How will we know they are working?

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to design digital workplaces or “offices in the cloud.” These environments enable companies to allow flexible and remote working for their teams. I also teach the digital literacy, fluency, communication and collaboration skills needed to work in these modern technology-rich workplaces.

One of the most common questions I have heard from leadership teams, who come from a traditional brick and mortar office environment, when the topic turns to distributed (and remote) teams is this: “How will we know they are working?”

The answer to this question is very simple: Look at the results. Truth is you could have someone “working” next to you in an office and they could still be doing nothing. (Raise your hand if you’ve had that experience!) The hours an individual is visible in an office is not the right metric, but rather whether that individual delivers what they were supposed to by the time they were supposed to.

Having a Results Only Work Environments (ROWE) is essential if you want to successfully implement a distributed team.