Disillusion from the Top on What Really Happens in the Weeds | A4

Have you ever seen the show Undercover Boss?

This show, let me tell ya, provides a perfect description of what is happening in organizations all over the world, those at the top sitting prim and proper upon their thrones held up by those they are unaware of putting in the hard labor on the ground floor.

The show is a beautiful light shiner onto the weeds of an organization! It is the classic NBC hit where executives receive eye-openers about their business by going undercover into roles they would never usually set foot in. These roles they “try out” for are usually on ground floor, the foundation, of their multi-million dollar corporations, giving them deep insight to what is happening in a space they never enter.

Usually, they tend to be taken aback. Surprised. Shocked. Stunned. Unimpressed by the systems they’ve created and how they’ve trickled down here from the private suites of corporate HQ.

They feel this way because they were never aware.

These issues and operations problems never reach their desk in their day to day lives. It is simply just not something they are looking out for whatsoever. They are thinking of how to move forward, make innovations to stand out, and take care of the financial well-being of the entire company. So what they do is hire other people below them to do the monitoring for them. And THIS is where all the issues begin.

1. Now, the avenue for direct feedback from the ground floor to the decision maker, has another person in between. This means a lot of human opinion and feeling gets lost in translation, leaving those on the bottom with little to no voice in helping enact change.
2. They become distanced from the HUMAN who is working for them, unable to make any relationship with them (the main decision maker who dictates what this HUMAN does), because they are distanced.
3. Beacuse there is such a poor method/direct nature of feedback from those who need to give it the most to the main decision maker, something clear is illuminated. Maybe they should never grow so fucking big and expand so fucking wide. If they cannot care and listen directly to those on the bottom. All American culture has taught is that bigger is better. More economic impact and gain, the better, IN ANY CASE. Well, unfortunately, this culture has cuased the creation of large organizations who run the show and have gained all the power, without listening and acting upon the raw feedback of those at the “bottom.” Those at the bottom because just stats for the executives, not humans. Check out this John Oliver video on the Meatpacking industry to further this point! The executives “don’t have time.” Well maybe you fucking shouldn’t be in charge of another HUMAN’S livelihood if you “don’t have time” to listen to them and be able to care for them. Executives are like parents who simply neglect their kids, force them to do their work, to cook and clean, to build their shelter, to sanitize, to wipe their butt, without ever interacting with them, knowing their name, or having any idea what they look like. All they care about is their own benefit and perhaps the company’s? Except their kids are working tirelessly, while they just rake in the cash. And also they never see them.
4. This is the heart of the disillutionment those at the top exist in. They are making decisions not for the well-being of their PEOPLE, but for themselves and the company’s growth. The company’s growth provides these people with better well-being you might be saying? But this is not true when the company has never cared about the well-being from the start! If it grows, then more people will just be added to the labor force of those not cared about, those who are there won’t just become wealthier or cared for more. The company will just want to ramp production and that means more labor, does not mean more sharing of the benefits. Beacuse of all the people in between are are barriers to direct communication AND the people at the top are/never were concerned about the well-being of their workers from the START! SHOW GRAPH The man on the ground level can’t maneuver around the barriers of people and get to the decision maker either, the system won’t allow it. And the decision maker has no interest in looking way down the line at the ground to his money makers. He “shouldn’t have to deal with those issues.” Disillutioned leadership sees
5. No human at the bottom
6. Has such a limited view of the reality of the way things are being done, because he does not see or interact with them each day.
7. Messaging from those at the bottom to the top get lost in translation.
8. That is where extremely comprehensive planning comes in. Taking a deep dive into every single component which makes the system run, understanding HUMANS are running these components so to ensure their needs for treatment are met as living beings with families and lives outside here, understanding what is truly goin on in these different components and hearing directly from those involved, and most importantly, acting upon this information to create a road map that evolves with both HUMAN and environmental standards and the best interest of the operation in mind.
9. Each leader should be DYING to get feedback from all angles in order to do a better job/provide a better service. The lack of comprehensive execution in large scale plans is sad. However, complacency at the top is common. And many feel as if, if they fulfill their day to day responsibilities, that is plenty enough, with no larger concern for the entire picture and effort to improve it. Feedback from all angles at ALL times, listened to and acted upon, is of the utmost necessity for any positively impactful system.

In many episodes of Undercover Boss, the executive will come in contact with workers who do a great job in their role on the ground floor, those who have been through a lot of hardship and are doing all they can to provide for their families and themselves. Let’s just think of that for a second. These people on the ground floor, by circumstance, were put on the ground floor, and they are trying to do their best to support their own ability to just LIVE, to be educated, to pay for medical treatment. I am thinking of the Weinershcitzel episode, the peope at the drive thru’s. They had no choice in where they would be born, they had no choice to not get educated, to not have enough money to live or for their family to live. Yet they are here, they are working as hard as they can, and they still are not being seen by those PROFITING off of them. Not seen, not heard, not humanized. Just a number on a financial report. And just as these people had no choice, neither did the executives. They inherited the wealth, had more opportunity when younger, etc. and are where they are now, not worrying to live, to feed themselves, to meet their basic needs. So it’s easier for them to find comfort in that and forget about those who never had these opportunities, who are suffering, who are working to build their wealth. We all had no control where we would be born, let’s remember that. These executives just need constant reminders of the humanity they have and the humanity of those who are below them on the ground floor. REMIND

It’s at this time in Undercover Boss where the executive who has been undercover, will invite the employee to a beautiful location, where they reveal their true identity as an executive. Heart warming music plays. And then they usually reward those people with loads of cash, over $50,000 on average I would say for their hard work. Sometimes even a new car! And this makes me feel good.

For about 5 minutes.

Because yes, I am happy these workers, these humans got rewarded. However, they are one of a much much larger group of people on the ground floor who did not get chosen, but need just as much help, if not more, and who are just as great as humans. This shows just how much this is not just an organizational issue, this is a systemic issue of the way we have built this society. Not prioritizing human life and the needs of each being, but prioritizing business and economic returns. So yes, it is great something has been done to help these people, but it feels a bit like a band-aid comforter not solving the much larger issues at play here, equality.

Undercover Boss provides an example of the reality of disillutionment of executives from the realities on the ground floor. And this can be felt EVERYWHERE, not just in multi-million dollar fast food chains.

The Government — the most impactful and probably most disillutioned entity. With limited knowledge of the ground level (citizens), limited incorporation of feeback, limited ability to understand and try to understand how people communicate, and most importantly, no unified, large overview or operations and impact.

In responding to COVID, federal government cannot just come up with a plan which does not take into account all entities their plan will effect. They must think of the states, the localities, of process, of citizens — must be extremely comprehensive and unified in the messaging / effort to get the work / project completed soundly. Hiring the necessary people to ensure websites are up and functioning, for citizens to make appointments to get vaccinated, making sure all clinics are staffed, making sure vaccines are getting out and communication is relayed to all people in one unified place, no confusion, customer service reps to answer any and all questions from the people. The country is more than able to make this process SO comprehensive, but instead we have people writing code to build software for Twitter and Facebook instead. Where are our priorities really as a country?

And this all must be VISIBLE. The whole system must be visible to those at the top to be able to make comprehensive decisions. They should be able to see it all as a living organism as a WHOLE, able to zoom in on the mitochondria and analyze there, but also be able to ZOOM OUT to see the whole organism and its impact there, how each decision affects other parts of the organism and then ACTING in an equitable and HUMAN way. Decisions will have to be made, and they won’t be perfect. BUT having the right info in front of you to make the decision is what is MOST important. Being able to see the HUMAN affects.

Now, no decision can and will be perfect, but I guarantee decision makers could use more information to make decisions and understand the impact of it on ALL people and the LARGER system we are all a part of.

Covid is just one living organism in an even LARGER organism that must also be aware of CULTURE, SOCIETY, VALUES.

The widest organism in my opinion is the living organism of survival — human and planet, then it goes to well-being, moves like Maslow’s!

These living organisms are MASSIVE but these maps must be built in order to allow for comprehensive decision making towards the HUMAN potential living of equitability.

They must be made in order to love.

HOW CAN THESE MAPS BE BUILT????

HELP WANTED

They are so far from the labor, they honestly don’t even see the human existence of where these people are coming from. But if they did, like they do in Undercover Boss, they see the human and they want to help, they want to give, they want to act. So what does that show? It’s a systemic issue. It’s an issue of them being so far away from the reality and the humans by DESIGN of the system that they cannot even see their humanity. When they are in front of the people, they relate, and they see their humanity. When they are in their desk miles away, they don’t, so they can act in more methodical ways to not worry about the humans.

If everyone in a place of leadership sat down and had a meal with someone who works in their organization, they would see the human and do everything they can to help them. I believe that. But the design is that they don’t. So they act like these people are not human. They are disillusioned.

I would even say Donald Trump, if he sat down and had dinner with an immigrant, they talked or spent a week together, he would see the human, he would see their value as a being on this Earth. But the system design would not allow him to be able to see this humanity. It doesn’t allow it. That would take too much time, he has papers to sign, he has flights to catch, his schedule is too jam packed. And that is a MASSIVE issue. Those at the top must constantly be reminded of those at the bottom and their humanity, making sure these people are always in the leaders reality lens. Because if not, think of how they would make decisions. They wake up in their mansion, get served by workers all day, hardly put together their schedule, move one place to another, no time to think, no time to sit, all very luxurious surroundings. HOW IN THE WORLD can this person be in the frame of mind to help someone who does not have a home, who does not have clean water, who cannot eat food. That is all just diction to them, no experiential attachment to these words. No humans behind the words. They are not seeing the pain, they are not seeing the hurt. Their life looks WAY different. So how are they going to help these people if they cannot even imagine the realities of their suffering? They are way too distant. So they don’t. They make decisions based off where their frame of mind is. It is around luxury. And maybe they will make decisions which do help those at the bottom because the words have power, but they may miss something.

Okay what do we do?

All this to say. Undercover Boss is great.

Humans at the bottom must be valued from the START. As the foundation.

All things should be built up around this.

The gap between power and people who build it is HUGE in many organizations. And those at the top hardly are even aware.

A comprehensive plan for a large organization must take into account all avenues of execution to ensure success. Not just at the start, but continuously as it EVOLVES. Because no successful operation is guaranteed to stay the same, must be ready to adapt, because we change as people, the way we act change, the way we communicate changes. We must be able to adapt quickly and comprehensively.

Most government organizations do not allow this, AT ALL. Old systems which are not able to adapt quickly or change quickly.

Podcast with ALL people. Hearing full stories, what are their hardships, what are their struggles? What systems have put them there? What do they wish to tell people in power? What do they wish people in power would do? SEE HUMANITY