"UNCOVERING THE UNDERCOVER BOSS" - Episode 3, 7-Eleven

Joe De Pinto is the CEO of 7-Eleven, a $17 billion company with more than 36,000 locations and 200,000 associates. Joe went undercover as “Danny Rossi” and in this episode he learned several lessons. Some of the lessons those of us in management should have learned are as follows:

1. It is relatively easy to find or train people to stock shelves, clean restrooms, fill coffee urns and even rapidly put dough in the oven. The challenge is to hire people with the right attitude. Every one of the 7-Eleven associates on the program had the “right attitude.” I am sure that 7-Eleven has some people with bad attitudes, but this show proves that even in the most mundane jobs you can find great, hard working and talented people that have the “right attitude.” What are you doing to determine if applicants have the right attitude?

2. A store in New York sells the most coffee of any 7-Eleven, so Joe De Pinto wanted to know whether it was the store’s location, quality of coffee or the employees that caused this to happen. He quickly learned it was the employees, particularly a person like Delores.
Your competition can find a great location or in time imitate your product. The only truly unique differentiating factor between you and the competition, regardless of the industry, is your people. In this case everyone knew Delores and she knew them. To the customers she is “the Company” and as a result they flocked into this store. Some executives give lip service to the fact that their employees are an asset, but employees like Delores prove it to be the case. If an employee is a liability get rid of them.

3. Phil, who was “Danny’s” trainer at the bakery, illustrated the fact that employees are people. They can be good at their jobs, which he was, but they also have other skills, talents or interests. In his case he was very artistic.

A good manager gets to know his employees as people. Once you know them you may be amazed at what other talents or knowledge they can bring to your Company. You will also discover that if you care about them as people, they will care more about you as an employer.

4. At the third store Danny learned about the failure of downward communication. There were two examples:

(a) Corporate may establish a policy, but who is making sure it is being implemented? In this case, a simple policy of donating day old pastries to charities was ignored. The food was thrown away each evening. Did the employees know the policy? If they did, why was it not adhered to? If they were unaware of the policy, what went wrong with the communication?

(b) Danny’s trainer had four years’ experience with 7-Eleven. He was in college during the day and viewed his job as a dead end. In many companies this night shift employee would be seen as promotional material based on his work ethic and commitment to further his education. Clearly the Company should have been doing a better job of letting employees know about internal promotional opportunities. Is your internal promotion system one that employees understand and believe in?

5. The role of Corporate is to support the stores so they can achieve success. Too often people at Corporate lose sight of this, which is what happened when one of the best stores in the organization had to wait a month to get lights replaced. It appeared as if the bureaucracy was functioning in a stereotypical way when the person on the other end of the phone routinely said it would be 30 days before it could be fixed. It is the job of the corporate office to support, not hamper, the operation of a Company. How can obstacles to that philosophy be removed?

So far, in three episodes of Undercover Boss each CEO has experienced a significant emotional experience by going undercover. By listening to their employees, they were able to learn. You may not be able or inclined to go “undercover” but many CEO’s we work with listen directly to all of their employees. Using a confidential Employee Opinion Survey process enables an employer to ask all of its employees to let senior management know what can be done to make the Company more successful and a better place to work.


“Uncovering the Undercover Boss” is written by Richard Reinhardt, Vice President of F&H Solutions Group LLC. You may contact Richard by email at rreinhardt@fhsolutionsgroup.com or by phone at 901.291.1546.

"UNCOVERING THE UNDERCOVER BOSS" - EPISODE 2, HOOTERS

Coby Brooks, President and CEO of Hooters, the restaurant Company with over a billion dollars in sales and 460 locations in 27 countries, was this week’s undercover boss on the CBS television reality show. Hooters was started by Coby’s father in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida and it remains a family business. Like many restaurant businesses, sales are currently down and Coby believes that going undercover may help him learn what needs to be done to improve the operation and increase sales. The lessons he learned as Scott Archer, a new recruit working undercover for seven days, caused him to “love the Company more than ever before.”

What are some lessons that we can learn from his experience?

1. Scott Archer’s first job was at the largest Hooters in the world. He worked in the “back of the house,” emptying the garbage, loading mugs into the cooler, cleaning and coating the wings and other tasks removed from the customer. At the end of the day Scott was tired and his manager said he probably would not hire him.

As CEO, Scott recognized that the “back of the house” gets forgotten when the focus is primarily on one part of the business, in this case sales. Hooters, like other sales driven organizations, wants to take care of the customer, sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the organization. For instance, if the leadership of a manufacturing organization focuses too much on sales, production loses efficiency because sales may demand unrealistic timeframes or too many unique products in order to make the sale. Conversely, if the organization is engineering or manufacturing driven, the response to the needs of sales may be too slow or resistant to change, because it will hamper production.

The most effective CEO’s are those that can strive for a balance among the sales, finance and operational divisions of the business. Just think, if Hooters had too many people who performed poorly in the “back of the house” jobs, then the Hooters girls would become lonely “out front.”

2. Jimbo was a successful Store Manager but his management style was considered to be completely unacceptable by Scott. Jimbo showed no respect toward his employees. He walked around with a toothpick in his mouth, shot rubber bands and made inappropriate comments to his employees. He determined which girl would be able to leave work early based upon who would be the first to finish eating a plate of beans without using their hands. This was a degrading act that almost caused Scott to come out from his undercover.

There are still plenty of “Jimbos” in management. They are not just men managing females, but there are male and female supervisors who don’t know how to treat people with respect. They bully a few or all employees, they treat them unfairly, inconsistently or without respect. They may be quick to use terms such as “it’s my way or the highway,” or “do it because I said so.” Jimbo mentioned that “there are no rules” so he makes up the rules. To avoid having a “Jimbo” in management it requires things such as,

• Establishing a culture that will not tolerate such behavior and then hire people who fit the culture.
• Establishing and adhering to rules and policies that set forth what the Company expects from employees and equally important, what employees can expect from the Company.
• Ensuring that upper management, in this case Jimbo’s immediate supervisor, identifies poor management skills and initiate corrective actions regardless of what the “numbers” look like.

It is very difficult to change a management style such as Jimbo’s. Even though Jimbo was given a chance to improve, my guess is that he will not change.

3. The stark contrast to Jimbo was the female manager, Marcee. Marcee talks to her people with respect and all of her actions show that she is there to help them be successful. Her rationale for this type of management is that she has “been in their shoes.” That may help, but good managers learn from other good managers combined with effective training and the inherent qualities of how to deal with people.

4. Hooters is a family business and apparently Coby’s dad was known and revered by the employees, particularly those in the Atlanta food processing plant. The founder of a successful family business creates an aura that is often difficult to follow by the second generation. However, sometimes the next CEO performs better than “the old man.” In Coby’s case he discovered that the employees did not know him and they attributed morale problems, including the lack of bonuses, to the fact that his father was no longer managing the Company.


A billion dollar family business can retain the “family touch” without the founder. Coby plans to restore this feeling with visits to the plant which will help, but given the Company size it will be difficult. However, if he establishes better communications with subordinate managers, which he seems to have also lost, then they can represent him better to their people. Creating policies that still reflect the feeling of family will also help maintain the culture that was established by his father.

Coby learned more about his Company and himself as a President by listening to his employees. Are you and your management team listening? What would your employees tell you about improving the operation and increasing sales?

“Uncovering the Undercover Boss” is written by Richard Reinhardt, Vice President of F&H Solutions Group LLC. You may contact Richard by email at rreinhardt@fhsolutionsgroup.com or by phone at 901.291.1546.

“UNCOVERING THE UNDERCOVER BOSS” – Episode 1, Waste Management

Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management, becomes “Randy the trainee” in the new CBS television reality show, “Undercover Boss.” Larry comes across as a caring person, and a family man. He wants the Company to be more effective and recognizes that his employees can help him accomplish this. So he goes “undercover” to get unfiltered information from the real stars of the show, the hourly paid employees, Sandy, Walter, Jacquelyn, Fred and Janice.

The question is - what did we learn from Larry and his employees? The following paragraphs provide a few answers.

1. Even though most executives spend more time communicating down, Larry demonstrated that there is more value in receiving upward communication. Larry accomplished this by asking questions and listening, as a result, he learned. Too often, executives feel like their role should be the provider of answers.

2. Picking up trash by hand or thoroughly cleaning port-a-potties are jobs that the employees, Walter and Fred, know a lot about. By watching and listening to these two, it becomes clear that selecting the right person with the right attitude for each job (regardless of their duties) is one of the most important tasks of a manager. It is obvious that Larry didn’t have the skills to pick up trash. However, according to Fred, he had potential for port-a-potty cleaning.

3. Employees must be recognized as people first. Too often front-line supervisors only seem to care about what their employee does at work. A good manager shows an interest in the whole person. As a leader, Larry got to know each employee as a person. He recognized that if you care about the person, they will care about you and the Company.

4. A Company policy may be very sound, but the administration of the policy is what counts. For example, being on time at Waste Management is very important to the success of the operation. However, correcting for lateness through a supervisor-created policy of punishing employees by docking them two minutes for every minute late is unfair within their culture and in most other organizations that practice positive employer relations. Correcting behavior should be done on an individual basis in a positive way, which excludes docking employees’ pay.

5. Establishing productivity standards are goals by which performance can be measured. However, Larry learned that by using only one dimension, in this case 300 stops a day on a trash collection route, is counter-productive. It appears that this number is too high because it reduces the time for customer contact, and it created intolerable working conditions which included no time to stop at a restroom. Standards should be realistic and achievable. They should not be counter-productive, but in this case, they seemed to be since they allowed for little customer contact.

6. In today’s economy, many employees have to perform multiple jobs. Jacquelyn was seen functioning as an administrative assistant, scale operator, office manager, and mail clerk. Because a person performs many jobs, doesn’t mean they should automatically be paid more. Jobs are paid based on such factors as the required skills, responsibilities, and working conditions, not the number of different tasks. Furthermore, Jacquelyn needed more money to prevent the loss of her family’s home, but again that should not be a factor as to whether she receives more money for her job. However, jobs should be re-evaluated periodically to ensure that they are paid fairly. This is what was done by Waste Management, and in her case the operation was restructured which benefited her and the Company.

In conclusion, the employees and Waste Management gained because Larry asked questions, listened, learned, and then acted. Are you and your managers receiving a good flow of upward communication from your employees? If not, you need to explore ways of becoming an “Undercover Boss.”

“Uncovering the Undercover Boss” is written by Richard Reinhardt, Vice President of F&H Solutions Group LLC. You may contact Richard by email at rreinhardt@fhsolutionsgroup.com
or by phone at 901.291.1546.