Watch what I do and decide what kind of leader I am.Īt Roto-Rooter, we never wanted to say, “Drink the Kool-Aid and recite all the corporate propaganda we’ve forced you to read.” If you can observe how company leaders behave, you’ll form your opinion of what we do and how we lead without us making you drink the Kool-Aid. RA: It’s not about creating mission, vision, and value statements. But the point is if someone has been with the company a few years, he or she should have a very loyal customer base. If someone mistreats the customer, if someone don’t represent the company well, the company has the right to reassign the customer to another technician. It may not seem like a big deal, but if you’re trying to create connectivity with customers, we formalize this. The second initiative rolled out is that for new Roto-Rooter customers, the technician that first served a customer will be that customer’s technician for as long as he or she is an employee of Roto-Rooter. So the frontline leadership program is now alive and well. It was loud and clear to me that everybody I was with on Undercover Boss wanted to climb the ladder, get ahead, etc. But we really didn’t have a good mechanism to get frontline employees on the radar. Historically, we’ve done a great job of getting frontline supervisors on the radar and tracking their performance. The first is a leadership program that allows us to tap into our talent on the front lines. A couple of them are near and dear to me. We have implemented some companywide programs as a result of Undercover Boss. RA: The last thing we wanted was to say we had our 15 minutes of fame and once the cameras were turned off, it’s business as usual. RS: What permanent changes have occurred at Roto-Rooter as a result of the show? You’re doing a lot of soul-searching, and the cameras are running-you’re peeling back the onion on national TV. As each day progressed, I was reflecting on the company as well as myself as a person and business leader. RA: Probably the fact that it wasn’t just me going undercover, but the show was uncovering me, as well. RS: What was the most surprising thing you encountered in your Undercover Boss experience?

I think we all fancy ourselves as leaders who can engage anyone, have people relax, and it’s just two people talking, where you can say, “Go ahead, tell me everything.” For me, it was getting a chance to get out from behind my title and be “Hank Denman”. Rick Arquilla: Well, the obvious was that it could be great PR for the company, but I quickly got past that. Roy Saunderson: Rick, what was the catalyst that made you decide to go on Undercover Boss? As COO, he spends much of his time at branch locations working with general managers and regional managers to ensure that Roto-Rooter is providing top-quality plumbing and drain services. Incentive online columnist Roy Saunderson, founder and president of Recognition Management Institute, spoke with Arquilla recently about his experience on CBS’ Undercover Boss TV show last April, his leadership style, and employee and customer engagement. Rick Arquilla has been the president and chief operating officer of Roto-Rooter Group, North America’s largest provider of plumbing repair and drain services, since 1999. Northstar Meetings Group Event Speakers.

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Roto rooter under cover boss