I confess that our family wakes to the dulcet and highly entertaining tales of Chris Evans’ Radio 2 breakfast show on a daily basis.

More than just him, it’s clearly a team effort – he cares about the team around him to the same extent as he does his listeners, the children that call in, and the texts and tweets that he no doubt receives in their thousands. Worth studying as a great example of how a team can be massively effective, as well as for those budding DJs.

But I digress… In case you’ve not had the pleasure of his breakfast bonanza, you need to know that each show is themed. Today seemed more bizarre than ever – something that I thought was long gone: the hostess trolley. It turns out these things are still made in Halifax by an arm of the Crosslee organisation.

To make things interesting today, Chris asked listeners to contact the show with snippets about their trolleys; what they use them for, and most importantly if it was possible to keep roasties (roast potatoes) crisp. He even phoned the factory. What a great opportunity for publicity they had! A prime (I say the best) breakfast show slot to promote your product.

I didn’t catch the chaps name who answer the phone, but in response to almost every question about his employer’s product, you can only respond “I don’t know”. What made me laugh was when Chris, clearly considering a hostess trolley for himself, asked about the product range; what was the entry-level product and its price? “I’m afraid I don’t know, Google it” came the response. What??! I know (because he mentioned it) that the chap was a buyer for the company but how can it be that an employee doesn’t know about their company’s product at all? Doesn’t it make you wonder?

At the heart of an effective team there has to be a core mission and vision that every member has got to know in order to understand why they are there. Where there is no clear vision and mission, then what reasons do people have to deliver their best, go the extra mile etc? After all, as proven today, every employee is a walking talking advertisement for your product or service.

So what can you learn from this breakfast-time-balls up? We dont get many opportunities to see things in such stark contrast… or get so entertained at breakfast !