“Undercover Boss” – Key Lessons in Project Leadership

Last night, I watched a fantastic new show on CBS called “Undercover Boss” where the boss of a major corporation goes “undercover” as an entry-level employee in their company to find out how things really work.  The pilot episode focused on the President and COO of Waste Management, Inc., Larry O’Donnell, as he navigated (and fumbled) his way through the most basic of employee tasks such as scrubbing toilets and picking up trash. At the end of the episode, Mr. O’Donnell came to realize and appreciate the day-to-day efforts of his employees, after having served in a variety of roles. I couldn’t help but take a few notes and extract lessons that I learned from this episode on how to be a better project manager and leader.

Here are some of my takeaways from the show that I believe are directly applicable to successful project managers and leaders today:

1. No job is too small or too big: Project managers can get their hands dirty too (literally in the pilot episode).  Sometimes to fully understand the level of effort required of your team members to get the job done, a project manager must step into their shoes.  On the flip side, wouldn’t it be interesting to have some of our project team members serve as project manager for a day? What would that look like?
2. Recognize the work of unsung heroes: At one time or another, I’m sure every project manager’s had that one team member who always stayed late to help complete a deliverable, assisted other team members when they need help, or volunteered for less desirable tasks? Sometimes, recognizing the work of team members is more than just a hand written thank you note. Try to go above and beyond to show appreciation for those unsung heroes that continually exceed team member expectations. What I enjoyed about this episode was that Mr. O’Donnell had the opportunity to experience what his employees endure every day which gave him a holistic picture of real life at Waste Management. He was able to make commitments to change the culture at his company, and even offer a promotion and raise to those employees that deserved it. Employee engagement is the key to project success.
3. Be visible and available: “I have a project manager, but I never see her.” I remember one of my co-workers complaining about how absent their project manager was and how her absence gave their project team a negative impression.  Responses to email requests from the project manager took up to three weeks and returned phone calls were impossible. As project leaders, there’s more to leading and managing than delegation.  Simply walking around your office floor and chatting with your project team isn’t enough, and certainly isn’t project leadership. Be available when your project team needs you, and vice versa.

On the other hand, how do you think the CEO of your company would fare as a project manager on your project? What did you think about Undercover Boss? Comment on this blog post and share your opinions!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 5:37 PM and is filed under Blog, Featured and tagged with employee engagement, project leadership, project management, recognition, servant leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.