” day and not a “take your boss to work day.” It’s expected that the boss knows how to pick up trash, make a widget or close the deal. Many companies are on top of this: Zappo’s CEO spends time talking to customers and filling orders and the CEO of Burger King knows how to work a cash register. And even on Wall Street, you’re hard pressed to find a managing director who didn’t cut his or her teeth pulling all-nighters as a lowly analyst. Wouldn’t it have been great if Larry had taken his moment on reality TV to learn that lesson–and to show the rest of us what that transformation could look like?

To see the HBR comments, click here

With that, the flight attendant alerted the crew and pilot-who had been perplexed as to how they were losing 6,000 pounds of jet fuel per hour. The pilot diverted the plane to San Francisco and later admitted they would have never made it to Japan. The Air Force sergeant is today being hailed as a hero for averting disaster and saving the lives of ~300 people.

GOTJ tells people to do the same thing at work-when things don’t look right, speak up. Don’t let problems simmer; don’t put them on the back burner, assuming or hoping they’ll go away. Typically they don’t go away; they only grow bigger and more unruly.  If you see a problem coming down the pipeline, raise a red flag:

• Highlight the issue or flag the potential problem
• State your rationale-the reason why or way in which trouble is headed your way
• Propose a solution

Thankfully, for all concerned in today’s flight, the passenger and pilot had an alternative solution in hand-landing in San Francisco. You too could be the hero that saves the day at work if you speak up next time.

Aviation Buffs’ Bonus: jetfuel leak

Going forward, I promise to stick to this formula.  It is pure coincidence that this post comes at exactly the time I am launching my long-overdue blog.  I know that I owe you all at least 19 additional posts before again even thinking of mentioning a promotional tidbit…  You have my word.  So without further ado, here goes-the best SSP Great on the Job could ask for.  Apparently, it’s time to reach out to Wal-Mart.

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Sunday, May 24, Eduardo Castro-Wright, Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart, was interviewed for the NYT business section.  Castro-Wright was asked, among other things, what business schools should be teaching more or less of.  Here’s what he said:

I’ve done this quiz several times when we have gone to talk at business schools. I always ask people, “So who’s taking accounting?” And everybody raises their hand. And, “Who’s taking strategy?” And everybody raises their hand – and you go on with your typical curriculum about the business school. Mostly they are very good at teaching strategy, operations, management, finance, accounting.

But then I ask, “O.K., how many courses have you taken on how you talk with an employee you’re firing?” Or, “How do you talk with the person who comes to your office late at night to tell you that her daughter is sick and she might not be able to come in the following day?” Or, “What do you say when they come in with issues in their marriage that are impacting their job?”

As managers and leaders of people, those are the kinds of questions that one deals with probably 80 percent of the time. I think that business schools could do more to prepare kids to deal with the often more difficult side of business management and leadership. The balance of courses is probably weighted to the numeric side of business as opposed to the people side of business.

I couldn’t agree more.  Technical skills are important.   But in my mind, in 9 out of 10 cases, the precursor to success isn’t being the smartest, hardest working or most technologically savvy.  In fact, it’s the way you ask for time off when a family emergency arises, or how you handle a crisis when, as my dad used to say, the feces hits the rudders.  And frankly, it’s how you introduce yourself on your first day, week, month on the job in a way that is interesting, compelling and memorable.

So what should you do when an employee tells you that his daughter is sick?  1) you can and should be as supportive as possible to your employee, and 2) you need to maintain the forward momentum of your organization.  Here’s the rap:

1. Be supportive and empathetic “I’m so sorry for your situation, is there anything we can do for you or your family?”
2. Offer to help with his workload if necessary: “do you need help in getting anything taken care of while you’re out?  do you have backup to cover for you?  is there someone I can reach out to on your behalf to make sure nothing falls through the cracks while you’re out?”

In an ideal world, your employee would come to you with the solution in hand (I’m going to be gone tomorrow but I’ve covered my bases and Jonathan will take over for me).  But if that doesn’t happen, ask how you can help move that process along.  The goal is for you to make sure your employee and your firm are both taken care of, so if you have to step in or step up, its worth it to keep things running smoothly.   And besides being the right thing to do, it will no doubt generate goodwill on the part of your employee.

With that, an introduction to Great on the Job.  Take a look around the site and see what you think!

best, jodi

Management Guru Fans Bonus: NYTimes/EduardoCastro-Wright