Work Naked
leveraging the value of the distributed workplace

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Work Naked Checklist:  Obstacles to Peak Performance in the Virtual Workplace
 
True or False:  Which statements reflect the beliefs or norms (both stated and unstated) of your company?  (Check all that are true.)

01 If work isn’t your top priority, you will not be a top performer.
02 The more time you spend at the office, the better your chances for promotion.
03 If you look busy, even frantic, you must be very productive.
04 Wearing a beeper and carrying a cell phone are sure signs that you have a REALLY important job and you are a REALLY important person.
05 Face-to-face interaction is the only real way to build and maintain relationships.
06 The quality of communication is directly proportional to the amount of time a team spends together
07 Frenetic travel schedules, lack of sleep, ulcers, and constant complaints about workload are traits of dedicated, valuable workers.
08 Dressing in business attire gives you a serious attitude about work and shows your sense of discipline
09 Calling the office on your cell phone from the beach when you are on vacation means you are a devoted, indispensable worker
10 Calling the office on your cell phone from your backyard garden when you are working from home for the day means you must be goofing off
11 Getting to work early in the morning shows you are a very hard worker.
12 If you are having fun, are well-rested, and physically fit, you must not have enough work to do.
13 If workers were not surrounded by colleagues and management, they’d goof off.
14 Most employees are trying to do the least amount of work for the highest pay.
15 Most people do their best work between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm.
16 Napping is a sign of laziness
17 Spending Saturday on the golf course with clients shows real dedication to your work.
18 Relocating for a new job shows how committed you are to your career and new employer.
19 Giving larger and larger offices to people with bigger and bigger titles motivates employees to work harder.
20 Dragging yourself to the office when you are clearly sick shows dedication and commitment.
21 Requesting to work from home one or two days a week is proof that you are not serious about your job.
22 All successful workers want to climb the corporate ladder.
23 Having lots of employees reporting to you means you produce better results.
24 People give you the respect you deserve when you have a reserved parking space, corner office, and private bathroom.
25 Management is always trying to get more work out of employees for less money and fewer benefits.


After completing the checklist, total the number of “True” responses you checked on the twenty-five-item list and compare that total to this key:


True = 0, False= 25.  If none of these statements seems remotely familiar, your organization already provides an excellent context for remote and mobile work.  Congratulations!
True = less than 5.  If you found less than five of the statements to be true, there are relatively few obstacles to virtual work in your organization . In fact, your company probably already has a number of people working in nontraditional ways and has made a sincere effort to be an “employer of choice.”
True = 5 to 15.  For those who checked between five and fifteen items, there is some work to be done. Your company has probably taken some steps to move away from a traditional, formal corporate culture.  Perhaps you’ve already made the transition to casual business attire, started flattening the hierarchy, and implemented a results-based performance measurement system. Still, your company is probably not yet willing to give employees the freedom to make decisions about where and when to work and these attitudes will need to change.
True = More than 15  If more than 15 of these statements describe the values and norms (whether stated or unstated) in your organization, there are fairly substantial obstacles to successfully freeing employees to work where and when they are most effective. 


The good news if you’re in the over-fifteen group is that your company has the most to gain from overcoming these challenges. Yours is probably a traditional, hierarchical organization where image is emphasized. The overriding philosophy is that the best way to run a profitable business is to have all employees report to a corporate workplace for a prescribed number of hours a day and that longer work hours lead to higher productivity. It is most likely that your industry or geographic region has not yet been affected by talent shortages, changing customer relationships, and other trends that have provoked great upheaval in other organizations. You have a chance to stay ahead of these changes by implementing these new work strategies before your business is affected by the trends that make them imperative.
 


 
 
© C. Froggatt, 2001  Excerpted from Work Naked:  Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance in the Virtual Workplace (Wiley, 2001)