My typical TV watching is about 2 hours a week.  I share this with you because, last night half of my weekly TV watching time was spent on a new CBS series, Undercover Boss.  The premise of the show is a "C-Suite" boss goes undercover in his/her company to see what the front-line workers are doing and how the corporate policies are being implemented.

I really enjoyed watching Undercover Boss.  So much so, that when next week's episode of Hooters President & CEO, Coby G. Brooks, airs I will tune in.   

Here's what I liked about this episode.  Larry O'Donnell, President & COO of Waste Management, asked really good questions.  It seemed to me, that he genuinely wanted to see how his operational policies were directly impacting WM's employees.  His personal interest in their wellbeing was at the core of his motivations.  As a result, the problems identified and the solutions proposed were driven, not by productivity and the bottom line, but by citizenry and community.  The ah-ha moment that Mr. O'Donnell had was a personal one, yet it was one that he was able to translate into a corporate system.

For example, he took the positive work attitude of one employee who had major health issues, but who did not allow those issues to interfere with his work, and empowered him to head up a corporate health and mentorship program.  This was the same employee who fired Larry because his productivity levels (collecting blowing garbage on the side of a landfill) were too low.  Productivity measures that were created through Larry's own office.

By engaging his employees on a personal level, Mr. O'Donnell was able to create a corporate citizenship program that crossed the divisions of the company (recycling, garbage collecting, sorting, etc.).  This personal connection also empowered his employees to tap into their strengths (one individual ended up leaving WM to work in a hospital where he could use his inter-personal skills to help patients).  

Corporate citizenship is not just about seeing how your company's brand is connected to community; it is about how you and your employees interact with each other.  It is about identifying what the non-monetary assets that exist in your organization and tapping into those strengths.  It also helps (as I mentioned before), that Larry asked some really good questions, and that those employees who were matched to him, gave open and honest answers... being undercover can do that.

The cornerstone to any corporate citizenship program is engaging people at the social level and building from there.  You engage people through dialogue and action.

Undercover Boss airs on Sundays on CBS.