The hustle and bustle of the Holiday season can certainly be crazy….but why? Don’t get me wrong, people can go overboard, but sometimes the way people are forced to work just gets in the way. It’s a downer to have to use vacation/personal/sick time just to get some time off to shop, be festive, or simply enjoy the Holidays with friends and family.
My wife asked me how do people do it. Maybe you have a suggestion. I know I have one…ROWE!
I work in a ROWE, so I have the freedom and control to get my work done AND live my life! My wife does not have such freedom and she shares how she had to work 4 10hr. days to have a summer Friday off! Eeeew.
At CultureRX, we acknowledge the existence of organizations sporting positive work cultures. What we wonder is how much influence YOU had/have on creating and tweaking the culture? It’s not really a culture if you are not allowed to shape it as it best suits you to get the work done. More often than not, you are simply being told by others what they feel works best for you.
We often hear, “I think everything is just fine at our organization.” And when you compare organizations to prison, we tend to agree. BUT! Could things be different? Is there something specific you wish you could change? Does something exist that adds no value to your performance, but you HAVE to do it because that’s the way it is? Would you like to only take two hours to run an errand vs. taking a half day or the whole day off? Most important to consider, do you feel you have the freedom and empowerment to work whenever, wherever, and however you want as long as the work gets done?
So, is everything still ‘just fine’?
What ROWE offers is the option for ALL employees to have control over how results are achieved for the organization. This can best be accomplished when an organization clearly defines what the expected results are and the consequences of not achieving them. From that starting point, the individual can now design his or her approach to work and if those defined results are achieved….what is the problem? ROWE also affords individuals the freedom to live life as they wish. Instead of trying to conform to how an organization’s culture thinks you should live it.
Everything may be just fine, but our thinking is it could be way better if YOU had a say in things!
When “being available” is discussed in a ROWE, “the pushback” can be pretty intense. Let’s take a look at what it means to be available today. Not considering your professional resources, most (and most = millions) of people have one, some, or all of the following: cell phones (with voice mail and texting capabilities), pagers, email accounts, and landline phones. And the technology does not stop there! Today, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, serve as other sources of communication. Now, consider the resources your employer may provide to you…yup, one, some, or all of the above mentioned.
So, how are you available? The answer is most likely a combination of ways.
The discussion now moves to how you manage your availability. “But when I am not working, I don’t want to be bothered!” I hear you. However, when you go to the bathroom at work, or you are out sick, or you are on vacation, or you are away from your desk/cubicle for any reason, have you never come back to the blinking light on your phone or the “email messages waiting” popup on your computer? I am confident you all have. Therefore, you are ALWAYS available and how you decide to take action and what your response time is become the real issues. See, technology has created a virtual you, but the traditional work environment fails to realize this and expand on it.
In most cases, employees have the capability to check work voice mails and emails from a remote location. Some really technologically advanced organizations also afford employees access to networks and systems. Now walk with me…technology allows you as the person to stay connected to colleagues and clients without being shackled to a desk/cubicle + you as the professional can respond (if you so choose to) to colleagues and clients, whether or not you are in the office. Freedom + efficiency = happy person and effective professional!
Being available today and in a ROWE does not mean intrusiveness, but rather means more control of how you go about your life (and work).
Not quite…but give us some time on that one.
The problem resulting from making mistakes in today’s work environment is stress. Mistake anxiety followed by mistake shame creates an environment of fear. Fear of thinking independently. Fear of working creatively. Fear of embracing innovation. The employee’s focus shifts from achieving results to not screwing up. The controlling cultures of traditional work environments exploit this fear by instituting measures designed to reprimand, such as: the verbal warning, the written warning, the special note to file, etc. That approach is counterproductive.
In a ROWE, the focus is on results and only results. As long as the work gets done, as long as clients are happy, as long as deadlines are met/exceeded, the employee and the organization are successful. The enhanced collaboration that takes place in a ROWE allows for improvements to happen on the go – in real time. Therefore, the outcomes remain the most important drivers. Instead of glorifying a mistake, the defined outcome is referred to and corrective action is taken to achieve results. And no one gets all stressed out! Because in a ROWE, goals are well-defined and employee engagement is strengthened, which leads to an adaptive work environment.
Missteps, errors, and miscalculations will occur, but when those instances take precedence over results, the focus is in the wrong place. Adapt, correct, and act – fluid.
In a ROWE, a mistake can be viewed as a retake. That just feels less stressful.
What I had noticed prior to joining up with Cali & Jody, and now being out there with them, is people have a difficult time believing ROWE is a reality. Or can be a reality. To address that simply, see Best Buy, Gap, Fairview Health Services, Hennepin County’s Human Services and Public Health Department, SpinWeb, Matchstic, Meddius…the list goes on. The employees of these organizations are living the benefits of a ROWE.
However, some still view a ROWE as a fantasy approach to work. Why? I believe this perspective can be attributed to the harsh realities of a traditional workplace. Right now, the decision-making process is vertical (top-down), work/life balance is out of whack, and decades of the traditional work environment model continue to keep a stranglehold on change. Therefore, one or all of these factors discourage people from professionally engaging the organization about anything, let alone something as transformational as ROWE.
The grim realities of a traditional work environment fuel the skepticism and cynicism about ROWE. This then leads to people thinking ROWE is a fantasy world, because in a ROWE, those grim realities disappear. Your responsibility and accountability to work will not diminish, but rather the restrictions on how you get your work done will be no longer. And desk time will no longer be a replacement for performance.
In a ROWE, accountants will have to crunch numbers, project managers will have to manage projects, and IT professionals will have to support networks. What will change is HOW each will go about getting the work done. That is important to remember. In fact, that is essential to remember.
ROWE is not changing the work; ROWE is innovating how the work gets done.
OK, so lots has happened. Lots is happening! And I am very much digging everything – work and life. I have recently hooked up with Cali & Jody, the founders and pioneers of ROWE (Results Only Work Environment).
Cali & Jody’s approach to transforming the workplace re-establishes today’s and tomorrow’s employee as responsible and trustworthy, while shifting the organizational paradigm from control to empowerment. This is accomplished through a migration process designed to also re-establish a new culture focused on results and results only. This guided process transitions the mindset of the entire organization.
So, again, very excited to share that I am now part of this culture change movement. Go ROWE! Along with facilitating employees into a ROWE, I am also contributing a weekly blogpost to Cali & Jody\’s Blog
Think work should look differently? Think the way we work sucks? Visit Cali & Jody at their website and check out the blog too….go on…its time.
So, there I sat…in a decent office processing work stuff, fighting off daydreaming, and waiting for 4pm to come. It was soul crushing. I was good at what I was doing and actually liked it too. Though, I had begun to realize I was not using technology wisely in my career. My 140 mi. roundtrip commute had become increasingly more annoying as well.
I searched “work/life balance” online and stumbled across this article, Smashing the Clock . It changed my life.
Read it and fuse….
