What Would Change in a ROWE?
June 20th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
Looking back, we wonder if we asked too much of you in our Design Your Day post. We appreciate those who took the time to put some thought into their ideal day, but we’re taking another run at the same idea with this post. But first, this thought:
One of the great business benefits of a ROWE is that it naturally eliminates low-value work. (Think of the “TPS Reports” in the movie Office Space - you know what we mean.) Low-value work is one of the by-products of a traditional work environment. If time and physical presence are as important as meeting goals and expectations, then having work that keeps you “busy” but doesn’t make you productive is completely acceptable. Most traditional workplaces would rather have you present and accounted for (and running a meaningless report that no one reads) than off doing whatever.
When we say a ROWE naturally eliminates low-value work, what we mean is that you don’t need an efficiency expert to tell you when you’re wasting your time. Even today, you know (and we know you know) what parts of your job serve little or no purpose. People aren’t stupid. They can feel busy work in their bones. And the only reason why people don’t challenge the busy work is because there is no incentive. It’s not like you’re going to get that extra time for yourself. Chances are your boss would just come up with something else for you to do to make sure they’re getting forty hours out of you.
In a ROWE, because you put results first, you’re allowed to test any task to see if it’s necessary. Outcomes drive tasks instead of tasks driving outcomes. If your boss says, “I need those TPS reports by Monday” you have a right (even an obligation) to ask if those TPS really need to be done by Monday, or if they even need to be done at all. If something isn’t driving results, then it’s bad for business. So why do it?
So we’ll put this idea to you in the form of a question. What task that is part of your job would you eliminate? What do you have to do (every day, every week, every month, etc.) that you suspect isn’t serving the greater good? What part of your job would you get rid of that no one would miss?
Very interesting question. But I have a clarifying question before I can answer; how do you determine real value versus perceived value? If my superiors “perceive” something as valuable (i.e. TPS reports) and I know it’s BS, how do you recommend working with them to determine where the “real” value is?
JT - great question! We always start with the determining the ultimate outcome of the work. Most of the time, people are doing a lot of activities to fill time and are not clear about the overall goal or business outcome. So they just keep performing activities. In a ROWE, the outcome drives the activities, the activities don’t drive the outcome. Let’s go back to your question. If you are having a conversation about work that seems wasteful, but the boss says it’s not, be persistent. Keep asking questions about what the outcome of the work is, and if the activity is the right activity to be spending time on to get to the outcome. We all can agree that people do better work if they’re engaged, have buy-in and feel ownership, and are not just order takers. At Best Buy, we heard from many people that they were performing tasks because somebody told them to do it, not because they felt or believed it was necessary. Today, in a ROWE, they finally have the ability to respectfully question these activities, and even better, suggest alternative ways to achieve the outcome.
Here’s a simple analogy. If you say to a team, “get ready, we’re going on a vacation”, people can start doing activities to go on vacation. But everyone has a different idea about what vacation means. For one person, it’s hanging out on the beach in Mexico, for another, skiing in Colorado. So, one person starts packing suntan lotion and scuba gear. The other person heads out to get their snowboard waxed. One person makes airline reservations, while the other fills the car with gas. Both people are definitely getting ready to go on vacation. They’re both doing what the boss said “get ready, we’re going on vacation”, but here’s what’s missing. The ultimate destination. And, because nobody was clear about the destination, lots of activity happened, but a good portion of it was wasted. Now, let’s say the ultimate destination (outcome, if you will) is Hawaii. Now, it becomes crystal clear that waxing the snowboard and packing winter sweaters and long johns is a wasted activity. And, filing the care with gas is wasting time and resources on an activity that will not get the team to the ultimate destination or outcome. And, the non-refundable airline ticket for Mexico was a bad choice as well.
If an activity seems like a waste of time, then one of two things is happening. One, the outcome isn’t clear. So the manager and employee should have a discussion to get clear. Or two, the destination or outcome is clear and the activity is in question. If the outcome is clear to both manager and employee, then the usefulness of the activity in question should also be clear to both parties. It all comes down to driving results. Not just filling time.
One of the obstacles I have run into in my current job is that when I challenge the “busy work” I am labeled “not a team player.” I always am professional when I express these ideas and usually suggest an alternate, but it has gotten so bad that I have gotten poor ratings on my “professionalism” aspect of my performance reviews. The long and short of this is that my manager is not a reasonable person and considers any question an insult to his authority and/or intelligence, and he will see you as disloyal. I learned this the hard way after a transfer from a part of the company that valued ideas. I am at a complete loss as to how to A) get my manager to give me clear and specific goals and B) how to value the imput of his worker bees.
Persephone K - Unfortunately there are some really bad managers out there. A manager who considers your (valid) questions a threat to his authority or intelligence is not only hurting his employees but hurting the business. The company is paying you to produce results, and it is the manager’s job to make goals and expectations clear and measurable. But, of course you know that. Everyone on the team, including you, have every right to want clarity. Would your manager give everyone on the team poor ratings on professionalism if everyone on the team demanded clarity? Perhaps goal clarity and measurement could be a topic in the next all-team meeting. That way, no one person is singled out. Good luck!
You see it is really difficult to find out what part of my job I can get rid of and nobody would miss it. From my point of view any aspect of my job is important for the whole work process and good results