I put together and did a speech to a local group on a very interesting book I found at the library. It caught my attention right off the bat because the cover exclaims... WORK SUCKS! Indeed, many can identify with this... so my compliments to the one's who thought the title up. The book discusses a new type of management technique. Much like the one discussed by General Paul Van Riper in my previous post. A working environment where the employees are only responsible for their results. Results Only Work Environment, ROWE for short. The founding fathers called it freedom...but hey... copyright laws and such... you know the drill.
This book was released several years ago and although it does have real examples of success, it does have a huge hill to climb because most businesses have become archaic top down organizations where independent thought is frowned upon and effective leadership is rarely recognized.
This is certainly a tough sell in those environments, where trust isn't even considered an option let alone possible. This has been expressed in several blogs but I like this particular one, written by Lance Haun and entitled 'ROWE is dead and I am sad'. Mr. Haun writes that there's three reasons why ROWE is hard to implement in most businesses: 1. HR doesn't trust the managers or the employees; 2. Manager's don't trust their employees; 3. Managing by results scares everyone. So essentially he feels the typical working environment is one of little trust and lots of fear. I'd say from my experience... he's right on! He does admit however that some forward thinking business with enough motivation to compete will eventually implement ROWE. Ah! An opportunity!!
There's another blog rather critical of the approach the Work Sucks book takes. This one is titled Why ROWE Sucks! I'd highly reccommend reading it. It provides links to some other alternative methods on implementing a very similar idea. He talks about several 37signal's 'Getting Real' and David Allen's 'Getting Things Done'. As well as some other pertinent links.
And yet another one... working on the FARM.
I've battled in organizations trying to change for the better over my professional career on many occasions. I can say without a doubt, change that doesn't come from the top... usually means failure. I studied lean manufacturing with the idea of implementing those ideas into Construction. I've read the Change Agent's Handbook. And I have had successes... but the cost in my time and effort was so great that I learned very quickly that if I wanted a life, I better just get with the program or leave... so I left... eventually. This does reiterate Mr. Haun's belief. But, as with all great things... they usually start small. And we all know 70% of all jobs come from small businesses. Ah Ha! ... we have an idea and we have a location!
We have a target! The bottom line is... this is an amazing opportunity. Businesses and managers that can take the leap will gain, will profit and will succeed like they never dreamed before. It might not happen tomorrow but indeed it will happen eventually. There's no doubt there's a learning curve... but when the Japanese implemented Lean Manufacturing when American auto manufactures said it was impossible... they only figured it out when MIT did a study and found that the Japanese could build a better car with 15 man hours, when it took the average American car company 32!
I'll leave you with some more Gen. Paul Van Riper. He's referring to "non-linear systems" effectively the same concept. Giving your subordinates a task... you need to give them a purpose and why. (Code word: Results) They will self-organize. A million dollar organizational tool. Task...in order to...Purpose.
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