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Can ROWE Work in Education?

Jan 12, 2010 » by Cali & Jody

Back in October we told the story of Lee Grooms, an employee at Grace Seattle Church who found that the philosophy behind a Results-Only Work Environment would also help a church better serve its congregation.

Now we have the following YouTube video from Richard Stewart, which uses the PechaKucha presentation style to explore how ROWE might work in an educational setting.

While writing Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, we talked about dedicating an entire section to imagining how ROWE might translate to other sectors of our society. We talked about chapters devoted to how the Results-Only philosophy might transform government, education, churches, community organizations, and so forth.

Eventually, we decided that we were getting ahead of ourselves. Just because we could see the universality of ROWE didn’t mean that the world would automatically see it, too.

But we’re glad to see the world embracing ROWE and running with it. And we’re not surprised given the ROWE worldview, which has almost universal appeal for the following reasons:

A ROWE requires constant inquiry into what’s wrong with the organization and what’s right

Unlike more rules-based programs, a ROWE doesn’t fossilize thought. The whole point of a ROWE is to drive results, which means fresh thinking, smart risk-taking, and a spirit of (as Jody likes to say) figuring it out.

ROWE has the capacity to travel far because it focuses in on core problems and their solutions.

A ROWE calls for better communication

We’re all inundated with information. We’re all in constant communication. But we’re also learning that more isn’t always better. The Results-Only mindset has the answer: instead of meeting more and talking more and IM-ing more, let’s get better at communicating.

ROWE is the future because putting results first cuts down on the amount of communication while improving the quality of communication.

A ROWE rewards people for taking responsibility and holding themselves accountable

One of the big frustrations of the traditional work environment is that people get punished for stepping up. Only a fool would take on more responsibility in a workplace where you still have to sit in your cube even if you’re done with all your work (and then some!).

ROWE has legs because it gives people something more precious than money: freedom.

A ROWE respects people

This is perhaps the biggest reason why the Results-Only mindset has a chance to deeply penetrate our culture. Money can only reward people so much. (Not to mention the fact that not everyone is motivated by money.) Respect, on the other hand, is invaluable. Show a person genuine respect and they’ll walk to the ends of the earth to pay you back.

ROWE will win out because the more crowded, frantic, and competitive the world becomes, the more important a simple thing like respect becomes.

People who have experienced a ROWE talk about not wanting to work under any other circumstances. As more and more people work in a ROWE, the more they are going to want to see the rest of their lives function the same way.

Right now, our motto is “Make ROWE the status quo.” We see no reason why that same mentality can’t apply outside the world of work.

  • http://www.graceseattle.org D. Lee Grooms

    More vs. better: yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

    All of this is fantastic; that part just leaped out as a necessary and true adjustment in thinking from non-ROWE (or pre-ROWE—let’s be hopeful!) to ROWE. The prospect of learning in a setting with the value(s) of a ROWE is terribly exciting!

  • Concerned employee

    Now we are seeing the importance of ROWE at all levels. I am glad to see that this philosophy is impacting other areas besides business. The problems we are having at work are universal and generate too much waste that at the end of the day, produce only “junk results” which do not make any difference in real progress. If we want a society that will produce and be energetic and make a difference, then we need to do things differently. To achieve this goal, ROWE is a great tool. I am aware that ROWE is being considered as a part of the curriculum in one Twin Cities university. ROWE is considered “the way of the future”. This is good news because the new wave of workers will be ready for this change.

    Anyone else know of other universities that are considering adding ROWE as a piece of their management or HR courses?

  • http://davidburkus.com davidburkus

    Great video. Thanks for sharing.

  • Lynn O’Driscoll

    Woot Woot!! The post I have been waiting for. I would love to see ROWE work in the education world. I teach high school, and sure we have some time “off” in the summer….but durig the time we are in session we work 12 hour days and weekends. Its a very inflexible schedule. Its very challenging to schedule appointments or see my kid’s programs during the day. Doesn’t always make it worth having extended time off in the summer. Look forward to hearing more!!

  • n smith

    I’m new to this forum and have just read the book. I am working/studying in Australia and totally subscribe to the notion that if organisations can better articulate what the outputs and results should be, the working world would be a much better place. But the question i have after reading the book, and from my own experience, is how do we get managers better able to define required outcomes? The education field is notoriously difficult. Any tips from the gurus?

    • cali

      Pre-ROWE manager: “My employees already have goals and expectations. I don’t see how ROWE will help with that.”
      Manager during ROWE migration: “What do you mean my people will have complete control over their time?? How will I know what they’re doing? How will I know if they’re getting their work done?”

      This is one of our favorite moments.

      Two of the biggest issues today are:

      1) People are focused on activities, or effort, instead of outcomes. [We're actually planning some cool things to dive further into this over the next weeks and months, so stay tuned for those.] Think of it this way: If two students have tests coming up, they’re both aiming for an ‘A’ as the outcome. One student studies for 37 hours, highlights the textbook, takes 65 pages of notes, and goes to 6 study sessions. The other student reads the last page of every chapter of the textbook the night before the test. The latter receives an ‘A’ and the former receives a ‘D’. The former goes to the professor and says “But you don’t understand. I spent a lot of time getting ready for this test. Can’t you just change my grade to at least a ‘B’ to recognize my effort?” The professor would have to say “No. In the end, you didn’t know the material well enough.” In the workplace today, many people are rewarded for the time they spend studying for the test. And the people who get an ‘A’ on the test with little effort are actually punished in many cases – they’re given more work because they look like they need more to do. Interesting, isn’t it?

      2) In a ROWE, it’s not the manager’s job to define outcomes. It’s a shared responsibility between manager and team. Essentially, the manager and team come to an agreement on what the outcome is and how it will be measured. Then the manager steps out of the way and the team figures out the most efficient, effective way to get to there. In the traditional work environment, there’s a lot of pressure on managers to figure things out – in a ROWE, there’s a big load lifted because everyone has shared accountability and they drive toward outcome defintion and execution together.

      Give us a couple specific difficulties you see in the education field and we’ll give you our two cents :)

      2)

      • n smith

        OK…there’s a huge storm going on in Oz at the moment over NAPLAN…a national way of testing primary and secondary students on numeracy and literacy…and publishing results as a service to parents in helping select schools. It could be argued that this will be an indirect measurement of teachers and their teaching. How do you measure the outcomes of a good teacher? (BTW…I am a total advocate of the ROWE philosophy. I have been able to manage my own work-life balance having a “part-time” career. I attribute this to having been fortunate enough to work for managers, and hopefully manage myself and my team members, so that work is measured by outcomes. But I think that skill…of being able to define the outcome required…is a scarce one. I agree it should be worked on between a team and the manager. I guess this means that ideally there is no “part-time” and “full-time” and the connotations that come with that…just a negotiated set of outcomes and rewards for delivering.)

  • http://blog.conmergence.com Ed Dodds

    Grant Writers, Get Ready — Bill Gates Is Fired Up About Online Learning http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Grant-Writers-Get-Ready-/20811/

    Durbin Open Textbook Bill Finally Introduced!
    http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/1103