Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [43]
In 2005 we noticed an unfortunate but not surprising phenomenon during some of the migrations. We saw in some cases administrative assistants weren’t coming to the ROWE meetings. When we started asking around we found that a lot of them assumed that this new way of working wasn’t for them.
Fortunately there is a professional group within Best Buy just for admins. We went to their monthly meeting and listened. It was a pretty sad meeting. We found that many of them still labored under the old secretary mindset, that even though the company called them administrative assistants and professed that they were valued by the company, they still felt like secretaries. So we started challenging them. Do you really have to sit outside your boss’s office and wait? What if they’re traveling? Can’t you have your phone forwarded? Don’t you have the same remote access to the company’s internal network? They all knew how to do these things, but they felt like they didn’t deserve it.
We disagree, not only on a human level but on a business level. Even people in support functions can benefit from having control over their time. Everyone deserves to work freely. When you eliminate work schedules altogether, then all employees are forced to make good decisions about how they spend their time and how to meet the needs of the business in a fluid manner. This is just as true for the admin as it is for the executive. If you give people control over their own job, and if you give them clear goals and expectations, then they will figure out not only the best use of their time, but the best use of their energy as well. As we’ll see in the next chapter, which gets down to the nuts and bolts of working in a ROWE, when you treat people like adults they will respond like adults.
Voices from a ROWE: Ami
Ami works in online promotions. She is an individual contributor.She is in her early thirties and has been in a ROWE for two years.
Sludge eradication can be hard at first, especially in those first couple of weeks, and with a superior even more so. I’m comfortable pushing back on my boss, but some people aren’t at first, and so they might try to joke about it. Which I think is how some people deal with it. Which is fine as long as they’re keeping it top of mind.
If you have a strained relationship with your manager before going into a ROWE it’s going to be even more important to address that issue once you’re in a ROWE. At the same time it should give people a platform to stand on. The company is supporting this. You have to be able to say, “In the spirit of ROWE I don’t feel like you’re allowing me to do my best work whenever and wherever I choose.” It’s hard at first because you’re torn between the old and the new. What makes it easier is that you can stand up for value. I’m saying no to unnecessary work. I’m saying no because I want to add value.
A ROWE gives everyone the power to question value. It doesn’t take long for you to realize how strange it is that we weren’t doing this before. Why weren’t we constantly questioning before? You have ten people in a meeting but only two people talking back and forth. Why am I here? Because I received an invitation. Outlook has ruined productivity. It’s just a joke. So what if someone is quadruple booked? You used to think that person was important. But now you look at that person and wonder what kind of value could they possibly be adding?
Now we’re in different places working at different times so communication sharpens. You get clearer about expectations and deadlines. And you are constantly figuring out the best way to work with one another, which is funny because you think you’re doing that already, but you’re not. That’s the paradox of a ROWE. You used to think that we all have