Page 66 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

discovering a new workforce paradigm � 45

Most of us have had more than enough bosses in our lives who posed
as parents and treated us as little kids.

Old Rule: Work has to be completed at the same place where
the worker is located.
New Rule: Work (like surgeries) can occur far from where the
employee is located.

We’ve seen how technology gives, and will increasingly provide,
more opportunities to separate ourselves physically from the work we
do. Sure, we’ll always be working to produce results, but the actual
materialization of our efforts may occur elsewhere.

Old Rule: Relationships are limited to whom I can meet
personally.
New Rule: You can interact with almost anyone you want on-
line and develop deep relationships with people you’ve never
met face to face.

This is an obvious one, with unobvious implications. Just as cor-
ridor warriors can connect with anyone on the team by speaking into
a badge, your workforce has zero degrees of separation from anyone.
Employees can send a note to the newspaper reporter who has been
hounding you for information, or one to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, attaching just about anything they want. They can—
like we did for this book—meet virtually with some of the most pow-
erful executives and thought leaders in the world. They can “tweet up”
with a group of concerned people in a nanosecond. Now, more than
ever, the way you lead this connected workforce will either strengthen
your organization beyond what you could have hoped or smash it on
the shoals of distrust and dishonor.
Yes, the mobile workforce is changing the rules!