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How Are You Available?

Dec 2, 2009 » by Cali & Jody

By: Michael Barata

When “being available” is discussed in a ROWE, “the pushback” can be pretty intense. Let’s take a look at what it means to be available today. Not considering your professional resources, most (and most = millions) of people have one, some, or all of the following: cell phones (with voice mail and texting capabilities), pagers, email accounts, and landline phones. And the technology does not stop there! Today, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, serve as other sources of communication. Now, consider the resources your employer may provide to you…yup, one, some, or all of the above mentioned.

So, how are you available? The answer is most likely a combination of ways.

The discussion now moves to how you manage your availability. “But when I am not working, I don’t want to be bothered!” I hear you. However, when you go to the bathroom at work, or you are out sick, or you are on vacation, or you are away from your desk/cubicle for any reason, have you never come back to the blinking light on your phone or the “email messages waiting” popup on your computer? I am confident you all have. Therefore, you are ALWAYS available and how you decide to take action and what your response time is become the real issues. See, technology has created a virtual you, but the traditional work environment fails to realize this and expand on it.

In most cases, employees have the capability to check work voice mails and emails from a remote location. Some really technologically advanced organizations also afford employees access to networks and systems. Now walk with me…technology allows you as the person to stay connected to colleagues and clients without being shackled to a desk/cubicle + you as the professional can respond (if you so choose to) to colleagues and clients, whether or not you are in the office. Freedom + efficiency = happy person and effective professional!

Being available today and in a ROWE does not mean intrusiveness, but rather means more control of how you go about your life (and work).

  • http://www.keithprivette.com Keith Privette

    Amen! You just described my entire life. Now the interesting thing I run into is balancing all of it. That is ongoing process, one thing is discovering communication channel management. Find out how people communicate put them in catagories to ensure your comm paths cross.

  • KellyK

    One of the things I really like about ROWE is that separation between availability and response time. A lot of people talk about our current culture as being addicted to availability, but I think the real addiction is to instant response time. Wanting to be able to call someone and have them pick up, or to pop by their office whenever you have a question, or to have them respond instantly to e-mail. (I’ve actually had people get snippy with me over e-mails that I didn’t reply to within a few hours.)

    When people are already this demanding about other people’s time, the idea of doing away with “working hours” is kind of scary because it’s easy to picture coworkers or bosses with that addiction to instant response bugging you 24-7 and wondering why you didn’t immediately reply to that e-mail at 8 PM on a Saturday.

    The solution to that, I think, is expecting people to be responsible about communicating with people in advance. “No last-minute fire drills” is how ROWE puts it. And a ROWE environment where people can work whenever and wherever they want helps force people to do this. If you can’t assume that someone will be instantly available when you need them, you have to plan ahead, communicate clearly, and do other things that you should’ve been doing anyway.

  • http://twitter.com/ThoughtFuser Michael Barata

    @ Keith Privette: Could communication management = today’s new term for availability? I think technology helps provide these comm paths as well as the means to manage them. From my personal/professional experience, my BB allows me to be available via every comm path I have (personal/professional email and phone + social media too).

  • http://twitter.com/ThoughtFuser Michael Barata

    @ KellyK: You are correct. In a ROWE, the idea is not to become more or less available, but rather to ensure purposeful and meaningful availability. The fire drill scenario is an excellent way to illustrate the real problems in a traditional work environment – poor planning, ineffective strategies/use of technology, and wasting time.

  • Joe Senior

    One of the best things implemented at my last company was an communication policy. Essentially it had severity levels, included in the subject of the email, that determined how quickly something was needed or perceived to be needed. It also required that a specific task be clearly described and a specific person or team be addressed. No more of the, “It would be good if we did this at some point.” The recipient was supposed to get back to the sender based on the severity level, even if it was to decline the request or suggest a different due date

    The system wasn’t perfect but when people actually used it (which was the one of the biggest hurdles), tasks would be completed on time and without the need for a flurry of emails going back and forth, and time wasted, to clarify the original communication.

    Unfortunately my previous company was a traditional work environment so we adapted this severity system to include a “SEV 0″, which were essentially “fire drill”. I believe communication management is a huge part of time management. It comes to respect for peoples time by specifically saying what you need and when you need it by and then trusting that person to do it without checking in every hour.

    Enter ROWE.

  • KellyK

    @Joe Senior: I like the idea of severity levels with real due dates. One of the things that irritates me is when I ask people when they need something and get a vague response of “As soon as possible” or “Whenever you get to it.” “As soon as possible” at least tells me it’s important, but “Whenever you get to it” is pretty meaningless.

  • http://twitter.com/ThoughtFuser Michael Barata

    @ Joe Senior & KellyK: Instituting a communication policy begs the question, “Why not simply promote clear, fluid communication from day one?” The addition of the scary word, severity, may cause stress for some too.

    In a ROWE, the focus is on results and only results. Therefore, if everyone is informed of and/or a participant in defining the expected results, communication should always be clear and outcome focused.