Getting the Right Results - Part II

Imagine going to work and finding yourself so frustrated with the culture of your office that you completely turn it around. HRM discovers that, in essence, that is exactly what Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler did when they pioneered the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE).

“Ressler and Thompson predict that office cubicles and desktop computers will soon be the workplace relics of our time”

One of the first things with Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler is that they are quick to explain how times have changed in today’s modern workplace and they explain how it now takes considerably more creativity, energy and effort to stay ahead of the curve in the global marketplace; what’s worrying them, however, is that the culture of the modern workplace is not keeping up with the times. In fact, Ressler and Thompson predict that office cubicles and desktop computers will soon be the workplace relics of our time – just like mimeograph machines, While-You-Were-Out pink slips, and typewriters are relics of the Industrial Age. They say the time has come for a ‘serious solution’.

When we last spoke to Thompson back in October, ROWE was currently operating across 80 percent of the population at Best Buy – the corporation where Ressler and Thompson met and founded ROWE – and they were now running their own company, CultureRx, with plans to expand the culture of ROWE to several other organizations across the US. “The CIO of a company we’re currently working with recently made this said to us, ‘ROWE is so simple that it’s elegant’,” explains Ressler when we sit down to speak with the ladies this time around. “That sums up ROWE perfectly. It only focuses on one thing – results. That’s the simple part. The elegant part comes in because it forces companies to start changing the behaviors that haven’t been supporting a Results-Only environment.”

Just who this mystery CIO is, and which companies Ressler and Thompson are currently working with, they remain less than candid about. As Thompson pointed out last time we spoke with her, many companies are afraid of ROWE and are skeptical about whether it can work in an environment outside of Best Buy. Of course, Ressler and Thompson know that it can, and Ressler actually goes on to suggests that it is really only a matter of weeks before more companies are likely to unveil ROWE.

Critically aware
It is an interesting time for CultureRx. “We continue to be contacted by people from all over the world that are interested in bringing ROWE to their respective areas,” Ressler explains. “Underneath it all, ROWE hits on a fundamental desire we all have – to have control over how we spend our time. How the process looks in different cultures and countries will be slightly different, but the outcome will be the same.”

It is also an interesting time for business in general, with the economic crisis plundering on and affecting workforces across every sector. While some may scoff at a drastic overhaul such as ROWE, thinking it would be difficult to achieve such a fundamental change during a prolonged downturn, Ressler and Thompson are keen to argue the complete opposite: “During this crisis, ROWE can actually play a role in turning people’s attitudes around, making the ‘Manage by Walking Around’ practice extinct,” explains Ressler. “ROWE will challenge managers to have better clarity of goals, to clearly and regularly communicate them to employees, set deadlines and attach tangible metrics to effectively measure results.”

Thompson suggests that weariness of ROWE only exists because of a misguided belief that managers who continue to control their employees are going to remain successful during this climate; instead Thompson says this is having the adverse effect. “That’s what they don’t realize. People are getting more apathetic, they're getting disgruntled, they're hopping from company to company, and they don't really care because they feel they are being treated like children. These companies are cutting off their nose to spite their face, when they could be getting so much more out of their people.

“When you go into this kind of environment, if you want productivity to increase, if you want people to focus on the right thing, if you want all the wasted time in the work environment to go away, this is the environment you need to move towards, and companies are starting to realize that.”

Ressler agrees, noting that managers migrating to ROWE realize that they no longer need that (false) sense of security that comes with seeing their employees at their desks every day. “Now more than ever the ROWE philosophy is important to embrace and maintain, and Best Buy and other companies are doing just that. There is a huge competitive advantage related to ROWE because, when leadership expects teams to ‘tighten their belt’, everyone is able to voice whether certain activities are actually adding value or are a waste of time.”

Another issue for companies during hard times is the need to reduce labor to save dollars, and with ROWE, managers are very clear about the real results-based value that employees bring and can clearly articulate what the team is achieving and what resources are necessary to drive clearly articulated business outcomes. “Practice has proven that ROWE also strengthens teams and, in a recession, teams need to step up to get the work done to deliver what the business needs to continue to be successful,” adds Ressler.

Generation gap
ROWE will be instrumental in solving another major issue currently facing HR professionals, say Ressler and Thompson: namely, the war for talent and the changing dynamics of our workforce. “This is the environment that the next generation will operate most effectively in. They're already untethered in the way that they approach technology, they are global thinkers, already operating globally, and are just a much more collaborative generation. If we put them in an office building in a cube and tell them that they have to sit in a meeting room in order to collaborate, we're just completely killing them,” explains Thompson.

Ressler echoes this sentiment, saying that while every generation cares about workplace freedom, the difference is whether they feel people deserve it. “With the Boomers,” she explains, “they want workplace freedom in a bad way, but most of them won’t say that out loud. They’ve given their lives over to work and they’ve missed out on a lot of happiness because they were being slaves to the clock. Because of their beliefs about the way work needs to happen, however, ROWE rubs many of them the wrong way. They often don’t think the Gen Y whippersnappers should get freedom right out of the starting gate – they need to put in their time first. No pain, no gain.”

It is an interesting point, which stretches over both Generation X and Generation Y too: “Gen X are exhausted,” suggests Ressler. “They grew up watching their parents work themselves to the bone and swore they’d never do the same thing. And here they are, trying to put in their time at work, while managing a household of their own – and, many of them, caring for their parents, too.  They can taste workplace freedom – and they want it now.”

As for Generation Y, Ressler highlights how this generation have always lived a ‘free life’ and that they have often had the world at their fingertips, know how to build and foster relationships without ever seeing people face-to-face and not only care about workplace freedom but expect it because it’s all they know.  “To them,” she says, “it’s not a privilege – it’s a right.

“In the end,” continues Ressler, “companies will need to implement ROWE to appease all generations.” Boomers won’t be ‘retiring’ as such, but will want to continue working, just not in the same capacity as they have for the last 40 years. It is Ressler and Thompson’s belief that companies can utilize ROWE as a business strategy for retaining that knowledge. “Gen X also has a lot more to give, but they want to give it on their terms,” Ressler comments. “With ROWE, companies can get more productivity from the same workforce. Gen X is being throttled by the way the work environment is operating – ROWE will solve that. When it comes to Gen Y, ROWE is the answer to recruiting them in the first place. Soon, their question in the interview room will be, ‘Are you ROWE?’ And that’s where the talent will go.”

The truth is, everybody adopts ROWE at their own pace, which is often dependant on their generation. Thompson explains how Gen Y tend to adopt it faster, while the traditionalists, along with Gen X, though they do adopt it as well, have different things that they need to let go of. “It might take them a little longer, but once they're all through the change, it's interesting because it levels the playing field,” says Thompson. “It creates a better platform for communication across all generations. It doesn't feel like such a big divide anymore.”

So just how bright is the future for ROWE? Actually, if Thompson is proved right, very bright indeed: “There are so many reasons why people are more productive in a ROWE environment. If I know exactly what I'm supposed to deliver and how my employer is going to measure it, I'm much more focused and I can actually get the work done. If you think of the way the office is set up today, you get up and you don't think about doing work, you think about getting ready for work. So by the time you get to the office you're already disgruntled because of traffic or other nuisances on your way in, then you have a cup of coffee and you talk to your co-workers, you read the paper, and you’ve already taken three hours of your day before you’ve even done any work. With ROWE, people aren't just putting in time anymore, they engaging in their work.

“Management innovations in the coming decades will follow ROWE’s footsteps of keeping managers in a coach/mentor role vs. being a hall monitor,” concludes Ressler. “They might not end up calling it ROWE, but that coach/mentor role has such potential and it will shape more and more as the shift to results continues. It’s that simple, and this has to be the future for the workplace.”

The ROWE bio
ROWE is a bold, cultural transformation that permeates the attitudes and operating style of an entire workplace, leveling the playing field and giving people complete autonomy – people do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done.

This can be in the park; in a coffee shop; in the shower; at midnight; at 3am; on a Sunday afternoon. Whenever and wherever.

With ROWE there is no need for schedules, nobody focuses on ‘how many hours did you work?’ Nobody feels overworked, stressed out or guilty and work is not a place you go, but it's something you do. People at all levels stop wasting the company's time and money; teamwork, morale and engagement soar and there's no judgment on how people spend their time.

ROWE is just about results.
No results, no job. It's that simple.