Is the office really neccessary?

Getting ready for the mobile office

Technology and increasing automation are changing the way we work, but it’s employees that are pushing for more mobile working.

The concept of the ‘workerless office’ has been moving into the mainstream for over a decade. But it’s only in the past few years that technological, social and economic forces have begun to converge to create what the London Business School’s Lynda Gratton calls ‘a perfect storm’ of organisational upheaval.

“Executives around the world are now facing a substantial schism with the past, which is so great that organisational architecture, people practices and skills and organisational culture will change – possibly unrecognisably over the next two decades,”

Technology is a major factor, with tablets and smartphones already overtaking PCs. Analysts at Gartner expects 70 million tablets to be sold this year and 108 million in 2012, compared with 17.6 million in 2010, according to CIO Zone.

Cloud computing is fast replacing office-based IT infrastructure, while the cost of broadband is dropping as speeds pick up -- 4G is expected to be 230 percent more efficient than existing 3G technologies, according to UK regulator Ofcom.

Global connectivity and collaborative media encourage us to collaborate over distance, while the lines between consumer and workplace technology grow increasingly blurred. The ‘app culture’ so widespread that 35 percent of US smartphone users log on before even getting out of bed, according to a survey by Ericsson.

In other words, we are already mobile. But the tipping point for the mobile office is more likely to come from employees than technology, according to ‘The future world of work,’ a presentation by CBRE Richard Ellis’s Lenny Beaudoin and Benn Munn.

It’s a desire for greater flexibility that’s behind the mobile push, led not just by working mothers but ‘millenials’ – 20somethings who expect flexibility and have been reared on digital technology. In “Is the Office Really Necessary?”, Cisco’s survey of 2,600 employees worldwide, 60 percent claimed they could be just as productive outside the office and 66 percent claimed they’d rather take a lower-paid, flexible job than a restrictive, higher-paid position.

Many work harder – ‘anytime, anywhere connectivity’ can add 11 hours to a mobile worker’s week, according to a Forrester report. It can do much to encourage employee loyalty and retention -- UK-based design firm Plinkfizz uses flexible working as a differentiator, a way of attracting high-caliber talent. Then there are the more prosaic benefits of a workerless office: lower property costs, utility bills and carbon emissions.

IT firms and the large consultancies – PWC, KPMG, Accenture – are early adopters, but predictions are that it will become commonplace. So what are some of the issues companies need to consider when preparing for the mobile office?

The management mindset
The emergence of a mobile workforce changes the workplace hierarchy and the role of managers – some argue that automation of work processes makes their jobs redundant.

Managing mobile workers requires a different mindset, one where trust and outcome-driven measures determine success. This changes the way people are managed – and may mean reviewing performance criteria, possibly shifting to a more continuous feedback tool such as Rypple.

Results only work environments offer a good model for mobile office management, balancing a flexible approach to individual work with a more formalised communications structure. Employees work at their own pace (with a clear deadline), but have regular, scheduled progress checks and virtual meetings to keep everyone motivated and encourage team bonding. Ideally, location becomes immaterial, as at teleworking pioneer 37Signals.

Managers can also teach by doing, particularly when it comes to the etiquette of virtual meetings. Any company without a social media policy should draw up a guide on language, tone and disclosure rules, particularly for corporate Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts.

The way employees work
Perhaps it is indicative of where we are in Maslow’s needs triangle, but most employees want flexibility. Not everyone wants to work from home all the time, however, and some people will be more naturally self-sufficient than others.

Overall, though, it’s overwork that employees and managers need to watch out for when going mobile. Nearly half of Cisco’s survey respondents claim regularly to work an extra few hours a day and another recent poll of managers found nearly 60 percent of managers visited work-related websites out of hours, and nearly half check work emails before going to bed. With work “only a smartphone away,” as one UK director puts it, the toughest challenge is switching off.

There are also little communication habits that may need to change: ensuring your IM status is up to date, for example, or shedding a lifelong paper Post-It habit in favor of virtual ones. Backing up and sharing work online should become second nature.

The right tools for the job
Accessing a company’s network remotely is increasingly straightforward while VoIP, IM and virtual meeting tools such as Microsoft Office Live Meeting and cloud-based DimDim are just a few options for distributed workforces to stay in touch.

Mobile workers tend to be more adept at ‘pulling’ information, so intranets and Wikis can replace town hall meetings or be used to share knowledge and self-train. But HR should ensure any important company information is delivered directly to individuals rather than relying on them to find it.

Given the plethora of tools available, it can be tough to settle upon one communication method and stick to it. Experienced remote workers tend to favor videoconferences, where it’s possible to read body language and get a sense of the mood and tone of your co-workers.

Establish clear support structures
Mobile offices rely heavily on technology so mobile workers should know who and how to contact the company’s helpdesk for IT support. Likewise, managers and HR should ensure employees know to whom they can turn in an emergency, while ensuring they are compliant with data protection regulations.

Rewrite the IT policy
Security concerns remain an obstacle to getting workforces mobilised: in a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, the vast majority (83 percent) claimed to have suffered a security breach in the past year. According to Cisco’s research, 66 percent of employees expected IT to allow them to use any device to access corporate networks – but nearly half of IT respondents felt the company wasn’t prepared to meet their expectations.

Yet many employees already sync their smartphones to workplace email -- and Jonathan Reichental, CIO of O’Reilly Media, predicts BYOC – bring your own computer – will become increasingly common. “Today we expect employees to provide and maintain their own cars, but we do provide mileage reimbursement when it's used for business purposes. Could there be a similar model for employees who use their own computers?”

Whether BYOC or company-provided, devices and data need to be insured and secured by the company. Devices and data should be password or code-protected, and restricted access applied where necessary. Experienced mobile workers also advise peers to keep a spare laptop battery and USB back-up drive handy.

IT policies will need updating to ensure clarity around issues such as who owns data on personal devices– and what happens when that employee leaves; whether -- and what -- employees are allowed to download onto portable devices, terms regarding who pays for broadband or smartphone tariffs.

Office space
If the office is no longer what Richard Ellis’s Beaudoin calls a “people warehouse”, it can become more of an idea factory or a space for teams to hold meetings, socialize and exchange ideas. Hosting company PEER1’s boss, Dominic Monkhouse, had a miniature putting green put into the company’s UK office to allow employees to relax at work.

Arguably, smaller companies could do without an office altogether, instead using serviced offices or the growing number of shared offices that have sprung up in major cities to cater for nomadic workers.

Do first-time managers ruin your career ?

Being a manager excites many - it gives the wings to dream big, but the language of responsibility and power injects nervousness to their nerves that might kill the careers of many subordinates. There are many reasons for the new managers failing to lead a team and the most important one is lack of training. It was revealed in a recent survey that more than 50 percent of managers received no training before starting the job. Most of the new managers get it wrong as they are not properly guided on their new roles and they recite the common myths and misperceptions that lead them to mistakes. Here are some of the most common mistakes by new managers that would ruin the career of many.

1. The Wrong Sense of Authority

Yes it's true that the chair of the manager is built of power and authority; however, many often forget that the chair is the citadel of respect to all - the subordinates, bosses, and friends. The other side of the coin is that many new managers feel very constrained in the new role as the load of responsibilities shrinks their freedom. Their expectation of wielding the designated power often vanishes once they climb into manager's chair. These wrong ideas of being a manager lead them to mistakes in dealing with the team members and the execution of plans often meets with troubles, which ultimately make the life of his subordinates miserable.

2. Never-Ending Changes

They say change is good, but their teammates say not the unnecessary ones. The lack of experience in leading a team makes them jitter at the execution phase.

It's when the new managers change their plans too often to meet the unexpected situations. Changing the routines and procedures without notification or adequate discussion lowers the employee morale. Sometimes the manager's excitement about a new change kills the interest of his subordinates as the change may not be needed or would invite unwanted results.

3. Hesitancy to Give and Receive Immediate Feedbacks

It takes one to be highly professional to give and received feedbacks on time. The failure of managers to give apt, timely feedbacks

to their team members closes the doors of growth before them. A harsh feedback can kill the employee morale too. Many develop an attitude of "I have all the answers" which makes it hard for them to solicit the feedbacks from subordinates. The stories of managers going after people who give feedback, that are meant to be positive, are often heard in the corporate world.

4. Focus Only on Tasks Not on People

New managers tend to live their previous routines where their sole focus was to accomplish the given tasks. However, they fail to realize that developing interpersonal relationship is an integral quality of leaders. The ideal motto of a manager is to help his subordinates to accomplish the tasks in an outstanding way and not just to focus on the budgets, reports or planning. The career of subordinates depends on the managers, and the inexperienced managers tend to make things very complex which will make life hard of the teammates. They fail to become the people managers, but rather become just task managers without realizing the needs of their subordinates.

Only few points are discussed above there are lot more reasons why first time managers ruin others career.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Why most Women Managers are Bossy?

How do you feel going to an office where your bossy woman manager is waiting for you? Do you search for excuses to get away from her?

Women are more independent now, but at times the feeling of independence and power portrays the darker side of a woman. Women give a stiff competition to men in all field of work, and they are not lagging behind in grabbing the chairs for top positions from men. The tug-of-war between men and women has changed the attitude of women in handling top notch positions and managing their subordinates.

A survey done by researchers from University of London revealed that bossy females are much less likely to shine in the boardroom, which means that women with bossy attitude can never be a good manager or they cannot lead a team.

Let's take a look at the behavior of bossy women,

Emulate aggressive male behavior

Women by default are inculcated with sensitiveness and they are generally not harsh. But women in top position tend to build the male aggressiveness in them they dominant their subordinates. But in many cases it turns in a different way. While trying to act like a man, they lose their sensitivity and they won't be able to handle their employees.

They annoy subordinates and colleagues

The primary motto of a bossy woman is to get power and get their work done. They leave less space for proper communication with their employees and create an unhealthy atmosphere. In these way women bosses lose the respect that they should get from their employee.

No healthy assertiveness

Women managers are usually have the credibility to get the work done neatly and correctly. But some women bosses are forcefully order their employees rather than having a healthy understanding. They lose the sensitive character in them and the proper communication skill.

No emotional intelligence

Some women cannot leave their personal life at home and end up showing their frustration at their subordinates. They assume that this way they can manage the team well. But in this way many employees quit jobs because they cannot tolerate inhuman behavior of their boss.

Power hungry

Running after the power, women manager creates different ways to throw their power and in this way they sometimes they even forget to value their employee. It actually leads an opposite effect and even the employees are not interested to cooperate with them.

These are some of the major aspects that makes the women “Bossy” there lot more reasons why most of them tend to be bossy…

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Your boss could be a sociopath. No, really.

Sociopathy is one of the many personality disorders, also referred to as psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder (APD). The American Psychiatrics Association defines a sociopathy as 'A pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.' Sociopathic symptoms may exhibit from as early as the teenage years although a diagnosis can only be made after the age of 18, on presentation of documented evidence of misconduct before the individual is 15. Sociopathic symptoms can manifest in many ways, though there are certain personality traits that people with this mental disorder have a tendency to exhibit.

That’s why the premise of The Sociopath Next Door, a book by Martha Stout, gives me the major creeps. Stout claims that as many as 4% of the population are conscienceless sociopaths who have no empathy or affectionate feelings for humans or animals. Sociopaths (or the more politically correct term, someone with antisocial personality disorder) show a lack of regret in their actions, with a common trait being the violation of the rights of others.

This book was brought to my attention by a friend of mine in response to my telling her about one of my son’s friends being bullied at work by her boss. I don’t know if Stout’s 4% metric is accurate but I know that I hear an awful lot from readers of this blog who are dealing with bosses that I believe could be characterized as sociopaths.

Let’s take an absolutely unscientific poll and see how many sociopathic managers there are out there. (Note: If your boss tends to yell but then is sorry afterwards, he or she is probably not, technically, a sociopath.) I realize that I’m being very general here, but, to paraphrase Dave Barry, as is often the case when I do that, I don’t care.

Seriously, it might be interesting to get a grass-roots level view of how sociopaths are managing other people. Also, if you are yourself a sociopath (do sociopaths know they’re sociopaths?), please do chime in and make your case.

Posted By
S.Grace Paul Regan

Has our obsession with promotion and success led to high levels of incompetence?

You’ve seen it yourself. The brilliant editor who’s promoted to manage the department and never gets his hands on a manuscript again. The talented web designer whose new duties involve hiring, firing and team management; his web designing days are over. Are they good at their jobs? Are they happy?

The twisted logic of the workplace

Over 40 years ago, in January 1967, Dr Laurence J. Peter, a Canadian psychologist and professor of education, wrote an article which was to permanently change the way we look at the workplace. Later published as a book, “The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong” was written in a humorous style, but the shocking central argument was deadly serious. Dr Peter stated, “"In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

What he was drawing attention to was simply the way in businesses and government bureaucracies function, by routinely rewarding excellence with promotion. Reasonable? Look a bit closer. You’re good at your job; in fact, you excel at it. Sometimes you get a small annual pay rise that’s in line with inflation but nothing significant. So when you’re offered a promotion which promises prestige and a higher salary, you take it.

Not necessarily a good decision

As you continue to be promoted, climbing higher and higher up the career ladder into the stratosphere of senior management, the Peter Principle shows that at some stage you will, inevitably, reach a point where you permanently leave your field of expertise, finding yourself in a job which demands responsibilities you can’t fulfil.

Safely perched on your level of incompetence, as long as you don’t make any truly disastrous decisions you probably won’t be fired: you’ll camouflage your mediocrity, relying on the creativity, talents and skills of the people you now manage – people who haven’t yet reached their own levels of incompetence. Left alone to enjoy the fruits of your promotion, you will probably sometimes wish you could still work at the things you used to love. But at least you’ll have an inflated job title, a large salary and maybe even a company car to keep you company.

Employees: look before you leap
So, what are the lessons for those of us who feel the pressure to be hungry and ambitious?

Know your talents and your limits

If you enjoy the “hands-on” elements of your job, a career shift to a management position may not be suitable for you. Recognise this as a fact. You know yourself better than anyone else knows you, so don’t be influenced by the current “lust for superhuman accomplishments”. [1] It’s simply not true that if you’re not a “rising star”, you’re a loser. Fulfillment at work means doing what you enjoy and what you excel at; be proud of what you achieve.

Ask your boss about expectation

When you’re offered a promotion, talk with your boss about what the new job would entail. Making a negative decision without any discussion might be a cause for misunderstanding and won’t help your standing in the company, particularly if this isn’t the first time the subject has arisen. Bear in mind that repeated refusals will impact your career, so perhaps you should ask yourself at some point what it is you are really avoiding: stress or new challenges. Are you avoiding promotion because you know you wouldn’t enjoy it, or because you’re afraid you wouldn’t be good at it?

Prepare for promotion before it grabs you

If you do decide you’re cut out for management, start preparing in advance. Remember that what most management positions really demand is solving problems and people management. Of course, you have to know your business; but the fact that you are brilliant at IT doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be brilliant at managing a team. Go on a course and learn communication skills. It will prove invaluable.

In other words, be honest, with yourself and with your boss. If you’re happy in your current job but don’t feel that promotion would be the right move for you at the moment, say so. Do your job well and enjoy doing it. However, you need to make sure that your boss knows you are entirely committed to the company and that even though you don’t seek promotion at the present time, you welcome the chance to take on new and interesting tasks in your present position.

Employers: respect and reward simple competence
As an employer, you must realise that when employees go for promotion, it is often not because they want a different workload but because they need more pay. This may force the wrong people to seek promotion.

Reward staff for the excellence they show in their job
Even if someone has been doing their job for years. excellence does not devalue. So don’t only give rewards and pay rises if they go with job title changes.
Offer proper management training
But only to those people who are genuinely cut out for management. How do you recognise them? Not just by the fact that they are good at their jobs! They need to demonstrate a desire to be involved in the larger business of the company; to have questions but also solutions; to want to lead projects and carry out high-level tasks. So carefully watch your employees and only select those who show these characteristics.

Remember: insecure, unhappy managers make bad managers. And they are destined for failure.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan.