Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [46]
This means more communication with your coworkers, boss, and upper management. You might think that having fewer people in the office all the time would lead to a breakdown in communication, but quite the opposite occurs. In a traditional workplace you don’t have to be efficient in your communication with people because you can count on them to be there. You can ask vague, meandering questions because you know that if you don’t get a full answer you can always stop by their cube later. In a ROWE you make the most of every interaction because you have to. You still can count on your team members’ availability, but you can’t count on just stopping by. You can’t waste people’s time like you used to and you end up being much more efficient about your interactions.
Employees have the freedom to work any way they want.
In a ROWE you no longer judge people based on their work style. You no longer assume everyone learns and processes information the same way. In a ROWE you put people and their skills first and the job second. As long as the work is getting done you don’t worry about how (provided of course that people are still behaving in a legal and ethical manner and one that is in keeping with your company’s values). You no longer judge individual work styles.
So if you think best when you’re on your feet, then go for a walk. If you do your best work at night, then work at night. Or if you need the structure of a more traditional work schedule then work eight to five. It doesn’t matter.
For some, the gut reaction to this idea is that people will be less efficient and focused if they aren’t given structure. But the opposite occurs. It’s one of those ROWE paradoxes. Give people more freedom and they respond not with less focus but with more. When people are given the control to meet their demands, they end up being more on point. One person we talked to said that she was far more objective now. She could play around and let the task stretch to fit her day, but since her time is her own, and since she gets to solve problems on her own terms, she gets right down to it. Even though her deadline might not be for three days, she and her team turn requests around in twenty-four hours because there is nothing to be personally gained by waiting.
YEAH, BUT ...
“Don’t new employees or kids just out of college need to be around to ‘learn the ropes’?”
A ROWE doesn’t discriminate based on age, sex, race, or years of company service. Some of the people at Best Buy corporate who are in a ROWE are older. Some are younger. Some of them just started yesterday. As long as an employee receives clear expectations, then it really doesn’t matter where they are in their life or their career. If they can do their job, then a ROWE works for them.
Another interesting side effect of a ROWE is that you get a new perspective on “problem employees”: you know, the ones who aren’t always chipper in meetings, or seem to get extra flustered when you stop by their office unannounced, or the ones who are socially awkward around people who don’t speak the very specific language of their field.
In a ROWE those people can really flourish because instead of looking at how they’re producing you instead focus on what they are producing. It’s not that office politics disappears, but traditional office politics are less important because everyone is being judged on results. If you produce, then you produce. How well you do is measured by goals and expectations that are established and monitored throughout the year. (No more rewriting your goals halfway through the year to make them fit how your job is really going, and no more surprises come performance review time.) Night owls stop sleepwalking through the morning and morning people don’t have to pretend they’re still effective after three thirty in the afternoon.