We don’t just preach about the joys of a Results-Only Work Environment. We live them every day. And so we’d like to offer a story of our own ROWE.  As we mentioned before, we’re currently working on the ROWE Launch Kit: Office Edition, a tool we’re creating so teams, departments and organizations can transform their workplace from one that focuses on time and physical presence, to one that focuses only on results. To make this happen, we have assembled a team of writers, designers, manufacturers, project managers and so forth. The expectation is that they will drive outcomes on their own, without constant supervision, or scheduled check-ins, or tons of meetings.

Of course, we still meet. But meetings work a little differently in a ROWE, where one of the rules (we call them Guideposts) is that Every Meeting is Optional. Last Friday, we called a meeting to review some materials from the printer. What happened will give you an idea of a ROWE in action.

1. The entire Kit team was invited, but not everyone came. Key people (designer, creative director, etc.) showed up because they knew their input was essential. We trusted them to recognize this fact, and they came through. In a ROWE, people treat the business as their own. You don’t have to mark the meeting “mandatory.” People are adults. They get it.

2. We covered for the people who didn’t make it. Even though the project manager wasn’t there, that didn’t mean that we didn’t cover project management issues. When those points came up, another member of the team stepped up and filled that role. A ROWE naturally creates this kind of cross-functional performance. I fill in for you at this meeting, because I know you’ll fill in for me the next time I’m not present.

3. Some people stayed for the whole hour; others didn’t. The outcome of the meeting was to finalize color and proofread some content. The designer was only responsible for the color, so once that was done, he left. The rest of us stayed for another 45 minutes. When design issues came up later in the meeting, we handled it the same as we did with the project management issues. The team figured it out. What we couldn’t figure out we put in an e-mail to the designer, who answered our questions later that day. If it were something urgent, we could have called him. He has a phone.

4. No one questioned where the missing people were. We were getting results. Period. What does it accomplish to gossip about the whereabouts of the “missing” team members?

5. We had fun. Because we don’t meet as often, or have as many meetings, the meetings we have are productive and fun. No one in that coffee shop had sat through four pointless, overly long meetings already that day. Everyone was cheerful, rested and fresh.

Every Meeting is Optional does not mean that no one meets anymore. Or that no one cares. In fact, anyone walking past our table would have looked at us and thought, “Oh, they’re having a perfectly ordinary, everyday, normal business meeting.”

With one small difference.

None of us looked like we’d rather be dead.

We read this story in the Los Angeles Times about banning laptops in meetings with our faces scrunched up. Do managers really “remove chairs and force people to stand” and “get everyone to drink a glass of water beforehand” to make their meetings more effective? Was the author of the piece being sarcastic when he called these solutions “innovative”?

We empathize to a point.

Managers are “[f]rustrated by workers so plugged in that they tuned out in the middle of business meetings.” And that sucks.

But you know what also probably sucks?

Those managers’ meetings.

Here’s a tip for people who are having a hard time with people not paying attention: have your meetings be necessary. People aren’t stupid. If you are wasting their time, then they will tune you out. If you aren’t wasting their time, then they will give you their attention.

And don’t think that taking away the technology will solve the problem. The mind is a powerful tool. Employees may not be able to “tune out” without their laptops, but they can always think about sex and food.

First, a big thanks to the growing number of readers who are coming to this site and spending more and more time here. We’re happy to have you. We see this topic as a dialog and your questions, comments and even outright objections are not only welcomed but desired.

With that in mind, we’d like to respond to one of the comments to last Friday’s post about workplace rudeness. Tim! asks, “If we have a team meeting and I ask everyone to be in the office by noon and one guy shows up at 12:30 thus wasting everyone’s time, isn’t that also rude?”

We have to admit we are a bit conflicted as to how to answer. We don’t like jerks anymore than the next person, but part of the definition of rudeness has to do with violating social norms.  And, in the case of workplace and time, we feel the norms are the problem, less so people’s individual behavior.

Is a person who keeps their coworkers waiting rude? Yes. At the same time, we feel that when managers create a culture of fear around time, they are selling their people, their business and themselves short. Chewing someone out for being late might make them less likely to be late the next time, but it isn’t going to motivate them to perform better. You’re also sending a message to the rest of the team that time is more important than results.

Furthermore, by making it personal you’re missing out on an opportunity to talk about outcomes. In a ROWE, when  managers are having problems with an employee’s performance, they focus on the work, not on the employee’s use of time, their personal work style, or their “lack of dedication”.

So to all you managers out there: the next time you’re having problems with a late employee, take a deep breath, remind yourself that it’s not personal - it’s business - and talk to that employee about the outcomes they need to drive. Focus on time and you’ll get punctuality. Focus on results and you’ll get performance.