MANAGE (AND PAY) FOR RESULTS, EXPERTS SAY

SUMMARY:  We should know by now that it's the results that matter - not the
effort or the activity level.  That's the essence of successful
telecommuting.  As logical as that may seem, however, there are still many
managers who struggle with changing their focus to results.  Sandy and
Roger Plachy explain why this is so, and how things are likely to change in
the future.


Here it is, the beginning of 1999.  We are a few short months away from the
start of a new century, and we still have many managers who are acting as
if they're living at the end of the last century.  When faced with the
prospect of having staff who telecommute, these managers just can't
understand how it can be done successfully.

To be honest, I'm tired of hearing about this.  I know where the resistance
comes from - or thought I did, until I spoke with Sandy and Roger Plachy of
the Job Results Management Institute.  Now I have a better understanding of
this fixation on observing activity - but I'm still frustrated by it.

The Plachys run a very successful consulting and publishing business based
on the simple idea that what you accomplish is at least as important as how
you accomplish it.  It may be a simple idea, but it continues to confound
managers - and keeps the Plachys very busy.  I interviewed them recently to
learn about their views on results management, and how it relates to
managing at a distance.

"It's nothing less than a mindstyle change and a lifestyle change" to shift
to this results focus, Sandy said.  "We're conditioned to watching what
people do, instead of looking for the outcomes and results."

The tradition of activity focus is even a part of our social discourse. 
"When you go to a party and meet someone, you don't ask, 'What do you
accomplish?' - you ask, 'What do you do?'," noted Roger.  At first that
seems like an irrelevant example but it isn't - think about how that simple
change of one word would affect the answer.  I don't think he advocates a
change in party chatter, but it's a good illustration of his point.

The thoughts people have when going to a meeting provide another example of
this difference in emphasis.  "The process-oriented person walks into the
room and thinks, 'Where should I sit' or 'when will we be done' while the
results-oriented person thinks, 'Why are we here?'," the Plachys stated.

"99% of the time we are doing the tasks of our jobs - not necessarily
accomplishing anything," they noted.  "But it's the result that makes the
difference."


The Myth of the "Big Picture" - and the Curse of Regulation

There's a built-in contradiction in what managers say and do about focusing
on the outcomes.  "Managers talk all the time about taking a 'big-picture'
viewpoint," said Roger, "but then they treat staff as if they wouldn't
understand it.  It's as if the manager really means, 'I'll take care of the
big picture - you just concentrate on doing your job'."

He continued, "You don't have to go back too far in the history of the
workplace to see where this originated.  When we had apprenticeship
programs in trades such as carpentry, the new apprentice started off just
standing and watching the masters.  It was as if the learning was to occur
by osmosis.  The master craftsman's actions and instructions were along the
lines of 'Don't worry about how we'll build this house - just  bring that
pile of lumber over here'."

As long as the apprentice was kept busy, he was presumed to be doing what
was expected.  In the office today, managers often take the same approach,
according to the Plachys.  "If you're not producing sweat - even if it's
mental sweat - then you can't be doing anything worthwhile" in the eyes of
the manager, they say.

This emphasis on effort - especially as measured by time worked - is
reinforced by Federal and state regulations that dictate pay scales and job
classifications.  "It is really quite recently that we started having a
large number of 'information workers' in the workforce," they noted.  "The
regulations pre-date this shift, so we are forced to measure everything by
time - the number of hours in a regular work week, the requirement to pay
extra for overtime, the right to deduct pay if someone misses a few hours
of work, and so on," they explained.  


Will Younger Managers Act Differently?

Many people - including me - argue that people in their teens through late
20's are likely to be very different kinds of managers than their
predecessors, and the Plachys agree.  "The proof is in the increasing
receptivity to our work from this generation," they observed.  "It's not
that the world didn't think about or talk about results orientation before
- it's that the managers haven't been given the opportunity or
encouragement to shift their thinking to results."

The Plachys see a big difference in managerial attitudes based on
experience with the Internet.  "High school and college students today
develop a new sense of time.  If they have a research project, they don't
necessarily have to go to the library to get the information they need
during the hours the library is open.  They have the information anytime,
from their rooms or anywhere else."  This has created a more impatient
generation that wants results now, they believe - and this impatience leads
to an interest in the results more than the process.

How Do You Create Change?

One of the leverage points for changing an organization's focus to results
is the job description - and on their Web site, the Plachys show how a
traditional job description would change to emphasize results.  The same is
true for performance appraisals, and for selection criteria for new hires. 
If all of these processes are revamped to stress the outcomes or
accomplishments more so than the activities, the Plachys believe it will be
easier to shift the mindset to results.

Their consulting work is not directed at employers with telecommuting
programs.  In fact, they argue that the focus on results makes sense for
every organization - and the way that telecommuters are managed thus
becomes no different than anyone else.  If it makes sense to focus on
results for people in the office, it certainly makes sense to do so for the
telecommuters.  

This is exactly the reverse of how many managers come to this results
orientation; they adopt it by necessity for remote workers, and then
realize how beneficial it is for those in the office.  Perhaps there's a
lesson here: if we can change the organizational context, then it will be
much easier for managers to become comfortable with telecommuting.

CONTACT: Sandy Plachy/Roger Plachy  (336) 761-1681
                                    (336) 761-1682 (fax)
                                        info@jrmi.com
                                        www.jrmi.com