Back in the days when I was a manager, once a month, unannounced, I would walk up to one of my supervisors in the morning and inform them that I worked for them that day. It was their job to keep me busy for the day with whatever they needed done. I can tell you that I worked harder those days than any other day of the month. And I would learn a lot about my people and the jobs that they did everyday. The next days I would sit down with the folks that I worked for and we would review what worked and what needed improvement. The focus was on their process, not the people, so people felt comfortable sharing their thoughts.
After each session, we would spend the next month and sometimes longer making changes to procedure, making system changes, and other things to help this people to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.
The side benefits were that they got to see me struggle, get confused, demonstrated to them that I was just as human as they were and trust and respect was enhanced for all.