Where are all the ROWEs?
April 22nd, 2008 by Cali & Jody
A quick post today to answer a question that we get a lot (and one that has recently bubbled up through the comments on this blog):
This Results-Only Work Environment thing sounds great. So where do I go to work in one?
Right now, there are two authentic ROWEs: Best Buy, Inc. and J. A. Counter & Associates, a small investment firm located in Wisconsin. We are currently working with other companies (whose names we can’t disclose yet) on migrating them from a traditional work environment to a ROWE. We are also developing a kit that will let teams, departments and organizations make this transformation themselves. (Not a commercial . . . just sayin’.)
But we can’t do it alone. And it’s not going to happen overnight. Right now ROWE is an idea. Before ROWE get on the menu of choices for job seekers, it’s going to have to become a movement.
We realize this is a tall order. But there are small, daily steps that people can take to make ROWE a reality. First and foremost: talk to people. You don’t need to be preachy. It’s more a matter of asking the right questions. Why are we so obsessed with time? Why do we spend our lives in wasteful meetings? Why don’t we focus more on results?
Trite but true: the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that there is one. If we can get enough people to be actively fed up with the status quo, then we have a fighting chance of changing it.
I was thinking, there are probably enough intelligent people out there who read the blog or who will read the book, that they could combine forces to start their own ROWE company(s). Perhaps putting up a bulletin board or forum to facilitate this type of discussion and entrepreneurship would be helpful.
In recent discussions I’ve been trying to focus the conversation on results instead of time (keeping a possible future ROWE in mind).
Now a question to the Godmothers of ROWE: how do you use a ROWE with employees who need to provide a service at a specific time, like customer care?
And since I’m already abusing your comments section for misc questions (it’s your fault, I’m thinking about your book a lot!): did BestBuy ever implement ROWE for store employees?
Matt - a discussion board is a GREAT idea! This is something that we’ve been thinking about for a long time. Who out there wants to start the ROWE discussion board and be the moderator? Here’s a link: http://www.aimoo.com/. Once someone sets up the board, we can link to it from our blog. Go to it!
Happy Employee,
Best Buy is considering a ROWE Test for the Stores - stay tuned on that one!
As for people with jobs that require providing a service at a specific time . . . be clear about goals and expectations. TRUST that people will act like adults and meet the customer at that specific time. ROWE is all about having CONTROL over how you spend ALL of your time. We all have appointments and places we need to be at specific times. Let the people manage it. They can!
This is a great idea. While easy to implement for smaller businesses or self-employed people, I commend you on taking it to the large scale! Can’t wait to get the book!
I will set up a discussion board. Let me look into it.
Matt - cool! Thanks for looking into setting up the discussion board.