Generations, Part 1 (filed under Leadership, ROWE) v1.0

The book, “Mass Career Customization” by Cathy Benko and Anne Weisberg makes a great point about the fundamental shift in work philosophy between baby-boomers and following generations. This excerpt helped me understand the source of ambivalence (if not flat-out disdain) I often see from executives and company leaders toward concepts like a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE, where employees are managed by results produced rather than time spent at the workplace).

I see similar negative reactions to flexible work schedules (such as four-day workweeks), personal or job-related use of social media, and the use of unfamiliar technology to increase worker freedom or reduce time spent in the office. Here is the excerpt:

The Elephant in the Room

…We are aware that not everyone is on board in recognizing that (1) there is a structural workforce shift at hand, (2) the workplace must respond in kind, and (3) now is the time and place to sustainably address this challenge.

Perhaps this perspective is best described by my recent personal experience in a comfortable local Italian restaurant with a great friend and newly retired mentor. Over a leisurely dinner we began talking about workforce trends in general and the subject matter of this book specifically. After some good-natured bantering back and forth, his bottom line took me aback. At the end of the day, he asserted, the most successful people in business possess two qualities: They are talented, and they work really hard. (The clear inference is that anyone who had dialed down [their office hours], by definition, didn’t work really hard.)

As I paused, organizing my thoughts to respond to this claim, his wife, Cindy, jumped in—which was uncharacteristic when it comes to business topics. A dear friend and someone whom I admire for her many qualities, Cindy had just spent the past forty years or so being the quintessential corporate wife. She was very comfortable with her position, dedicating the “working years” of her life to this role.

“The reason that you were so successful,” she interjected, “is because you had the talent and you worked really hard at one thing—your career. All the other elements of life during those years were handled by me.” To be sure, from child rearing to household projects to domestic finances to community contributions and beyond, Cindy carried all the non-career responsibilities. She was, in essence and reality, the not-formally-appointed COO of their household.

Cindy went on to remind her husband that this division of labor in their marriage was not so for their three married children, all in their thirties and parents of young children. She pointed to her oldest son as an example. He was talented and worked very hard—and so did his neurologist wife. The difference was that they did not work hard singularly at their careers. They worked hard as a team, traversing home and work responsibilities.

Cindy’s point? The delineation between the home front and the work front has become irreversibly blurred. While she and her husband typified the 17 percent of the U.S. population that categorize the traditional workforce, their children, on the other hand, characterize the 83 percent that do not. And this was not likely to change.

–For more, visit the website:  www.masscareercustomization.com

The funny thing about baby-boomer executives and other “traditionalists” reluctant to change or embrace innovative ideas proposed by younger generations, is that the older group is on a steadfast path to extinction. The boomers are nearing or entering retirement and the difference between the fearful and the brave may only be a question of time. My suggestion to the boomers: get on the boat or learn to swim, but either way, the rope to the anchor will be cut.

Generations, Part 2 (filed under Leadership, ROWE) v1.0

When speaking about Results-Only Work Environments or innovative use of social media and other web technologies, I often sense ambivalence, and sometimes straightforward disdain, for concepts like ROWE from company executives, bosses and older leaders. At the time of this writing (2010), I was 37 years old and clearly part of the line of demarcation between innovation and tradition.

People roughly a decade older than me are from the last generation to have a sole bread-winner in a given household; I am roughly the first generation where a single income household became no longer viable.

Take, as example, my own family—my father is 59 years old and my two younger brothers are 24 and 16 years old.

For people about ten years younger than me and perhaps more so the generation after that (today’s young teen-agers), the concept of a “stay-at-home” parent will be nearly unheard of by the time they reach their 30′s. With consideration to the current state and predictable trend of the economy, the idea of a person living alone, supporting him or herself, will seem unrealistic, even “quaint” in a few years.

In other words, I think, for example, my father’s generation sees little value in a precept like a Results-Only Work Environment as being a necessary innovation because that generation never needed it.

The call to be many things at once and the easy access to possibilities for holding a fulfilled life has never been as prevalent or as ubiquitously available as now. I am Manager of People Development for a transportation company and a freelance writer on the side. I am a vegan activist, a martial artist, husband, amateur web designer, and much more.

I play many roles in my life and my average work day, including travel (which is now an unnecessary expense) is 12 hours. I am not the busiest person I know. Most of my peers play equally diverse roles in their lives.

For my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father, the status quo was to be a a worker, a husband, and then a father in whatever time was left. When my dad left the military, he worked for Ford Motor Company. If he had hobbies, he gave them up in his thirties to further his career. My grandfather was the same, as was his father.

Grandpa owned a small family store, which he ran until he retired, turning it over to my uncle, who intends to do likewise. Not to be dismissive of the character or contributions by these men to the world—those contributions are incalculable, but I do not remember there ever being more to their lives.

They woke up, read the newspaper in the morning (the actual, physical, printed paper), they went to work, they came home, they watched television, and then went to bed. On the weekends, they worked around the house or visited friends or family. This routine continues through those generations in my family. To them, as my grandfather will surely tell you, that is about as fulfilled a life as anyone can expect.

There are only 19 years between my father and I, but, generationally speaking, there may as well be a hundred. The advances in technology and changes in the way work can be done are happening so fast, it feels like we are from different historical periods. The difference between me and my little brothers, separated by fewer years, is even more pronounced.

Change is happening faster, and all the time. Staying innovative and relevant requires two things:

1 – A desire to keep learning new ideas and embracing new ways of doing old things. E-mail, for example, is a relatively new way to do an old thing–send a letter. What will replace e-mail? A likely candidate is Google Wave, an even newer and more innovative way of communicating. I am learning and practicing on Google Wave now, to make my own transition easier as it gains popularity.

2 – Trust. I trust (and encourage) younger members of my social group to follow trends and stay current with technology. For example, I heard about Google Wave from a Facebook post by my friend, Verdi. “Trust” is where many executives tend to jump ship. “Trust” and “Empowerment”  make for great jargon but it is rare  to see either actually practiced at an organization. Case in point–Whole Foods posts the salaries of every employee, from the cashier all the way up to the CEO for all employees to see. That way there is no mistrust about what your co-workers make or what you can expect to make as you advance your career. It takes a lot of trust to post everybody’s salary for the world to see. It means you have to offer jobs that provide more than a raise, so that employees are in it for more than the money.

Does your company do that?