Improving Leadership Skills by Working in Trenches
Working in trenches within an organization is a perfect means of improving leadership skills. This approach helps the employers in realizing what their employees experience in their daily undertakings. The employers learn similar experiences as their employees and get to determine what is viable for the operations of an organization. Working in trenches allows bosses to come down and work with their employees which serve in the development of trust among employees. Employees often find it difficult to trust their employers basically because they do not know them. The experience of working undercover provides an opportunity for employees to know their bosses thus developing trust in them. There is development of personal relationship between the employees and the boss that helps in the improvement of work relations.
Working in trenches allows the employer to appreciate the essence of effective means of communication. Great leadership skills enable a manager to specifically and clearly communicate the vision, skills, goals, intentions, and expectations of the organization to his or her work force. A manager working in trenches will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the organization`s communication to its employees. This program enables leaders to listen and observe how information released from top ranking managers is received and the manner in which employees implements such information. If information is not received in the manner it was expected, managers will be able to correct the errors within the communication channel. To improve communication skills one should continually endeavour to improve non-verbal, verbal, and listening skills.
This program also enables leaders to develop motivational skills. Leaders have to learn how to prepare employees for the following day duties. The leader’s power will be measured as per the power of the team. The leader will always like to associate with exceptional employees and as such will help the employees in utilizing their strengths to achieve the organizational goal.
Effectiveness of Undercover Program
This program enables leaders to interact and share the same platform with employees. The undercover boss realizes that the effectiveness of the company is more to the numbers. In each episode of working under cover, the executive gets to experience the organization from the perspective of the employees. Employees are the ones who interact with clients on a daily basis. The perspective will always change the moment you leave office. Effective organizations need to have in place mechanism that helps in keeping in touch with the organization’s clients. Keeping in touch with employees who interact with these clients on daily basis will help in improving the manner in which the manager will treat the employees. Going undercover will thus help in improving the effectiveness of the program.
Every one within the company has a story to tell and giving them chance will enable in addressing issues that affect an organization. Every employee has issues which are either pertinent or not pertinent to work. Some employees are forced to take two jobs in order to meet their daily needs while others are there to ensure growth and development of their career. Managers need to understand these facts and get to know how to treat their employees if they are to realize maximum profitability of their organization. In most cases, executives in many companies often forget the reality of being a daily employee. Achieving this objective enables managers to develop mechanisms that address the concern of each employee better, resulting to overall profitability of the organization. This approach has helped improve the performance of the organization given that each and every employee feels appreciated by the organization and hence improved commitment.
Each undercover boss episode comes to a conclusion with each executive exposing their secrets and also sharing them with their teams. This experience helps in improving performance of the organization by introducing positive changes. Each executive is able to view the organization from a different perspective. The program achieves success by implementing various issues that executive get to learn from the employees.
Leadership Qualities and Styles
Playing the undercover role and work in the trench requires a leader to possess certain leadership qualities and styles. The success of these leaders to a greater extent depends on their listening skills. A leader has to listen to the concerns and complements of employees with an open mind. This skill will enable the manager to appreciate the skills and conduct required in dealing with frontline workers. Front line workers frequently perform strenuous and repetitive tasks hence well versed with daily operations. Listening to their concerns and compliments will help in improving the relation of the organization with their client. Further, leaders should be self-reflective to be able to encourage their employees to emulate them. When working with employees, lower cradle leaders should ensure their engagement in work reflects their talk and authority. Failure to achieve this, employees may become demotivated and feel that what leaders want achieved is unrealistic. In this regard, leaders should possess motivation skills. Employees work best when they are motivated.
Transformational leadership style is an important aspect that leaders should possess. Not all practices and mechanisms devised by leaders function well. Being with employees may help a leader realize that not all policies and practices they set are effective for the company and the worker. A transformational leader is always ready to make changes to existing policies and practices so as to ensure total commitment by employees. One of the episodes in the undercover shows that employees are usually reluctant to engage in some of the practices forcing managers to change their mode of governance. A leader should integrate with employees so as to get a clear perception of policies and practices within an organization. Stringent leaders may not be able to integrate with employees since in the long run they will not accept to change practices and policies of the organization. They believe that what they have decided is the best for the organization at large.
Impact of the Program on Organization Performance
The impact of this program majorly lies on the improvement of performance within the organization. Each employee is able to identify with the organization as their various needs are met. This increases the commitment of employees to the tasks of the organization resulting to increased productivity. There is also development of trust within the employees and leaders hence enabling each participant to perform their duties diligently. Additionally, the program also enables leaders to integrate with employees on the lower cradle. This enables managers determine policies and practices that require change so in order fit the employees’ and company’s needs. Moreover, the program also enables managers develop leadership skills that help in steering the organization. Therefore, the undercover boss and working in trenches helps in the development of a viable organization.
References
Osmond, V. (2013). The Impact of Leadership on Organizational Performance. Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/impact-leadership-organizational-performance-2970.html
Smart Blogs. (2013, February). What Leaders can Learn from "Undercover Boss". Retrieved from SmartBlog on Leadership: http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2013/02/12/what-leaders-today-can-learn-undercover-boss/
Vineet, N. (2012, August). Three Leadership Trait that Never Go Out of Style. Retrieved from Havard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/nayar/2012/08/three-leadership-traits-that-n.html
Wall Street Journal. (2007). Top Brass Try Life in the Trenches. The Wall Street Journal.
