Company culture is a reflection of the MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) of the CEO, or the founding team in a startup. It typically isn’t a product of HR, and it certainly isn’t created and implemented by a couple of HR types in stealth mode—until now.

But that’s just what’s been happening at giant Best Buy since 2003.

The program is called ROWE (results-only work environment) and was conceived of, and developed by, HR mangers Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler, who recognized that the main thing that “presence” and “productivity” have in common is that they both start with a “p.”

Since the idea of telecommuting surfaced, nearly 25 years ago, there has always been tremendous resistance by managers, based in fear, to the idea that people can be productive outside of the boss’ sight. This is well summed up by the attitude of the general manager of BestBuy.com, senior vice-president J. T. Thompson, “who was privately terrified about the loss of control” when he first heard about ROWE. The difference is that Thompson dealt with his fear, took the risk, and is reaping the reward.

How big a reward? “Best Buy notes that productivity is up an average 35% in departments that have switched to ROWE. Employee engagement, which measures employee satisfaction and is often a barometer for retention, is way up too, according to the Gallup Organization, which audits corporate cultures.”

In fact, ROWE is a subculture, possible only because of the overall culture fostered by CEO Brad Anderson, who encourages “bottom-up, stealth innovation.” Anderson and his team believe in ROWE so much that “they have formed a subsidiary called CultureRx, to help other companies go clockless.”

If you want, or are developing, a remote work function in your own company, remember that you can adopt best practices, tweak them for your company, announce and promote them, but if your MAP doesn’t support them the results will range from blah to dismal.

To avoid that, first answer these questions

• Can you deal with the fear of letting go/loss of control?
• Is your self esteem tied to the visible number of your reports or to what they accomplish?
• Do you believe that what’s important is that the work gets done well, not where or how it happens?
• Do you equate visible body count to your power within the company.
• Do you believe that people are intelligent, motivated and really care about their company’s success, OR that they are stupid, lazy, don’t care and that you need to watch them every minute if anything is going to get done?
• Being brutally honest with yourself—How much of a micromanager are you?

Next, modify your MAP as desired. However, when considering the rest of the management team, remember that although MAP can be changed, those changes must originate internally and can’t be forced on someone else.

Then lay out your plan and go for it!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 11:36 am and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Hiring, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: rowe
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