Undercover Boss – Herschend Family Entertainment episode

By Tony Deblauwe

This week, Joel Manby, CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment goes undercover in several theme parks to understand what happens at the line level. And unlike other episodes, there were no manufacturing or packaging jobs to fumble.

Right off the bat Manby recognizes that a tough economy has led to lower attendance at the parks and difficult corporate decisions like freezing wages. He realized this environment is ripe for people to be dissatisfied and for the potential of quality to go down.

His first stop was at Stone Mountain Park where he assisted Captain Howard of the Duck Boat rides. Captain Howard is a true showman and you can tell he really likes his job. In the reveal, Manby offers Howard a chance to cross-train operators at other parks via a New Captains Program. Not only is this a great example of career development, but it takes the best practices of great talent to up-level competencies in other areas.

Next stop was a Western themed area where Manby met Albert. Albert described his challenge of going to school at night and working fulltime during the day. Albert had an eye both on ride design but also being CEO. In the reveal, Manby does something pretty incredible. He creates a new scholarship program that will fund 100% of Albert’s tuition plus let him go to school full time and work the summers.   

When Manby visited Silver Dollar City he wanted to learn why the park was rated the cleanest park. He met Richard and soon found out why. Richard worked there for several years but hit a snag when his house was flooded and lost everything. He’s been stuck trying to renovate it with the little time (and money) he had. Manby was concerned why Richard didn’t apply for financial assistance which is a key program the company offers. In the reveal, Manby approves $10K in catastrophic fund assistance and gets volunteers to help complete the renovations.

Manby proceeded to the next job which was to serve passengers on a Mississippi Queen steamboat experience. He met Jennifer who struggled with the inconsistency of dine times and passenger load with child care. In the reveal, Mandy announces he expanded the financial assistance program to cover child care. Again, another good example of improving corporate processes as a result of undercover information gathering.

The final job was at the Adventure Aquarium where employee Mercedes showed Manby the ropes of the touch tank and that she was homeless prior to getting this job. In the reveal, Manby gave her a raise and offered to inventory her apartment and make sure she had what she needed to create a home for her and her child. 

Manby learned much for his experience. He felt how good the people are and how this experience will make him a better leader. Unlike other shows, the best part was when he addressed his management team about his learnings. He spoke in terms of actions – especially about how the company can support single parents – a big chunk of their population.

 

By far this is the best episode for me in terms of what I believe the premise of the show really is about. If you look at the summary of actions:

* Expand the financial assistance program to include child care

* Create a Scholarship Program to assist employees balancing school and work

* Create a New Captains Program to showcase the right competences for customer satisfaction

The leader goes undercover and comes back with broad changes in policies or process – for all employees – not just token good gesture gifts given to a couple of employees (well intentioned and deserved as they are). I felt Manby would have uncovered more if he had the time, but at least he tasked his management team to be aware and stay connected to people. Herschend has a great CEO in Manby and I hope future episodes will contain this level of action-oriented output.