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Even to the sympathetic listener you can acknowledge that a ROWE sounds crazy, but then quickly follow up that acknowledgment by noting two things. First, a Results-Only Work Environment is already working. This isn’t a theory or a wish. The corporate headquarters of a Fortune 100 company has embraced this idea and it’s working for them both financially and in terms of employee happiness.

Second, you can always remind people why there is a need for a ROWE in the first place. Keep in mind that all those initial objections about a ROWE are based on people’s beliefs about how work gets done and what work looks like. Those objections are tied to the clock and our ideas about time. But everyone knows work sucks, and if you’ve done the early steps right, then they’ve already admitted it.

6. Encourage them to learn more and support their efforts to understand.

People have been burned so many times by fake change that they might need some proof that this is real. You can admit that everyone has seen a lot of teach-and-train programs come and go. They might want to know what makes a ROWE different. That’s a good question and you don’t have to shy away from it. Because this is real change it takes work. People have to create and customize the ROWE that works for them.

This is going to sound like a cliché, like therapy-speak, but people really do have to let go. Whatever language you use, whether it’s coming to terms with change, or letting go, or making your peace, or whatever you want to call it, that’s what people have to do: Let go of the old way of working and commit themselves to the new way of working. It might take work, but it’s worth it.

And you might find unlikely allies in unlikely places. You can’t assume that someone who is objecting isn’t on your side. When the University of Minnesota researchers came to give their results to a group of people at Best Buy there was one guy asking really hard questions. If you didn’t know him and understand his personality you might think he hated ROWE and showed up at that meeting to shoot us down. In reality he is one of ROWE’s biggest supporters. He was asking the hard questions—he was really grilling us and the researchers— because he wants it to succeed. He knows that some people will need little convincing, but that some people will need overwhelming evidence that it works. So he was extra critical. He knew that it wasn’t an easy fight and so he was arming himself with the tools he needed to make ROWE work in his group.

A final thought on talking to people about ROWE: Stay calm. We’re not going to win this by arguing. So find that one thing about ROWE that you find unshakably true. For some people it’s the fact that you always come back to results. For others it’s the idea that everyone has a right to be treated like an adult. Or for others it’s the fact that people have a right to their time. Whatever it is, remember that one true thing and use it as a fallback. As much as people try to fight you on this, you always have that core belief that will keep you going.

And remember the bottom line to end all bottom lines. Remind your listener that in a ROWE you get rewarded with control over your time. Ask them to imagine how powerful an incentive that is. To be trusted to do your job. To be treated like an adult. Isn’t that worth almost anything? If you could be given that kind of control and freedom, then wouldn’t you work your ass off to deliver results? Because that’s what happens. Once people have a taste of what a ROWE offers they never want to work any other way.

We think of ROWE as a people’s movement. That’s how it started, not as an edict from on high. Not as a new management tool. But ROWE couldn’t have thrived without some fearless and supportive leaders at the top of the organization. Also, contrary to how they are seen in business culture, managers and directors are people too. They deserve the benefits of a ROWE just as much as the