By: Michael Barata

We acknowledge the existence of organizations sporting positive work cultures. What we wonder is how much influence YOU had/have on creating and tweaking the culture? It’s not really a culture if you are not allowed to shape it as it best suits you to get the work done. More often than not, you are simply being told by others what they feel works best for you.

We often hear, “I think everything is just fine at our organization.” And when you compare organizations to prison, we tend to agree. BUT! Could things be different? Is there something specific you wish you could change? Does something exist that adds no value to your performance, but you HAVE to do it because that’s the way it is? Would you like to only take two hours to run an errand vs. taking a half day or the whole day off? Most important to consider, do you feel you have the freedom and empowerment to work whenever, wherever, and however you want as long as the work gets done?

So, is everything still ‘just fine’?

What ROWE offers is the option for ALL employees to have control over how results are achieved for the organization. This can best be accomplished when an organization clearly defines what the expected  results are and the consequences of not achieving them. From that starting point, the individual can now design his or her approach to work and if those defined results are achieved….what is the problem? ROWE also affords individuals the freedom to live life as they wish. Instead of trying to conform to how an organization’s culture thinks you should live it.

Everything may be just fine, but our thinking is it could be way better if YOU had a say in things!