Three Things You Can Do To Be More ROWE
July 28th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
1. Listen for Sludge
At first, you’ll hear the obvious Sludge. You’ll hear the nasty comment from a coworker (”How nice of you to join us today!”) and you’ll recognize it as Sludge. The longer and more intently you listen for Sludge, the more you’ll start to hear all of the subtle Sludge that is all around you.
For example, let’s say you promise to get somebody something “by close of business today.” Is that Sludge?
It is. It’s not as demoralizing as the nasty comment, but the idea of “close of business” does just as much work reinforcing the status quo.
How can you have “close of business” in a 24/7 global economy? And why are you assuming that the person you’re delivering the goods to will be “at work” at that time? And what if by turning it in at midnight you would do a better job? Shouldn’t that be on the table?
The point is that even if you feel like you understand Sludge now, there is always more you can learn. A big part of making ROWE the future is deepening your knowledge about what is holding us back now.
2. Stop Sludging
Just as you’ll get more sophisticated in hearing Sludge, you will start to hear nuances in your own language. As your knowledge of the ins and outs of the traditional work environment become more sophisticated, you can continue to work on eliminating Sludge from your own daily speech.
3. Be forgiving of other people’s Sludge
The culture is changing, but it’s not going to happen overnight. One of the great things about adopting a ROWE mindset is that it frees you from the stress and guilt of the traditional work environment.
The downside of having a ROWE mindset is that you might start hearing Sludge everywhere and all the time, and find yourself wishing that more people thought like you. Be patient. If people keep standing up for results, this change will come, even if everyone doesn’t arrive at exactly the same time.
I don’t see a promise to complete something by close of business as sludge. It is an expression. I had a boss who used “by COB” for deadlines. In that context, he meant that he needed it before he was in the next day. He was one where it was always a good idea to ask a few clarifying questions when getting an assignment. (This is always a good idea, no matter who you are working with.)
Here are some examples of clarifying questions.
- When do you need this by?
- Is this more important that x?
- I can finish that by x-date. Is that OK?
- How much work do you want me to put into this?
I have found that these kind of requests usually weren’t fire drills. Once we had some additional discussion around clarifying questions, I had a better idea of what was expected and my boss had a better idea of how this request fit into everything I was doing. We have to be careful that Sludge Sophistication doesn’t become a new form of political correctness.
Thanks, C&J!
“The downside of having a ROWE mindset is that you might start hearing Sludge everywhere and all the time, and find yourself wishing that more people thought like you. Be patient. If people keep standing up for results, this change will come, even if everyone doesn’t arrive at exactly the same time.”
INDEED>>> But worth it.
The “close of business” discussion hit home a bit; I used that phrase in an email a couple weeks ago, asking for information from several people. What I meant was what Mike’s boss meant - I needed information in order to complete a project with a deadline the following afternoon.
Maybe I could have been explicit about the project’s timeline, and left it to the others to figure out how to help me succeed. -h
@Mike - thanks for your thoughts. We did use an advanced form of Sludge for this example…one that makes you think a little more. There are other forms of much more obvious Sludge that will work their way out of the system first, but then it will be time to rid ourselves of these more subtle forms…
@Howie - ah yes, you’ve got it. Be more explicit about timelines and outcomes and then trust your co-workers/team to deliver. We often think we’re communicating what we mean by using language that’s been around for decades, but taking a step back to ensure we’re setting ourselves and our co-workers up for success is critical.
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