Can flexible workplaces change the way we do business? This question was recently explored during a mid-morning discussion on Minnesota Public Radio.

Best Buy and The Gap are no strangers to a results-only workplace environment, or ROWE, and progressively more companies are discovering the benefits of this type of arrangement. Rather than placing emphasis on such particulars as when and where employees do their work, the focus is on employee results. And, big surprise, it turns out that workers are actually happier, more productive and loyal to their employers under a ROWE model.

But regardless of the many benefits, there are managers out there who are resistant to dipping even a toe in ROWE waters. Perhaps it's because flexibility of time and place alters the makeup of a traditional manager's raison d'tre, which is to see with his own eyes that employees are toiling away at their desks.

But whether or not these industrious employees are actually working on work-work at their desks seems secondary to their proximity to said desks. Employees who look busy might not be working at all, but instead busily tending virtual farms, intently checking team scores or absorbed in the latest online issue of their favorite magazine. Even so, settling into a desk at the designated time appears to trump the relevance of results. Quite frankly, in some work environments, it's less about working and more about keeping up appearances.

This could explain why the notion of results-only is considered by some to be a radical shift from the traditional workplace model. Of course, it certainly shouldn't be. It seems silly to even have to write that. Employees are hired for a particular job with the expectation that they will, in fact, get the job done efficiently and effectively.

I've had my share of jobs that were bound by firm start and end times, but the job functions themselves weren't inherently tied to a particular time of day. And the tasks I was hired to do - writing, editing, proofreading and researching - were definitely not bound by place. Even so, there was no doubt that I was expected to be present and ostensibly working from start time to end time.

I don't want to shock anyone, so brace yourselves: Looking busy is a workplace strategy employed by many workers in every conceivable industry. It's just shocking, I know. And some people are true masters of this workplace deception, though it seems that avoiding work just becomes another form of work that issues forth its own unique strain of workplace stress.

Pretending to be busy just to satisfy the clock and a narrow-minded manager really is a colossal waste of precious time -- and not just the company's. We workers have just a finite amount of time here on earth. Why squander the best parts of our days looking busy? I have no doubt that focusing on workplace minutia rather than on results, accountability and productivity has made many managers into pricy babysitters and many employees into toddlers who need constant supervision to make sure they're coloring within the lines.

Experts suggest that a ROWE model increases overall productivity because it intensifies an employee's relationship with work in that they feel a far greater sense of ownership and control over their work, and therefore, a greater accountability to producing desirable results. Or maybe they just feel all grown up.

Does your team or company work in a ROWE model? What have been your experiences with it?

Photo Credit: wbaiv

Welcome to 2011 and the new decade. Hurrah...a new start, spring will be here soon, it's time to strip away the old and open ourselves to new possibilities - and then return to the same old same old life as a workshifter. January, of course, is a time for making our New Year's Resolutions and then promptly begin breaking them.

The "78% will fail" statistic comes from research by Richard Wiseman, who does some interesting research debunking many of the claims made in the personal development field. According to Wiseman, many of the 78% in his research group failed because they had focused on what would happen if they didn't achieve their resolution and tried to do get there by willpower alone. Personally, I avoid being in the 78% category by not setting any resolutions!

Here's 3 reasons why people fail with New Year's Resolutions, and what works better:

Resolution Challenge #1: Cold Weather

January, for those in the Northern Hemisphere in particular, is a month of cold, grey, short days and one that follows a month of excess, merriment and celebrations. It's the prime "Cold Turkey" month - an image which conjures supreme acts of will in withdrawing from addictive substances, most of which will result in failure. Not really a proper environment to promote the best chances of success!

What works better: If you've already tried a resolution and failed already, shift your focus instead onto developing a Theme for the year ahead. Choose one word or a short phrase (up to 3 words) that represents the overall direction you want to take your life this year. My theme this year is "Simplify". I may not fully achieve it, but by having this one goal at the front of my consciousness, I'll strive to simplify daily and I'll be more aware (and, as a result, find it easier to make adjustments), when I over-complicate my life, which I tend to do on a frequent basis!

In short: Ditch the resolution and pick up a theme for 2011.

Resolution Challenge #2: Being Overambitious

People have a tendency to make large, difficult to achieve resolutions that don't afford the demands of everyday life. Remember that you don't live in a vacuum. For example, it's not easy to lose 2KGs weight when, like most people, you're probably leading a full and busy life. If you are a celebrity with a personal chef, then you're all sorted!

What works better: Look at your life and what's realistic and plan according to this. Break your resolution or goal into baby steps. One step at a time. And just because you stumble in your baby steps (as you will), it doesn't actually mean that you're doomed to failure! Just get up and try again!

In short: Be realistic, get support, take baby steps and keep on trying!

Resolution Challenge #3: Failing to Plan

Rarely do people plan how they will achieve our resolutions or goals. Nor do they consider "What might prevent me from succeeding in this resolution?" or "What might go wrong and what will I do if that happens?" and "What will I put in place to support me?"

What works better: Keep a diary of your goal progress. Ask yourself why you want to achieve this, what it will bring you and brainstorm as many ideas as you can of ways to get there. Don't make goals or resolutions with out thought! Ensure you've got good support and accountability structures in place (Coaches are good for this. There's one writing to you right now!).

In short: Treat your resolution or goal as a project, not just a sentence. Remember that boring old adage: "Failing to plan is planning to fail"!

Photo Credit: Jeff Hester

2011 is in full swing. How are your new year's resolutions going? My guess is you are kicking butt and taking names. The key is for this to be the same answer after a week, a month, and six months from now.

Many of the workshifters I interact with regularly all made resolutions this year. The top three were to be more productive, get in better shape (hey, round is a shape), or become better organized. There are many more worthy and valiant choices.

This post isn't about how to do any of those things. It is about how to follow through and stay faithful to your resolutions. Here are three simple and practical steps.

One: Don't make resolutions. They are like rules that are meant to be broken and they usually are. Shift your mind. Start calling them goals or objectives. Doing this will make them more tangible and actionable. We are all accustomed to reaching goals whereas resolutions seem idealistic and ethereal.

Two: Stay in the Present. Nothing challenges the development of new habits like thinking about the long road ahead or worse, past failures. When you stay focused daily, moving towards your goals, you have greater success. It is what you do daily that ultimately decides your success or failure.

Three: Be Accountable. There is strength in numbers. It is lonely flying solo. Find at least one other person and form an accountability team. It doesn't have to be formal, complete with meetings and funny hats. It can just be a few other folks traveling a similar journey who you can lean on during the tough times and celebrate with during the successes.

If you follow these steps I believe you will find success in making your new year's resolutions goals stick. The final thread you need to weave through all of the steps is grace. Give yourself a break if you slip up or fail a time or two. You are changing habits that you have been ingrained and practiced for years. Enjoy the journey and this will be your year.

Photo Credit: Jeff Golden

Recent research shows than 70% of the workforce is not engaged. They're either wandering around in a fog or actively undermining their co-workers' success. They're burned out, disenfranchised, and over 80% are ready to jump ship.

Eyeing the end of the recession, employees are no longer happy just to have a job. Boomers who haven't already made their exit are anticipating it. Gen X-ers watched their workaholic parents collapse under the strain, and aren't about to make the same mistakes. Gen Y-ers grew up independent, tech savvy, and were taught to question authority. Now they're questioning their employers.

This is not your father's workforce.

What employees of all age groups want is the flexibility to determine for themselves where, when, and how they work.

But how do you know they're working if you can't see them? That question, and the fact that it's asked so often, points to a real problem with management today. Whether your employees are down the hall or thousands of miles away, if you're not measuring by results, you really don't know who's working and who isn't.

In his bestselling book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink observes that despite four decades of scientific research on human motivation, there's an immense mismatch between what science knows and what management does. "While carrots and sticks worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people today," writes Pink.

When managers buy into the concept that results are what matter, and integrate it with a flexible work environment, it opens the door to a cascade of benefits. It's been shown to:

• Save companies between $10,000 to $20,000 per employee a year by lowering real estate, turnover, and absenteeism costs and increasing employee productivity
• Reduce company/employee carbon footprint and fuel usage
• Attract the best and the brightest, regardless of where they live
• Engage workers who would otherwise not be available (e.g. caregivers, part-timers, the disabled, military spouses, retirees)
• Improve continuity of operations
• Increase staffing efficiencies
• Save employees thousands of dollars a year in commuting costs
  

Demographic, cultural, economic, and technological realities have forever changed the nature of work. Thought leaders agree, companies that don't understand that results are what matter will be left in the dust behind those that have.

Results-based management is no longer just an HR tactic. When deployed as the foundation for letting people work where, when, and how they work best, it's a winning business strategy for today's global, mobile market.

For more on why and how to make results-based management work for your organization, download this Citrix GoToMeeting-sponsored whitepaper: Results-Based Management--The Key to Unlocking Talent and Increasing Productivity.

I'm staring down the barrel of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  Depending on your religious preference, you can toss in a few more holidays too.  

It's time for me to dust off last year's goals and see how I'm doing.  

Here's a list of a few of my personal goals, followed by some bad habits I'm looking to break.

2010 Goals

1. Effective time management, planning and focus
2. Creating high value content at outposts such as Flickr, YouTube, etc.
3. Family Time
4. Speaking gigs
5. Reading
6. Charity
7. Fitness

....you get the point.  I'm doing well on some, and not as well on others.  Looking back, my goals were reasonable but I carried forward some bad habits that slowed me down.  

Bad Habits to Break in 2011

1. Waiting till the last minute to book travel: For example, book your holiday travel between September 30th and October 15th.
2. Read a book a month: A good reading goal is not the completion of the book, but put putting the principles into action.
3. Scheduling meetings to end on the hour: Give your attendees 5 or 10 minutes to dust themselves before their next meeting.
4. Checking email and social networks too frequently: Dedicate an hour in the morning for email and social networks.  Allot 3 to 4 times during the day to connect for 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Eating once or twice a day: Eat healthy every three to four hours.
6. It's all about me: Publicly recognizing the work of other people, even those not in your industry
7. Social Irresponsibility: Weave in a charitable component into your work at every opportunity. 

While these are not all of my bad habits, I chose the ones that seem to have the most universal appeal.  This isn't a post about how to set goals, lots has been written, and since it's September, lots more is about to be written.

The point is to look at what is holding you back from achieving your personal and professional objectives.  In my view, the majority of the blockers are self inflicted.  In 2011 I'm going to place less emphasis on how to set goals.  The focus will be on removing the self imposed distractions which act like "detour" signs.  The signs seem to lead to complacency.

To be honest, it's easier not to work out, eat once or twice a day and check email.  It probably feels easier until you look back at the last nine months and wonder where all the time went.  I think that writing down your bad habits, and looking at them as blockers, help to reframe the conversation.  If you're driving from point A to point B, you light up your GPS and swiftly move around traffic jams, accidents, road closures, etc.  No matter what, you get to your destination.  Pretend like your goals are a destination you're driving towards.  Swiftly remove the blockers and by week's end, month's end, year's end, you'll get there.

What say you?

Photo Credit: duncan

How you delegate work is critical to the successful execution of your goals.  Workshifters can be at a disadvantage if they work through others, or rely on people not within their control. You need to persuade people to do a task which is in your interest and moves you closer to the successful completion of your project. 

In many cases, what I find is that people are asking for favors instead of asking for deadlines.  The basis of a favor relies on the relationship, and the burden.  This is extremely limiting. If you lack a personal connection or a mutually shared objective, the foundation of your request is weak.  If you're successful in getting the person to accept your request, they still don't have a burden, or skin in the game.  If they don't deliver, they can play the same personal-connection favor-card that you just lobbed at them.  It would go something like this, "...so sorry, I just couldn't get to your really important thing, because my really important thing took priority."

Now flip this.  Using that same charismatic demeanor, simply ask for a hard deadline.  You've convinced Jack or Jill that your project has merit and is of value.  Now, don't just lead with please, finish with a hard date for completion.  They won't be offended; in fact, this helps them as much as it helps you.  You can both sync your calendars and set realistic deadlines and milestones.  You won't' be bugging this person with endless emails asking about your project, and they will be able to prioritize the work along with their other priorities.  In the end, there is accountability, and you are both more efficient.

Do you ask for more favors than deadlines?

Photo Credit: energeticspell

Today's post is from Maren Kate, an entrepreneur who blogs about starting a small business, living extraordinarily and escaping the 9 to 5.

I always hear the stand by "You shouldn't live to work, instead work to live". It's true, I guess, but it always confused me because I truly love what I do, so I have no interest in just working to live, instead I love to work. Now to some this is a sign of workaholicism - but I disagree. I feel like calling productivity a disease is kind of silly in the first place - I mean if you love what you do, are happy and not only aren't hurting anyone but you're adding to the world - how can that be wrong? It's like saying that Mother Teresa was a compassionaholic or that someone who loves to write day in and day out is a proseaholic. So loving-work-aholics, unite, it's our time to shine and to show the world that work doesn't always have to be tedious and with a little creativity & persistence it can actually be one of the best parts of your life.

How to Love What You Do

1. Do you do what you love?

It's a basic concept. If you hate numbers and you work as an accountant you're going to hate your job and most probably your life. If you love writing and you work as a blogger you're going to enjoy life and feel as if you're job adds value to your overall existence. So ask yourself, if I could do anything in the world & get paid a decent wage for it - what would I do? Then figure out a way, come hell or high water, to do just that.

2. Don't get mired in the things you hate within your business.

Too often entrepreneurs start a business based around what they love, but within a few months are hating their lives. The problem is that instead of doing what they love in their business they've tried to become everything to everyone. Thus the artist starts balancing the books, making sales calls and learning HTML when all she wanted to do was paint. Make sure that when you start a business you either A. love the admin side of things or B. find someone who can do that for you while you focus on what you love and are great at.

3. Love where you work.

I had a job as a receptionist over summer break when I was 18. It wasn't a hard job and for the most part I liked the answering phones and filing a bit, but I went home every night crying. Why? Because I hated (with a capital H) where I worked. It was a window-less, cubicle, cell of death, nothing but white walls surrounded me and the horrible lights above me made me literally ill. If I had been doing that same job next to a bright open window, with warm wood walls and a cool summer breeze blowing in - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded it at all. Loving where you work is incredibly important, especially when you are work shifting from a typical 9 to 5 into a career or business where you have freedom of location. Choose wisely, pay attention to your inner aesthetic needs and you'll find yourself 100 times more productive and happy at work.

Making the shift

Shifting from living to work to loving to work isn't an easy one, that's why so few people do it. Most people won't leave their comfort zones or force themselves to truly consider what they would be happy doing. Call it fear, call it negative self image, call it whatever you want - the point is that it's prevalent in our society. So to be different, will be difficult. But the pay off is oh, so worth it. Think of it this way - if you love to work you'll be 5 to 10 times more productive, easily. So you could cut your 8 hour work day into a few hours and still have the same results when you start loving your work vs. when you live to work you'll try to put off your work as long as possible. So you can slave away in a 9 to 5 for the next 30 years, living to work and not be very happy - or you could take a year to figure out what would really make you love to work and do that for a fraction of the time for probably the same, or more financial reward. When you love your work your whole world gets better!

Despite the mountain of data to support workshifting, many companies are challenged to get a viable workshifting program in place.  I believe it's because they are looking for a detailed road-map, and it's impractical to provide that level of detail.  

The reason, every business and every business culture are unique.  Yes, there are general similarities: employees, customers, revenue, and all the other obvious attributes of a sustainable business, but that's where much of the similarities end.  The common thread, no matter how diverse the business, is the intense desire from employees to workshift, and the willingness from management to learn how to make it happen.

The basic workshifting framework will help you develop the business case needed to roll out a pilot program.  


First, clearly define the objective and the problem that will be solved by implementing the program.  If you are not clear as to the value of the program, the organization will not be either.  

Next, define success and how it will be measured. Then identify the people and resources you'll need to make this happen.  As you identify people and resources, start to list the obstacles.  In other words, what are your blockers?

Once identified determine if the blockers are perceived or actual.  For example, do you know unequivocally that your organization values butt-in-seat time over all else? Sometimes the obstacle appears to loom large, but may only exist in the mind of a small handful of people.  If my example rings true with you, then you need to demonstrate productivity gains, improved real-estate efficiency, etc.

Next, identify a small group of employees that would like to participate in the program.  Once complete, you're ready to being socializing the pilot with the stakeholders.  Don't stop at socializing; you have to ask for the sale.  Get the thumbs up to green light the pilot.

It all sounds very tactical, but it's very important to remember to humanize the process.  Start the conversation with your peers.  Keep the dialogue moving and ask for honest, actionable feedback.  Ignore the trolls, every company has them.  

Create a groundswell in your organization.  Take responsibility for the outcome and make it happen.  Rolling out a workshifting program will be one of the most powerful statements a company will make to their employees.  It says, "I believe in your ability," above all else.

Nothing screams confidence more than a company's willingness to hand over the reins to the employees, and trust in their ability to achieve great results, irrespective of their physical location.  If you are the person that lead the charge, you are destined to become indispensable.

Quick List:

1.  Objective
2.  Success
3.  Resources
4.  Obstacles
5.  Volunteers
6.  Socialize
7.  Sell

In the spirit of collaboration, I encourage you to take this framework, build upon it, and share it.  My viewpoint is unique to my experience.  To make this meaningful and scalable for the community, add your experience and your voice

I've always related to those who dare to dream big. They come in many shapes and sizes, whether they are inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, or other professionals. Dreamers change the game and are the ones behind the curtain of all of today's biggest innovative movements - think mobile technology, alternative energy, and the internet (thanks Al Gore).

These daring individuals thrive in today's information age. Ground breaking technologies have equipped armies of collaborative communities with the tools they need to pump out valuable products, tools, services, and content. 

That's not to say that all dreamers create value. It's one thing to dream. To deliver on that dream is a whole different ball game.

It's the disciplined dreamers that deliver.

Disciplined dreamers don't make excuses. They don't care about the crappy economy or that they don't have any money. They don't care they're a small fish in a big ocean and that they don't have a wealth of experience. They just execute.

Commandments like "ship early and ship often" are the mantras of the disciplined dreamers. The people who wake up each day and do what's difficult are the ones who are the pioneers of progress. They're the ones who consistently work hard to create something out of nothing, and they're often the ones who get tagged as the "overnight success."

The sky's the limit.

I'm inspired by the innovators and influencers who are disciplined enough to follow their dreams. Innovation and ideation only spurs further growth and awakens more of the dormant dreamers. With this growing ecosystem of execution, the sky is the limit.

How about you? What's your dream?

Photo Credit: KayVee.INC

(from the girl who kissed a frog)

As a professional coach, if I was to write a job description for myself, one of the "essential" parts of the job that I would include would be this:  "Assist clients in making their dreams come true"

Recently, I took my sons to see Disney's new animated film, "The Princess and The Frog".  This was a film about making your dream come true, and it espoused some of the lessons that I teach my clients when helping them to define and achieve their own lifestyle dreams or goals.  The difference between a goal and a dream? Try this: A goal is a dream with a date on it.                 

I was enchanted by "The Princess and the Frog",  a modern day take on an old classic with the star an African American girl called Tiana from the poor end of town in New Orleans.  The messages within the movie were so delightfully presented and even better, they serve to illustrate my own three step process to achieving your lifestyle dreams.

Step one: "You gotta HAVE a dream!"
Tiana's dream is to own a restaurant.  She's had the vision since she was a little girl, helping her daddy to cook at home.  Tiana's father had a picture of a beautiful restaurant, full of smiling people and delicious looking food.  The restaurant is opulent, decorated with chandeliers, sweeping staircases and populated with smart besuited waiters.  He wrote on this picture "Tiana's Place".

Fast forward though the years and we see Tiana as a young woman.  She's still looking at that (now rather tattered) piece of paper with "Tiana's Place" written on it.  Every day when she comes home from work, she takes it out and looks at it and imagines how her restaurant will look.  With the help of Disney animation, we go off into Tiana's multi sensory experience of her dream - sights, sounds, smells.. We see what Tiana will be wearing, the food she'll be serving, the fame of the restaurant, the buzz of the place... it's VIVID.

I teach my clients to define their vision  i.e. their dream. You can do this in several ways.  Write "A day in the life of", collect pictures, write a vision statement out each morning and read it out.  The important thing is, like Tiana, to make your dream, your vision, as vivid as possible and to keep it in the forefront of your mind.  

You have to hold onto that vision, even when you don't believe you can achieve it.   On the hard days, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. On the hard days, it's even more important that you read it/look at it/write it/imagine it, even if you're doing it "by rote"

Step two:  Do something
Nothing in life happens without you taking action. A dream without action will remain a dream.  I'm not from the school of thought that says that things just come along in life without putting some effort in.  I'm one of those old git types who bemoan the fact that so many youngsters these days believe that a life of fame and fortune awaits them if they just queue up for an audition on X Factor.  Don't get me started on that...

Anyway, back to hard work!  We all know deep down that those "overnight successes" we hear about aren't actually overnight successes.  The successful person will invariably have worked for many years and tried many different things in order to achieve that success.

In The Princess and the Frog, we follow Tiana over the years working day shifts and night shifts in different restaurants as waitress and cook. She saves all her tips for the down payment on the derelict building that features as the setting for her restaurant dream. We see her collapsing on her bed each night after looking at her precious picture of "Tiana's Place".  Whilst all of her friends are out having a good time, Tiana never stops working towards her dream, knowing that every shift at the diner, every cent in tips, is moving her closer towards that down payment.

Step three:  Let go
I preach balance in all things.  As Oscar Wilde said:"Everything in moderation, including moderation!" (Actually, that probably doesn't illustrate balance, but I love that quote and I've always wanted to use it!)

Tiana, as our heroine, has a fatal flaw (as all heroines must at some point in the story).  Her fatal flaw is that she doesn't work in moderation, she works to excess.  Tiana never lets her hair down, goes out with her friends or lets up from working towards her dream.

Then she meets her antithesis in Prince Naseem, who represents everything she's not: loucheness, extravagance, fun and drifting through life without any direction at all.  Naseem asks her to dance and she tells him that she can't dance; she's been too busy working hard to achieve her dream to learn to dance.

Naturally, as the movie nears its dénouement (I don't think I'll spoil the ending  here -it's Disney, so it's obviously not going to be a sad ending), Tiana has to give up on her dream and it looks as if it's all going to hell in a handcart.  As soon as she lets go of that neediness and that single minded drive towards her dream and accepts life as it is, that's when the Disney magic happens!  Tiana achieves her dream, of course.  To find out how and what happens to her along the way, you'll have to go and see the film yourself!

John Lennon said: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."  Too right John!  We have to live each moment of our lives now, and the more we can find happiness and joy in the life we are living today, the more space we create for the magic to happen to us.  


So, in summary, your three steps to achieving your dream, from the girl who kissed a frog, are:

1. Define your lifestyle dream in vivid Disney Technicolor and burn that image into your brain, your heart and your soul.
2. Make a plan to achieve your dream, no matter how far away or how impossible it may seem now.  Keep taking baby steps forward, just as Tiana saved her tips for many years.
3. In the meantime, live the life you have now, rejoice in it, enjoy each moment, kick off your shoes and dance with life.  Then, when you're least expecting it, the magic will happen!

What do you think?



Photo Credit: Krystn Palmer Photography