Measuring Output amidst the #wfa Revolution!

08 Sep Measuring Output amidst the #wfa Revolution!

“The future won’t wait for you to catch up. It needs some of your time right now.” – Graeme Codrington

Once a software engineer saw a bull pulling a cart, with the farmer sleeping peacefully in it. He was very surprised to see this scene and said to the farmer, “If the bull stopped, you wouldn’t know.” To which the farmer replied, “Sir, if the bull stops walking, the bell will not ring. The engineer thought for a minute and said… “But what if this bull stopped in one place and just kept moving his neck?” The farmer quietly replied, “Our bull doesn’t work from home, sir!”

While most of us can identify with the humor, #wfh is passé. #wfa (work from anywhere) has already taken its place. 

It’s not about where or when people work that’s powering management buzz these days. It’s about that elusive yardstick to measure output, efficiency and efficacy. The questions behind the question: ‘How do I measure my team’s productivity?’ really are: ‘How can I measure my team’s hours?’ Or, ‘How can I ensure they’re actually working when they’re supposed to? 

While that seems valid prima facie, most managers believe they’re supposed to be ‘keeping an eye on things.’ We’re yet to find a job description that mentions this, even in the fine print. Leaders and managers are hired to produce results, not ‘keep an eye on things.’ We shouldn’t be measuring people by the hours they work, or where they work out of. We should be measuring people solely by their outputs. Period.

This change in perspective is what the #wfa revolution is all about. It’s here to stay. And it calls for a fundamental mindset shift:

• Shifting the focus from where people sit, when they work, or the hours they put in, to measuring their contribution.
• Discarding the belief that the ‘output-based’ mindset is just a ‘Covid hazard’ and we will once again ‘keep an eye’ on people once they get back to the office. They probably won’t; not in a while at least. 
• Accepting that a hybrid workplace is part of the new normal globally; with colleagues working in different geographies and time zones.
• Allowing people to manage their work around their lives, rather than the other way around

While not everybody can work from home, there are many trends pointing to a different workplace. The current scenario has proven it. The decade we are in is already seeing an explosion of globalism. GenZ or the millennial workforce won’t be restricted by geography. Nothing can compel them to live in the same city or time zone as their jobs. Companies the world over are already looking for them.

Like most things evolutionary, there isn’t a magic formula that’ll prepare us to respond to the #wfa revolution. But author, futurist and strategy consultant Graeme Codrington speaks about five things that companies are doing to prepare for the #wfa workplace:

1. Belonging: replicating the sense of identity, belonging, or tribe, that the physical workplace presented, on a daily basis.
2. Mastery: intentionally fostering our people’s competence and confidence to contribute to what the team needs.
3. Autonomy: defining success by agreeing to what needs to be done, by when it needs to be done and letting people do it.
4. Generosity: being there for others, showing empathy and caring for each other, the team and the community as a whole .
5. Purpose: bestowing upon each individual in the team a sense of their larger purpose and the value their work brings.

Many future-focused Indian enterprises are already preparing for the #wfa revolution. We have much to learn from their initiatives. Sidestepping this revolution may just cause our brightest minds to choose to work elsewhere. 

A great #wfa perspective that really resounded with me and I sense will with you too, is aptly summed up below:

“The future of work consists of learning a living.” – Marshall McLuhan