When Tragedy Strikes

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the folks on my team. Over the course of the last two weeks:

1. One person had a sibling that died after a fairly short battle with cancer;
2. One person's spouse was diagnosed with a fatal form of cancer;
3. One person was diagnosed with skin cancer; and
4. One person began rehab for a knee injury.

This nearly half of my staff. 

What do all of these things have in common? Besides the fact that they all lead to major stress. They all require my folks to be away from work so they can deal with their personal issues (and rightfully so).

In most departments, if this happened to your staff, you would likely be in a "world of hurt". There would be much gnashing of teeth while you as a manager tried to figure out how you're going to cover for your people. How are you going to get anything done? Work is going to start piling up and everyone outside your department is going to be looking at you to "solve" their problem. Are the beads of sweat starting to form on your forehead yet? Does the thought of having this happen to you having you reaching for the nearest antacid?

Not in my case. Once again, the power of ROWE shines through. I don't have to sweat a perfect storm like the one above, even though I've been living through it for more than a week. Why? Because despite all these events occurring in my staff members' lives, they are still getting the work done. Not because I'm standing over them brandishing a whip (I'd probably hurt myself if I actually tried that). They do it because it's what they want to do. Maybe they need a distraction from the reality of what's happening in their personal lives. Maybe they just want to do something they feel they have control over. 

It doesn't really matter. The bottom line is: they are happy, or at least as happy as you can be when you've been suckered-punched by life. Even if they decided they needed to do nothing for a week, that would be fine too. They know they can take the time if they feel they need it.

Oh, and productivity hasn't been affected throughout all of this. I'm not getting any complaints from other departments about lack of service or attention to detail. In fact, as far as everyone outside my department is concerned, it's business as usual.

And the most humbling part of all this? During our weekly one-on-one meeting, the person whose spouse is about to start six months of chemo actually thanked me for being able to have the freedom to do what was necessary without any feelings of guilt about the job. I didn't know what to say. I still don't.

Except maybe this: this is how work should be. This is true work/life balance. This is the way everyone's job should be. This is a ROWE and I'm damn proud that this is how things are for the people that work for me.

Do You Still Need to be Convinced to Adopt ROWE?

Quick, what is the single biggest expense for every employer? Computers? Office supplies? Benefits? Nope. The single biggest expense for every employer is the cost of hiring an employee.

So what do you do when you have a good employee that is ready to jump ship? If you've got an employee that has consistently performed well, the last thing you want to have to do is replace that employee. You want to give your employee the opportunity to continue making a positive contribution to the company. Let's assume that money alone is not going to solve your problem. If you have the option, you might be able to offer the employee a lateral move. But what if you don't have that option? Or worse yet, what if you do have that option, but the employee wants something more?

The following is a true story of the power of ROWE. My company has an outstanding employee, let's call her Michelle. She's been with the company for more than five years. She's one of the best performers in her department, having been commended numerous times. She's well respected both inside and outside her team. She's also burned out as a result of having to work just about every weekend. She's ready to jump ship.

Now, I've had my eye on Michelle for some time. More than a year ago she approached me about becoming a member if my team. I need to mention that most of my staff has worked with Michelle over the years and every one of them knows Michelle will be an asset and wants her to join our team. Unfortunately, a year ago I had no openings at that time. Now, a year later, I do have a slot, but there is another problem. I can offer Michelle a position in my department, but if she wants to make the move, she'll have to take a significant pay cut.  And she'll still be working weekends (though arguably, not as many).

What are the odds--at your company-- that you would be able to hold on to Michelle? Imagine yourself as a manager trying to sell that. For me it was easy. Why? Because I could offer Michelle something no other department in my entire company could offer her: ROWE.

I met with Michelle and explained to her that our department operated as a ROWE. I explained that under ROWE, she was responsible for how and when she performed her job. As long as the job gets done, the rest was up to her.

So how did it all work out? Michelle is still with the company. She now works for me. We just completed Michelle's year-end review. Not only has she continued to distinguish herself, but she is genuinely happy with her new position (yes, in spite of having to take a pay cut). One of the benefits of ROWE has been that it lessened the pay cut for Michelle. Since we're not about presence, but about results, the fact that Michelle works from home most days means she's not spending $20+ per day on parking. Or the cost of filling her tank 2-3 times per week. You do the math; it adds up. More importantly, Michelle has something she didn't have before: a sense of empowerment and a sense of control. Time and again, that has been the one thing that Michelle has talked about.

If you're still not convinced that ROWE provides you with better options than you have today, then ask yourself, this one question: Would your company have been able to keep Michelle?

Unless your answer to that question is an unqualified "Yes!" you owe it to yourself to give some serious thought to implementing ROWE.

New Help for Managers in a ROWE

When I first read Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It I remember thinking, "This is the way work should be." Not long after, I started managing a stealth ROWE department in my company. There was no guidebook, no instruction manual. Why Work Sucks offered some great insights about what it meant to work in a ROWE, but it didn't give any concrete guidance about how to implement a ROWE. As a manager trying to put the ROWE ethic into practice, I was literally flying by the seat of my pants.

Enter Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson's new book: Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It. It picks up where Why Works Sucks left off. While there is some repeated material, it is primarily used to reiterate concepts from the first book. While it's not required to have read Why Work Sucks, I highly recommend it.

Why Managing Sucks expands on the concepts in the first book by providing guidance for managers who are operating in a ROWE. The book provides concrete examples of answers for managers struggling to come up with the responses to questions asked by those who don't understand what working in a ROWE is all about. I only wish this book had been available when I first started implementing a ROWE in my company.

"If you're wondering whether you're one of those who might fall into the category of still being stuck in the abyss of thinking of work as somewhere you go, here are some signs: 1) You find yourself saying, "The capacity of this building is 500 people, and we're almost there. Let's get cracking on finding a new site." 2) You think, "The vice president of that department is moving to the eighth floor. How soon can we get her team moved up there?" 3) You wonder "What is Alison up to? Haven't seen her for over a week!" 4) You tell a new hire, "We all show up around 8am; we'll see you then!"

If you're interested in understanding what it means to "manage" in a ROWE, then Why Managing Sucks is a good place to start. As someone who has been a practitioner of a ROWE, I've learned a great deal from the book. There are a number of things I'll be implementing and changing as a result of reading this book.

If you're not currently working in a ROWE, you generally have one of two reactions: 1) you're skeptical, or 2) you want to give it a try. If you're in the former group, you don't have to take my word for it, take a look at this Forbes magazine article. If you're in the latter group, and you have the ability to make it happen, do your research and start a ROWE.

If you're already working in a ROWE, especially if you're a manager and you're looking for answers to help you become a better "manager," buy this book!

My Experience Implementing a ROWE

When I began my ROWE adventure nearly a year ago, I had every intention of posting information about my experience on at least a monthly basis. Obviously, that didn't happen. Don't misunderstand, it's not because ROWE was a failure; on the contrary it's been an incredible success for both me and my staff. Truth be told, now that we're all working this way, I keep asking myself, "How did I ever balance my work life and personal life before I was working in a ROWE?"

Before I go any further, I need to explain a little about my ROWE situation. I work in a 500-person financial services company with offices spread across the globe. We provide Software as a Service (SaaS) to our clients. My department is a software engineering group within that company. My company isn't a ROWE, but my department is. In other words: for nearly a year, I've been running a stealth ROWE department in a non-ROWE company. That's why I didn't create this blog using my real name. I'm not sure what upper-level management's reaction would be if they knew, but I suspect it wouldn't be particularly favorable, given that I didn't "get permission" to try this experiment.

But here's the thing: based on 360-degree feedback, peer reviews and feedback, along with other measurable items, my department is one of the best-rated in the company! In fact, work (results) created by my staff has become the model for other departments within the company. The CEO has personally thanked members of my department for their contributions. My staff is frequently recognized by their peers in other departments and praised for:

• their commitment to the groups we work with, 
• their outstanding support, and
• their willingness to do whatever is necessary to keep our customers happy. [In our case, the customers are internal. We're not an external customer-facing department.]

You're probably looking at that last bullet and wondering what I mean by "do what ever is necessary to keep our customers happy." Let me give you a couple of examples.

1. We have an office in Asia. One member of my staff chose to work until 3:00 AM in order to make sure  our client was able to use the software we delivered to them.
2. For several days, during a particularly hectic time, we were literally working around the clock to assist internal teams who were dealing with external customer issues.

I'm sure some of you are reading the above statements and saying, "Wait a minute! If these people are working around the clock, then you're not really working in a ROWE." And you'd be wrong. If you think people in a ROWE don't work hard, you're dead wrong. You also haven't fully grasped what it means to work in a ROWE. 

In the case of the Asia example, I--as a manager--didn't ask my staff member to work until the wee hours of the morning. As a matter of fact, I didn't even find out it had happened until after the fact! My employee decided on their own to work those hours because she knew she had the freedom to work when she wanted and where she wanted. Oh, and by the way, she wasn't chained to her desk, she was working from the comfort of her home.

In the second example, when one of my people had already worked for nearly 24-hours straight, another person stepped in and took over the next 24-hour shift so the first person could get some rest and recharge. It took nearly 4 days to get everything resolved by the other teams that we support within the company. In the end, the external customer was satisfied and our internal customers were grateful for the support we provided them. Sure, we were tired. Hell! We were exhausted. But the thing is: no one had to worry about having their butt in a seat in the office the following morning because of "normal business hours." My folks who hadn't been involved in the over-nighters covered for the folks who had. That's the beauty of working in a ROWE. 

One last thing. Even after that experience, the morale of my team continues to remain high. I can't say the same for the folks on the other teams that don't work in a ROWE. For them, it just felt like a particularly crushing work schedule followed by more of the same.

The End of the (Work) World as We Know It

The Mayans predicted that the World would end on December 21, 2012. They were wrong. The world as I know it has already ended. It ended on March 28, 2012--not in some apocalyptic cataclysm--but quietly, reflectively, by accident.

The Beginning of the End occurred with my reading of Drive, by Daniel Pink. I don't ever recall reading  a non-fiction book that made me feel as though I could actually feel my brain thinking as I turned the pages, but that's what happened with this book. It was like my brain was on fire with new revelations and understanding. I kept thinking, "Yes! This is exactly why I've worked the way I have for the past 25 years!"

To be fair, my state of mind had already been framed by a couple of other books: Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose, and Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called "Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A". Both books had begun to reshape my thoughts about work and why I was either happy or unhappy about the state my company on any given day.

I'm not a CEO, CTO, or any other three-letter acronym; just a typical working stiff like most of the rest of the working world. Most days I liked my job, some days... not so much. The thing I began really trying to focus on and understand was: what exactly is it that gets in the way of every day being a day that I like my job. As I continued to read Drive, it was as though I was winding my way up a steep canyon path not really knowing where it was going to lead me. As I turned the final pages I found myself (metaphorically) standing atop a cliff, a battered wooden sign proclaiming "Edge of the World" beside me, as I stared down at ocean waves crashing against the jagged rocks below.

The End of the World came when I read Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: The Results-Only Revolution, by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. That's when everything clicked. It was the perfect storm. I took a leap of faith and stepped off the edge.

This blog is about fixing your job. It's about feeling good (again) about the work you do. Work doesn't have to suck; in fact, it shouldn't! If you don't like your job, you should seriously consider finding another one. As for me, I plan to use this blog to document my efforts as "just another working stiff" to implement a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) within my company. I'm a mid-level manager with a small staff (more than an handful; less than a dozen) and I'm going to change the world, at least my little corner of it.

The world of work as I have known it for the past quarter-century has ended. It's time time usher in the future. This is the 21st century, after all.