Page 218 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

the eight principles model � 197

resources are too limited, goals are conflicting, my own ability is in
doubt, as examples) give up earlier than they would if they thought
they could achieve them.
Goals are organizing mechanisms for the mobile workforce. They
keep people focused and working together even when far apart. And
they are essential in a ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment).
Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, the authors of Work Sucks and How
to Fix It, told us why: 16

It’s not just one person here and there trying something “outside the
norm”—it’s large groups of people moving toward one common vi-
sion. . . . Team performance is encouraged through the autonomy that’s
given to employees in a ROWE. Everyone receives the same reward for
being efficient—time. Everyone wants their colleagues to experience that
reward, so people start cross-training and assisting each other to meet
team goals. This all happens naturally through the change—it doesn’t
need to be forced.

In a Results-Only Work Environment, if you hit your goals, you
can go home; or, if you are already home, you can go play. In a mobile
work environment, where people are evaluated by results, goals are
even more important motivators than, perhaps, they are in a colocated
environment, which tends to evaluate performance more subjectively.
So it’s your job as a manager to calibrate these variables for your
mobile workforce, given your organization’s goals. You may be given
fuzzy goals yourself. If so, you have to make them motivating—clear,
challenging and yet doable, important—for your own workforce.
Whatever you do, don’t assign goals that people can’t control. Don’t
give goals related to the weather, to interest rates (unless they can
influence them), or to how their boy(or girl)friend will react to any-
thing. Letting the group set its own goals can be a possible plus and
a possible minus. People might be more committed to goals they help
set, but they tend to set lower goals than a leader would.