Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [36]
We ended up winning the argument, and from that point forward the Results-Only Work Environment was in its full form. We made the 13 Guideposts a standard part of the ROWE migration. People started using them to help self-correct their behavior and attitudes. They also started using the Guideposts to help other people make the transition.
Any kind of adaptive change requires both self-adjustment and support. It’s like quitting smoking or getting in shape. You can give people reasons for better behaviors, but ultimately they have to make the decision to change on their own, and the people around them have to support the change as well. That’s part of the power of creating a ROWE: no one goes it alone. When people migrate from a traditional work environment to a Results-Only Work Environment they push one another, they challenge one another, they support one another. Management is part of the process, but management does not drive the process. The people create the new culture.
In the next three chapters we’ll explore each of the 13 Guideposts. Each one speaks to a different aspect of a Results-Only Work Environment. Some deal with time, others deal with the logistics of how work gets done, while a third group points to how life is different in a ROWE. We’re going to use these Guideposts to give you a better idea of what a ROWE is and also how a ROWE functions and feels. (Remember that a ROWE isn’t a theory—there are people like Trey living the way they want to live right now.) We’ll also try to work through some of the common objections people have, the Yeah, But moments that everyone has when confronted with these new ideas.
First we need to deal with time. Our attitudes about time are perhaps the hardest obstacle to overcome because they are so ingrained we might not even realize their influence over us. Even if someone waved a magic wand and said, You are no longer judged based on time, you would probably still judge yourself based on time. You have spent so many years with a “lunch hour” that even if someone said, Take as long a lunch as you like, you are still going to check your watch halfway through your sandwich to see if you’re taking too long. You’re still going to look at the clock on your dashboard while driving in to work that first week in a ROWE because when the clock says 7:59 and you’re still on the interstate the alarm bells in your head are going to ring “late!” You’re still going to look up at the clock on your way out, or check the time on your workstation when you log out for the day, because that’s how you’ve measured your day since you can remember. Time isn’t going to give up its power over you without a fight.
In a ROWE time truly doesn’t matter. But this can be hard to remember, and even harder to internalize. As we’ve said before, part of the power of the status quo is that it doesn’t have to do anything to reinforce its attitudes. It’s self-perpetuating. So the Guideposts in this chapter are there to remind you that in a ROWE, there are new rules.
Here are the new rules about time:
• Arriving at the workplace at 2:00 PM is not considered coming in late. Leaving the workplace at 2:00 PM is not considered leaving early.
• It’s okay to grocery shop on a Wednesday morning, catch a movie on a Tuesday afternoon, or take a nap on a Thursday afternoon.
• People have an unlimited amount of “paid time off ” as long as the work gets done.
• There are no work schedules.
Arriving at the workplace at 2:00 PM is not considered coming in late. Leaving the workplace at 2:00 PM is not considered leaving early.
At the most basic level this Guidepost