Page 61 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

40 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

Okay, so everyone is doing it and it’s making a big improvement.
Now, what makes it work? Lots of people have been studying that too.
We’ll talk at length about that throughout the book. For the moment,
take a look at what one research study shows.
Knoll, Inc., looked at several Global 100 companies representing
five different industries, and it found four “best practices” for increas-
ing organizational effectiveness and performance:

1. Flexible policies attract and retain top talent through develop-
ment and deployment, deliver measurable results that benefit the
business and the employee, including annual savings on corporate
health-care costs and absenteeism and turnover.
2. Mobile and flexible work arrangements are not simply “perks”;
they increase organizational effectiveness, financial performance,
and market valuation.
3. Knowledge-based work relies upon “time” as the resource that
drives productivity. “Time” is shared between employees and the
organization, replacing the traditional measurement of “time spent
behind a desk.”
4. Mobile work strategies support knowledge-based work, enhanc-
ing productivity while reducing real estate costs, increasing worker
productivity, and requiring less real estate and fewer physical sys-
tems to facilitate the workforce. 14

` Joel BArker: our personAl pArAdIgm ConsultAnt

Now we turn to the expert on paradigms, Joel Barker, because the
best way to facilitate transformational thinking is by reconsidering
your paradigms. We think Joel Barker is the Soul of Schema, the Master
of Mental Models, and the Pater of Paradigms! The term schema, which
refers to mental representations people have, is mostly associated with
psychology. Peter Senge popularized the idea of mental models, or
the maps we carry inside our heads. And Thomas Kuhn, of course,