1 800 Flowers – Undercover Boss Draws Wrong Conclusions
The Productivity Goal
Chris McCann mentions that he wants to increase productivity in the plant from ten million pounds to 16 – 20 million pounds. Goals are set by management and the machines speed up. Contact centers are managed in much the same way by management coming up with targets for the number of calls taken in a day.
The whole idea of a prescription of how many calls a contact center should take, the allotted AHT per call, and the service level given are rooted in how contact centers can reduce costs. This prescription seems logical enough and most contact centers subscribe to this approach. The problem is that focusing on costs always increases costs.
This isn’t a matter of making workers part of setting the productivity goal as Chris McCann concludes. This is a matter of understanding targets drive dysfunctional behavior.
Incentives Will Make Things Worse
Chris McCann concludes not only that the problem is that of workers being involved in setting goals, but decides incentives will make employees happier and more productive. None of these things are true.
Working together on understanding customer purpose and demand and getting rid of systemic failure demand should be the appropriate response. New measures emerge that are associated with what customers want from service as these drive the lagging financial and productivity measures up.
Read the full story on Customer Management IQ
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6 Lessons from Undercover Boss – Week 6
The following are the lessons learned by Dave Sabol from the GSI episode, as posted on his blog:
- Ideas for efficiency come from the floor, not the HQ, if you want to know how to make things work better, ask the employees – especially those that are new(er) not “so-called” experts.
- Attitude, and aptitude, needs to be the key qualities you look for in employees. A good attitude can be contagious, but so can a bad one. Hire wisely.
- Don’t get so focused on growth that you lose track of cultivating what allowed you to grow in the first place.
- Hold employee’s to a high standard, be understanding, but also realize when they are simply compromising company values. It takes just one bad employee to make a great company look not as good.
- Life is so much bigger than business. Don’t think that development has to be professional only, improving yourself at a personal level is just as beneficial. Always be looking at those around you to see what you can learn from them that can help you be a better person?
- Rewards and recognition don’t always have to be direct, you can support an employee by supporting something they feel is important. Get creative and acknowledge them individually. Sure it may be more work but it will also gain you a lot more loyalty. People notice when you care about things that are important to them.
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Great-Grandson of White Castle Creator Featured on CBS ‘Undercover Boss’
- Image via Wikipedia
Why would the head of the uber-successful White Castle burger chain risk public humiliation by going on the hit CBS TV show Undercover Boss, and possibly bungling even the simplest tasks?
“I wanted to get an honest look at what happens on the front lines,” says Dave Rife, the oldest member of the fourth generation of the family that originated White Castle, the world’s first fast-food hamburger chain, started by Rife’s great grandfather back in 1921.
Among the things Rife learned? That the individual restaurants could be managed better — there were incidents where too many employees had nothing to do and just stood around idly. He learned that even the simplest tasks, like taking a drive-through order, can be difficult.
But most important, he learned that many Americans truly care about their employers and are happy and dedicated to their jobs. They told him some very poignant stories about their lives when he was undercover. One woman who had been with White Castle more than 20 years confessed that she was concerned about her weight and health, and said it was the happiest day of her life, when, after the reveal, Rife set up a healthy living program for her. Another employee who was interested in food science had the initiative to concoct a burger sauce and let undercover Rife sample it. His resourcefulness was later rewarded with a scholarship. And a very engaging and supportive manager was given financial support for the special needs of his beloved son. Viewers find it almost impossible to watch this show with dry eyes.
Read the full story on AOL.
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