"UNCOVERING THE UNDERCOVER BOSS" - Episode 9, 1-800-Flowers

What are two basic actions that can improve the leadership within a Company or department? This season’s final episode of “Undercover Boss” clearly identifies such actions and Chris McCann, President of 1-800-Flowers, the largest florist and gift shop in the U.S. promises to use them to improve his leadership.

Basic Action 1. “Build Relationships First and Do Business Second.”

The truth surrounding this quote was exemplified by Dee, who manages the highest grossing store in the Company. She knew all of her customers and they loved her. Regular viewers of the series will recall that Delores, the employee at 7-Eleven, treated her customers the same way and that is why the 7 Eleven store in which she worked sold the most coffee in the U.S.

This quote applies to successfully managing employees as well as customer relations. All of the CEO’s in the Undercover Boss episodes discovered the most effective managers are the ones who knew and cared about their people. Each CEO walked away from this experience recognizing that to be a more successful Company, they need to get to know, appreciate and recognize their employees. As Chris said, “1-800-Flowers is in the business of being thoughtful,” and his new commitment is to be more thoughtful about his employees.

Basic Action 2. Involve your employees in decisions that affect them.
Chris found that:

• Pauline, a floral designer with the Company since 1997, was never asked for her input regarding floral arrangements. She didn’t even know who came up with the designs except to say it was “someone at Corporate.”
• Nicole, a line operator at the Fannie May chocolate factory, owned by 1-800-Flowers, had no input in setting production goals. Furthermore, she wondered if the “bosses knew how hard the employees worked since they don’t come out of their offices.”
  

Because a person is in management doesn’t mean they have all the knowledge and ideas to improve the company. This is especially true if the supervisors spend little time with their employees. The fact is that many managers may give lip service to wanting to listen to their employees but they don’t take the time to do it. Some CEO’s repeatedly say that “our employees are the Company’s greatest asset”, but too many companies do not tap into this asset.

The "Undercover Boss" series has consistently shown the value of getting to know and listen to your people. The great companies continually strive to improve relationships and upward communications because they realize that their employees are the competitive edge between their company and the competition. We hope that your leaders will get to know their employees as people, listen to and involve them in the business. By doing this you will never have to go “undercover” to discover the quality of your people.

“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.