In the premier episode Larry O’Donnell, the President and COO of Waste Management, went undercover to work in entry level jobs in his company over the course of a week.  During that time he learned a variety of tough lessons:

• What looks good on paper sometimes doesn’t always yield the results intended
• Making decisions that impact how work gets done without understanding the work first can have adverse consequences
• Real people who care deeply about their jobs and work hard every single day are truly the only real asset in any company
• The processes that make a company work and the people who make them work need to be taken into consideration when trying to drive any kind of improvement – productivity, service, quality

Interestingly, my colleagues and I at Guidon Performance Solutions have spent our careers observing the same things that Undercover Boss Larry learned during his week long journey.  Over and over we see the same things – policies decided in a vacuum (or at least without the full picture at hand), processes which don’t support associates or the customers they are trying to serve, and managers who, with all good intent, make decisions which actually do more harm than good.

The good news is that not every CEO needs to go undercover to unearth the problems that live deep in the inner workings of their companies.  Nearly 7 of every 10 companies have some form of process improvement or Lean Six Sigma efforts underway in their organizations (including Waste Management).  The practitioners in those roles see the exact same things that Larry observed in his stealth experiences and should be bringing those issues to light of day.  This group of folks, if organized correctly and empowered appropriately, can serve as the “sonar” for the leadership of an organization.  In very short order they can identify and surface nearly every key learning that came from Larry’s week in disguise. 

Unfortunately we observe that many organizations don’t leverage this valuable exercise correctly.  Much of the time this team is relegated to small scale improvements or they become more focused on traditional project management than highlighting the people, process, technology and systemic breakdowns that impact EVERY company, its customers, suppliers and shareholders every day.  Unfortunately this becomes the biggest example of waste in nearly every organization and one of the lessons Larry learned the hard way – the waste of human talent.

Now is the time for business leaders to get serious about understanding the processes and systems that deliver insights that can improve service and results for customers and shareholders.  In the continuing turbulent business world, there is little time to be complacent and assume that by simply stating something should be done, that it is done correctly – or even at all.  Far too often corporate leaders believe that by announcing an edict or signing their name to a memo or new policy that it will work and be executed brilliantly.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Leaders must relentlessly follow-through and put more emphasis on capturing maximum benefit from those who work ON the business as well as listen to the front-line leaders and associates who work IN the business.  Doing so will provide clarity as never before on what needs to be done to thrive in the new business normal.