Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [66]
Don’t prescribe what work-life balance looks like for your employees.
“Well, you have a kid, so you’ll need to make sure they’re in day care when you’re home working, otherwise you won’t get anything done.”
“Wow, it’s six-thirty—you should really go home now and spend time with your family.”
It’s not up to you. It’s up to them.
Don’t handpick who gets to be flexible and who doesn’t.
Okay?
Don’t think that you’re a great boss if during a snowstorm you “let” your people “leave early.”
Sending out an e-mail “letting” people take time off for a project well-done, or a snowstorm—or whatever—is another way to make people feel like children. It reinforces the fact that you have control over their time and they don’t. Let people make this decision themselves.
Stop managing by walking around.
Every time you “check in” on someone they have to stop what they were doing, reorient their thinking from doing the work to give you a spontaneous presentation about the job they are doing, and then, once you leave, reorient themselves back to doing the work. Either send them an e-mail, or better yet, plan.
Trust your people like you trust yourself.
Stop making rules for the few you’re afraid won’t live up to your expectations. Or rules that protect you from the incompetence of the few but hinder the performance of the many. Your goal is to make work as unlike grade school as possible.
Voices from a ROWE: Charlotte
Charlotte is an individual contributor in the dot-com division. She is in her early thirties and has been in a ROWE for three years.
My son says, “ROWE is about riding bikes, getting pets, playing games, and having fun.” This means the world to me because my relationship with my son has changed so much since ROWE.
Before ROWE I would get up, get my son dressed, drop him off at school, and not arrive at work until nine. Whenever I took a new position, I always had to have sit-down conversations with my managers to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to make it into the office until nine. because I had to drop my son at school. Those conversations felt terrible—I always felt like I was playing “Captain May I?” and asking for favors. Inevitably, there would be meetings that would come up at eight or eight thirty and I would try to find someone to watch my son, but sometimes I couldn’t. Then, of course, I’d feel like I wasn’t being a team player.
I didn’t have any way of getting my work done outside the hours of nine and five, so absolutely everything had to be done within those hours in the office. I usually ate lunch at my desk. I didn’t take many breaks—I just plowed through my work day in and day out.
When I was still living in the “old world” I didn’t feel like I was making as much headway in my career because my coworkers could work longer hours. I would try to be as outspoken as I could, but I’m not good at tooting my own horn, or “managing up” as people call it. When you’re not good at that, it takes a lot of energy to promote yourself and it can cause a huge amount of stress.
When I first migrated to a Results-Only Work Environment, I wanted people to know I was still getting my work done. I would send e-mails at six thirty in the evening or on Friday nights to let people know I was working. I made sure to do these kinds of things especially on days I had left early. Then I just let go of all that. I started focusing on my work, actually the great work I was doing for the company. My stress level is much different now. It’s shifted to the results I need to achieve.
Now I can’t Not be involved in my son’s life or his school, when before it just wasn’t ever an option for me. I used to have to deplete all my vacation and personal time to help my son with his school activities. Now I just go to them and I don’t feel guilty. I’ve been