Trust

There is a great book that I would recommend to everyone.  The title of the book is When No One's Watching by E. Scott Geller.  It is a fictional tale that explores the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the leader's role in motivating and enabling employees.

The basic premise of the book is what you get from your employees when no one is watching is what they are intrinsically motivated to do.

How to create intrinsic motivation is presented in the book through the story of Joanne.  Sometimes the story is a little simplistic, but the learning value is very high.

Where am I going with this?  I promised yesterday to talk about working unsupervised.  If your employees are intrinsically motivated, this is never a problem.

There are a number of reasons why employees work unsupervised.  You may have a globally distributed organization, so you are not physically located in close proximity to your employees.  Your organization may offer flex time, so your hours differ from your employees, even though you are located in the same office.  Your organization may also offer work from home arrangements.

I still remember being flabbergasted by a colleague who said, " I couldn't pass the red face test if I let my employee work from home."  What?  What red face test?  If you don't trust your employees to do what they are supposed to do unless you watch them 100% of the time, maybe you need to rethink your leadership capabilities.

If an employee doesn't perform unless you watch them, it is a leader fail, plain and simple.  It could be that the employee is not suited for the work, leader job to help them find something they are suited for.  It could be that the employee is not motivated or challenged by the work, leader job to motivate and challenge.  It could be that they are suffering in some way, physical, mental or emotional, and simply can't perform, leader job to help them to find escape from their pain through inspiring work.

Many organizations have a policy on work from home that demands an employee prove themselves worthy of the trust implicit in a work from home relationship.  I personally think that is kind of backwards.  If the work is readily accomplished from any location, why not allow work from home?  There are benefits to people being in the same place sometimes, and you want to build a sense of esprit d'corps and create a real sense of team, sometimes you have to be together in the same place.

But some work actually is better done alone.  In a private place.  Without interruption.  And sometimes the only choice is to work from home to take time off.  Bad weather, sick children, sick parents, the list can be endless.  When you set up a work from home arrangement with a new employee, you are saying, "I trust you.  I believe in you."  What a powerful way to start a relationship.  My experience has been that people live up to trust.  The better you treat people, the more they have to lose if they damage the trust.

Believing in your employees, their talents, their contributions and their trustworthiness, creates an upward spiral for your organization.  Coupled with meaningful goals that have been documented and are regularly discussed, happy employees are a natural outcome.