I can’t see you. You can’t be promoted.

What happens when your boss says, “Visibility is what’s holding you back from your promotion”?

What is “visibility”?  In the traditional world of work, “visibility” means:  I CAN SEE YOU.  You’re there.  In your cube/office/dedicated space.  I feel comfortable when I can see you.

Or is visibility about relationships and networking?   Because you’re not in the office, you’re not attending social events?  You’re not getting that free donut?

Let’s consider something else:  We hire people to do WORK.  What if it didn’t matter if you could see people?  What if we could truly focus on what we need to accomplish in our work.  What if visibility was around celebrated accomplishments? What if getting ahead of your peers at work meant knocking it out of the park at the Chicago office (which you just accomplished) and not hanging around the water cooler in your home office in Minneapolis?

 

Throughout my career and personal life, I have developed relationships where visibility was not key, but relationships are.  I worked with many psychologists to refer clients for assessments.  I never saw many of them.  I was able to gauge their work through many measures, but two were more prevalent:  1) The written assessment , and 2) if clients had problems through the assessment, they complained.  For some, I learned about their parents,  their kids,  and dropped off flowers at the home of someone I worked with for years and only saw once in person. We built relationships around the work.

The same was true when I was 17 years old and was  a supervisor of 6 retired people at a campground:  I learned to define what is expected,  check that it was accomplished and teach them to coach me how to be successful ( for a young person of that age, this is an art…and surely a life lesson).  When I realized I couldn’t “control” them and that they were invested in cleaning the toilet at 2am (when I was sleeping at home), I learned how to help my team be most successful.  When they had to, they did it…and proudly told me later.  That’s engagement.  That impact of their work was our “visibility.”

 

When you focus on results, traditional visibility is not key.  Visibility won’t get you promoted.  Results will.  So, make your decisions about how, when, and where you do you work accordingly.  Align  yourself with people who are capable of doing great work. Build a great team around the work, not the water cooler.

In the New Age, Visibility may be the new word for Results.  Let’s work to get everyone on the same page.

How do you experience visibility in your organization?  What can you do to help your leaders focus on results?

Results Only Work Environment: the Future of Work

It’s Tuesday.  Your first inclination is to groan and rush to the shower as your child awakens you, but today is different.  Today, you were given the permission to do whatever you want, whenever you want as long as the work gets done.  You hug your child, plan your day, making every effort to get the most out of time with your family and your work.  Then, your feet hit the floor, faster, with more purpose.  You connect with your team and before 8:00 AM, you have accomplished more than you did all last week.  You break, stepping outside for a breath of fresh air.  You walk.  For fifteen minutes, you bask in the sunlight while you refocus your work and life.  You relax more, contemplating your new world, wondering how it took you this long to capture this level of productivity and investment in your work and home life.  You’re a greater asset to your organization, you’re a better parent, you’re a better, healthier YOU.  Finally, you’re living the future of work, and you’re passionate enough to share your story with others.

This isn’t a fictitious fairy tale.  This world of work was my very own starting in 2009.  My job was intense: my team was responsible for transforming our culture to a Results Only Work Environment.  We trained between 500 and 900 staff per month.  I coached leaders to understand their role in managing the work, not the people.

My passion was intense:  I married, sold two houses, and bought one without missing a beat.  As I gave birth to my first and second child, I became even more passionate about this work environment.  I found that I was effective and productive holding my sleeping newborn baby in my arms while leading a program, responding to emails, consulting for external agencies, and designing new tools and processes to support the new world of work.  (What else are you going to do with a baby who sleeps the majority of the time? 🙂

I worked from everywhere, anytime.  I worked while getting pedicures, in the doctor’s office, out of multiple regional sites, on my patio.  I became a master at using technology to do my best work.  Each day, I was in constant contact with my team, working through issues, planning for training, supporting each other.  When my first baby was born, my team took turns holding her while we sorted out our goals and tasks.  We shared offices.  We shared ideas.  Our conversations focused on the customers and the teams’ strengths.  My manager focused on results.  We were a team.

It hit home.  I recognized that the time commonly referred to as the “witching hour” for babies was exactly the time I had in the evening to be with my children.  I only saw my baby when she was crying, screaming, and inconsolable.  I thought it was me.  But one magical day, I was home for my daughter’s happy moments:  between 8-10AM.  I saw her giggle, coo, play, and I realized that if I wanted, I could be there to see her happy.  Two to three times during the week, I arranged to see my daughter giggle.  I became a better mother, a better wife, a better team member, and a better leader by making that small change.

For years, we worked with teams to help them achieve what we were living and breathing every day.  We worked with leaders to help them understand their new role and recognize that going back to the 1950’s in management is not an option:  Management by walking around is our past, not our future.  The future workers use time, location, and creativity to enhance productivity.  The leaders of the future focus on the work.  They don’t pay in increments of time, they pay for work (and they understand the difference).

I created and my team implemented a program called “Focus on Results,” a program that engages staff and leaders in work *together* to clarify goals and identify performance indicators.  2800 people were directed to clarify their results using this methodology.  The language and learning became a part of the culture.

As the culture transformed, my team moved on, each promoted toward their own career goals, becoming leaders that continue to transform our culture.

In every team since, I have worked to recreate the feeling and clarity around autonomy, competence, and relatedness.  It’s good for all of us.

What happens when you empower staff to make responsible decisions…what happens when you treat employees as adults….is transforming.  The organization blossomed throughout this change and now, the view of the change is breathtaking.

In my organization, events like the Hennepin5K were planned (last year the event was organized at 6 locations with 449 participants, this year the event is at 8 locations with a 50 flights of stairs included).  Lean In Hennepin, a movement to address gender differences in the workplace was astoundingly successful, and the life-changing stories of those who were able to spend more time with their kids, arrange to be home when  their children got out of school, were able to go to school events, spent months working in Europe with their family, and were able to breathe in ways they hadn’t experienced before are unforgettable.

Productivity soared.

So, today, I reconnected with the two ladies who challenged the status quo and created the Results Only Work Environment.  These two ladies forced me to use wings I didn’t know I had…and now can’t forget exist.  Their no B.S. approach to creating a work environment that empowers the 90% of people who want to do great work and addresses performance of that 10% of do-nothingers is inspiring and challenging for anyone…and the challenge is well worth it.  

To Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, co-creators of the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), evangelists, culture guru’s, and professionals that you need to meet and have them meet your management…thank you.  

The world is a better place because you (and we) are in it.

(Check them out at http://www.gorowe.com)

So, what’s holding us back from achieving this reality?  Who is responsible for challenging the status quo?  What will it take for employees to be recognized and celebrated as whole human beings with families, technology, and lives?

Why Mentors like Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, Withstand the Test of Time.

Two years ago, if you asked me about Sheryl Sandberg, I would have noted her as a prestigious leader.  I wouldn’t have considered that this same prestigious leader would be sitting three feet from me in my friend’s living room tearfully expressing her gratitude for us.  I also wouldn’t have considered that on that same day, I would be sitting directly across from one of the most influential, heart-felt leaders who built a business helping mothers help their children at school -Paula Goldberg, Executive Director of PACER Center. 

With my 17 years of history in social work, Paula Goldberg has always been an inspiration.  She founded an organization to educate and support mothers with disabled children in navigating the school system and achieving the best possible education for their kids.  As a social worker, I made many client referrals to PACER and sent many interns and job candidates to PACER Center because I believed in their work wholeheartedly. 

It’s not surprising that Sheryl Sandberg’s mother-in-law, Paula Goldberg, would be involved in a movement for women and men to start achieving equality in the workplace and in the home. 

Since meeting Sheryl and Paula and remembering the warm hugs from both, one statement comes to mind.  I encountered this plaque while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge:  “Back of Every Great Work, We can Find the Self-Sacrificing Devotion of a Woman.”  In context, this is about a the devotion of a wife and mother to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after losing their husband and father, the architect of the bridge.  When I read the sign while standing on the Brooklyn  Bridge for the first time, I recall the words “love,” “teamwork,” “devotion,” and “empowerment” circling my head as I peered onto the bridge. 

After meeting Sheryl and Paula, letting their message and their inspiration wash over me, I’ve learned that every person is empowered, courageous, and confident because they have had the opportunity to be lifted up and inspired by others.  Great ideas are less likely to achieve success without a courageous, confident person who feels someone has their back.  As in the Brooklyn Bridge story when the architect lost his life and his wife and son led the work on, the true message is clear: incredible work is accomplished when a person shares his/her dreams with enough passion and devotion for others to realize this dream as their very own. We all benefit from the Brooklyn Bridge equally. The same is true when we all lean in.

The more I talk with people about Lean In, the more real people become to me.  Every story has someone who reached out their hand when times were tough or helped them achieve the courage they need to take that next step.   

Lean In is not a women’s movement, it’s an “all in” movement that already is impacting our lives, our children’s lives, and all of our future together…just because one person decided to put her thoughts on paper and publish a book called Lean In.  And clearly, some very famous, can-do people, have been leaning in since before the Brooklyn Bridge sent the first herd of elephants across to ensure its safety before people could cross.

The dreams of Sheryl and now my friends eventually led me to send an invite to a group of about 15 people who I knew were interested in Leaning In.  I wanted to start a circle at Hennepin County. 

Already, incredible support has surrounded this effort…over 100 people expressed interest within the first 6 months and 3 latge circles were formed. ..all because Sheryl wrote a book, friends asked me to Lean In, and I extended the invitation to others. 

Pay it forward.  It’s the right time.

To learn more about Lean In, go to www.leanin.org.  And hey, while you’re searching, check out www.gorowe.com to learn more about how to update your work culture from the 1950’s to 2015, preparing people to Lean In.

In 2015, what’s your New Year’s Resolution?  Read this article where Sheryl Sandberg shares one of my New Year’s Resolutions with the world (don’t worry, I’m working on it!):  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheryl-sandberg/new-years-resolution-get-_b_6396012.html

What would you do if weren’t afraid? What have you learned from someone who left their mark on the world? Leave a comment. .. let’s learn from each other.

Carolyn