Business Lessons From TV's "Dirty Jobs"

Teaching about business from the lower half of a bucket of off-color slime may not be ideal. Mike Rowe, the host of the Discovery Channel's show Dirty Jobs, who spends his TV show doing the messiest, undesirable jobs imaginable so that we don't have to is actually teaching us something about business, says HR consultant Sharlyn Lauby at HR Bartender. She points out out some surprising takeaways from the show:
 

• Training is not optional. It's obvious that in order to do the dirty jobs, someone needed to train Rowe. Even if involved scraping a dead animal off the street, someone had to tell him what equipment to use and where the dump the remains.
• Employee engagement matters. Rowe is always showing what the real responsibilities in the jobs are and how they relate to the whole organization and how what he does will benefit the company.
• Involvement builds trust. A lot of Rowe's jobs are somewhat hazardous and so he realizes he must trust the people he works closely with. That trust comes with being involved in a co-worker's safety, happiness, and skill level.
• Trust creates teams. When Rowe trusts his co-workers, he knows that they are working just as hard as he is and aiming at the same goal. The team forms a bond and becomes self-managed.

 
 
 
 
 

Rowe, it turns out, looks at the big picture beyond the mud and slime and dirt to what really matters – the work.

Read the entire article at HR Bartender.