Freedom at Work: A Maverick Hangout with Jody Thompson

I mentioned earlier that the two companies mentioned in the original article GAP had increased their stock very little since ROWE and Best Buy was up %300 percent in the absence of ROWE and in yesterday's talk it was suggested that Yahoo was going in the opposite direction or ROWE and yet their stock is up over 100% percent since Marissa Myers took over. Not an altogether bad record for taking the opposite approach.

In the absence of similar results tied directly to ROWE, I suspect the sale of ROWE is going to be an uphill battle. One of the biggest challenges I see is that management has not been prepared to articulate the specificity required to measure results as clearly as ROWE would need. I suspect that in the end many will conclude that the actual management required to make ROWE work is exponentially higher than what is encountered today.

Time will tell, I'm skeptical, there's too much human nature within management working against the ROWE theory. Time will tell.

At our company ( 60000 people) we have a lot of freedom (work time, location, communication across hierarchies etc.). People get very early a lot of responsibility and freedom. What we sometimes observe is that not everybody is aware of the fact that the own freedom ends where the freedom of other people starts and that trust, commitment, inner rules or guidelines, self-discipline, clear responsibilities, values and ethics have to be very mature and developed parts within people that finally all people feel free and treated in fair way. So some managers and colleagues have to encourage and develop the expected behavior by facilitating very open and sometimes very intense discussions.
In a nutshell: Freedom is should be the starting point but everybody has to demonstrate every day that she/ he is handling the freedom in a responsible way and for the sake of the team/ department / company. The more freedom (no external rules) people have the more internal rules are necessary – if you want to get results in a social system. So if we want to discuss the topic in a serious way we have to be careful about the often underlying naive notion of “Now I can do everything and I do it my way and that I will have fun!” The last financial crisis has shown what freedom without any (internal and external) rules, values etc. can cause. So to talk about the different maturity levels regarding freedom of people/ teams/ a company or even a society is key for a social system which set freedom first.

Hi Polly
Thanks for your note - we do leadership mindset and behaviour change all over the world and you can see more at our web site www.ComplexAdaptiveLeadership.com. A lot of leadership development is based on philosophy (e.g. its right to enable freedom etc) - we base our approach on science and maths - (eg enabling freedom when things are complex is a necessity not a nicety!). Good luck with the hangout and will try to make it
Best
Nick

Apologies if this has already been asked/addressed: Interested to know how ROWE might work for Tech Support/call centre folks. I'm trying to move a Proj Mtg (hahaha) at 11 to fit this hangout, so hopefully will be here.

Love the concept and it will take a catalyst of this nature to provide a gathering point for action orientated leaders who know the world has changed, yet many business leaders and organisations have not. We will be building an organisation based on a similar philosophy and practices, in a regulated sector in the UK. We will change the way the sector works, starting with setting up a company built around enabling our customer facing people to do what is right, in their collective eyes, in real time. Biggest challenge we see so far? Us :)

Hi Jody
Really looking forward to tomorrow's Hangout. I work very much to ROWE principles, initially because my severe mental illness means I have very erratic functioning, and once I'd discovered ROWE (thanks to my pal Henry Stewart - leadership guru and author of Happy Manifesto), because it makes so much sense! Knowing that this super-flexible way of working has business legitimacy and isn't just a sop to my illness has been fantastic for my morale and identity. Thank you!!

My question is how ROWE principles can be used with staff who do have a genuine need to keep certain hours. In our case, we work with mental health ward staff and everyone keeping to the rota is crucial to ensure the right staff are on duty at the right time. Is ROWE mainly applicable to time-irrelevant work like many office roles etc?

Many thanks

marion

Understanding the Managing v Leading relationship is essential. Managers deal with complexities whilst Leaders deal with change. Like a bike ...... Managers build it ... Leaders steer it. Few decision makers at senior level can, or should, do both.

The article is great and I agree with the notion and details, but I have 2 objections.
1. Jody said "The basic principle: people can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Period."
I think two restrictions must apply.
The first is that people's actions must be alligned with the vision and mission of the organization.
The second and most important is that people's actions MUST be moral and ethical.

2. Jody said: "Freedom is not a luxury, it’s not a privilege to be granted from on high. It’s a basic right of all working adults."
Aristotle's described the difference between citizen and slave: Citizen is the person who can take her own decisions. Slave is the person who can't.
Therefore, Freedom should be a priviledge gained when you realize that the person is able to assume responsibility for her decisions.

Thank you again for the great insight.

You may also be interested in reading my latest paper, “Can People Really be Managed?” http://www.unmanagement.com/work/can-people-really-be-managed/ , published by the International Journal of Commerce and Management. Abstract: Provides practical suggestions in how to move an organization from an environment of structure and compliance to one reliant on emergence and individual commitment.

I do not agree with the premise "Management Sucks"; Inappropriate management may; but not the real,appropriate and creative management, never. Creative management does not suck, it is empowering and always fresh. Having said that, I propose a new title, "Why management is awesome?" and go on to clarify, we need more tools than the organization chart, budgets, head counts to administer "management" and to bring about ROWE or any other novel approaches, without compromising the traditional management maxims we need sophisticated synchronizing mechanisms such as those available through silent-offices ( http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2i6mq/SilentOfficeforevery/resources/in...! ) Future proofing management is a worth while goal be it at an organizational level, community level or even at the global level.

I don't like the concept that freedom is a right, but I do like freedom and have always sought it in my career. But freedom only works if there is accountability. So I am interested in how Jody creates accountability. The market economy gives every participant freedom. Accountability is achieved because each participant in the economy must win the support of a variety of stakeholders in order to survive - employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers, etc.

So ROWE will probably work inside an organisation if you can create the same sense of accountability to the internal (and external) stakeholders.

I'd appreciate some discussion and insight as to how externally imposed standards can be integrated into a ROWE-based approach? My organisation is funded by a Government agency determined by delivery against a framework into which we have minimal input. My instinct is that as long as people fully understand this and are then given the freedom to deliver to those standards in any way they choose, then it should be compatible. Also, what is the approach towards individuals who don't perform in the ROWE system?

Unleashing freedom and maintaining control is not a philosophical "either/or" its a scientific "both/and". Its a mistake to see employee freedom and management control as two opposites. The trick is to understand when control is needed and how it can be managed and that freedom can enable more effective control. Self-control is often more powerful and effective than system-induced control. Sadly will miss the miss the hangout as running a workshop enabling leaders to let go more and thus get more done in a more controlled way!

I'm a European HR function leader and identify with a lot of the messages here, excessive control stifles creativity and creates poor leaders who micro manage people. We are currently embarking on significant culture & org change. I would appreciate any guidance or thoughts on how we could best evolve a freedom empowered based culture, and how we can overcome the more controlling based instincts of my leadership colleagues whose functional backgrounds will lead them to favour a more control based approach particularly in context of need to contain costs.

Is ROWE an option for all companies and positions?, do the culture of the country or region affects its implementation? How can ROWE be applied in a shared service center?, what kind of performance appraisal model is best for ROWE?

I feel that a wholesome environment wherein people are at peace positively and can work with their passion and pride is what is required . Freedom is just a component along with that a sense of direction and maybe some good daily habits are important to be track .

Having been a manager for over 20 years in various guises and at various levels, I have a huge amount of concordance with what you're saying here Polly/Judy. Call it blind faith, business naivety or just an intuition, I know this is right. I am less bothered about FTSE/NASDAQ prices (which in themselves feel based on inexact and speculative sciences) and more bothered about what work feels like in 2013 and beyond. There's so much of what we are all about at work, which feels rooted in a bygone era.

To say we can't / couldn't / won't change - even one step at a time - is what's keeping us here.

It's because of that I agree with Jim we need to ask the question "what's going to shift the dial and prove once and for all there is a better way for work?" Some definition of a case study would be useful. Increasingly through we see lots of thought leadership, articles, blogs and the MiX/CIPD ventures of this ilk, so there's a lot of people out there who want to and believe that this kind of change is needed.

I look forward to joining this hangout.

Vive l'evolution.

I'm not certain that a handful of companies experimenting with a new management process for a few months represents a successful change. Especially when you reference Best Buy's CEO canceling ROWE. Their stock has risen nearly 300% since they stopped ROWE. What message does that send.

You mention GAP; in one of the best markets we've seen in years, their stock is down 20% in the last four months
Therefor the question for the up coming Why Management Sucks discussion is: what constitutes a successful "progressive case study"?