Unlocking the promise of ‘teleworking’
One of the great things about technology (especially of the instantaneous ‘social’ kind) is the ability to attend a conference without leaving your office. Which is a salient point because yesterday I followed a number of the presentations looking at the idea of tele-working or remote workers, and did so by following the tweets of people in the room at the time. I have an interest in this concept and those of you who were at the RSCA conference in Canberra in 2007 would have seen me speak about the challenges that work-forces face, and why we were yet to capture the gains possible through teleworking. Six years on, and we’re still yet to do so – why?
As I tweeted in reply to the observations being made, the reality is that we do not yet trust the idea of ‘digital’. Not those who use it, those who manage those who use it. Back in 2007 I suggested that managers still rely on staring at the back of people’s heads as a form of judgment criteria of workplace value and output. It’s a fundamentally flawed approach built on the earliest factory model established by the Wedgewood’s pottery factory in the 1760s and is till relevant today.
A couple of posts down from this one I’ve provided an overview of the V21 conference I spoke at in October. The link to my presentation ‘From Clever to Wise’ is also on paragraph two of that overview and it shows that we have NOT evolved much from the people management model of the 1760’s. In fact, the office layout and functional design looks pretty much the same. Simply put, despite the evolution of technology, we have not evolved the maturity of management thinking to match it. We are trapped by ‘Hairy Eyeballs Management’ which insists people be ‘present’ so that they can be ‘judged’ or ‘over-seen’.
This barrier is the fundamental anchor that delays organisations from tapping into the benfits that teleworking proffers. The remote workforce really can work. And there’s no ‘either / or’ in this issue. Some workers will be well suited to office only, some to remote only and the vast majority will prefer a combination of both. But until Management can mature and give TRUST to the workforce, we’ll continue to drag people into offices via commutes of multiple hours each day for No productivity benefit either side of departure or arrival.
Research shows that the benefits of teleworking can be enourmous to both workforce and organisation. But lack of trust and a model beholden to the rats in a maze overseer approach holds us back.
A quick note for the history buffs among us – in this month of August fifty years ago, the first components of the Berlin Wall were constructed with rings of barbed wire severing Berlin into visually distinct west and east Berlin. Russia’s main challenge at that time was the 10,000 or so East Germans each…
Read More >Let me start by saying that my Masters of Science qualification is NOT held in economics and with that said I’m holding an interested person’s perspective toward wanting to know ‘why’ and ‘how’. I have some questions and thoughts about the theory of Supply and Demand and would be happy to have some feedback from…
Read More >Below you’ll find this afternoon’s discussion with ABC Darwin radio in which host Vicki Kerrigan chats with futurist Marcus Barber about the emerging research into lab grown meat as a potential addition to or replacement of, existing livestock farming methods. The program streamed live on 105.7 ABC Darwin this afternoon, discussing the University of…
Read More >Continuing the futures discussions on ABC Darwin Radio, this time with Paul Dale who is filling in for Vicki Kerrigan whilst Vicki is handling the breakfast time slot, we discuss some of the conference sessions at the World Futures Conference here in Vancouver You can listen to the audio stream here and cue this…
Read More >My slides from today’s presentation on ‘Getting You Future Right’ can be found at the link below To those at the session, my apologies for the technical challenges and hope these slides can provide more context for you – contact me if you have any questions. Access the Slides Here
Read More >Here’s the upload of my conversation with Vicki Kerrigan at ABC Radio Darwin. In it I offer the first three of ten steps designed to help you get your future right. In last week’s session I left Vicki with a question to ponder: Is my life headed where I want it to go, and if…
Read More >Futurist Marcus Barber will be joining ABC’s Vicki Kerrigan in Darwin for the first of an ongoing discussion about the future this Wednesday. Each week on Wednesday afternoon’s, Vicki and Marcus will discuss the future of something, how we prepare for the future, what the future looks like for some industries and other related futures…
Read More >The panel session at the National Manufacturing Week 2011 went well though with four of us on the panel, time was quite compressed. Some really good thoughts from Phillip Chindamo from AIG, Damon Cantwell from Deloitte and Erol Harvey from Minifab, delightfully chaired by Sandra George from SEBN at the City of Greater Dandenong. Rather…
Read More >On Thursday I’ll be part of the panel that wraps up the National Manufacturing Week 2011 in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre under the theme of Meeting the challenges of the next generation of manufacturing with a focus on Innovation and Sustainability. It should be an interesting chat as we consider what…
Read More >There’s lots to like about borrowing ideas from other areas especially where those ideas can lead to a significant positive shift. In the link below, Zaid Ali Alsagoff an educational blogging specialist highlights why the Finnish Education system stands as a potential model to embrace. And whilst there are examples of this type of thinking…
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