Telecommuting and the Human Touch!

It should come as no surprise to anyone that when an organization begins to decline in profit or market share something dramatic is called for; Something that stirs the emotions and eventually the imagination of the workforce. The initial reaction to the dramatic something is to upset ones comfortable cocoon and then get angry enough to show them what you can really do. Its the same strategy a basketball coach uses by drawing a t echnical foul when his or her team isnt playing up to their potential. In this case, it is the very practical assertion that virtual creative is not yet a perfected art, especially compared to human collaboration. After all, creativity and innovation are the engines that keep an organization in business. New cutting-edge products and services are the key to sustainabilityoh by the way, and also survival! In our haste to accommodate everything that is fashionable and avant garde, weve forgotten some basic premises of business. People are the ultimate key to success and sustainability; and processes are secondary! Although telecommuting will never replace human interaction in the creative process, it is obviously here to stay and will become a more comprehensive part of our day-to-day working arrangement. So, the question is how do we constructively integrate the two for the best organizational output in terms of productivity, innovation, and profitability? For some industries, these output measurements are more easily made than others. For example, to an insurance firm a measure of productivity is simply the number of claims successfully processed per hour. Profitability is measured in terms of cost savings from unnecessary real estate and taxes, accompanying utilities, subsidized services, etc. In a similar capacity, law or accounting firms can measure productivity by the usual billing per hour, but also require continual customer evaluation and feedback in order to get return business. The savings in these situations are easily in the millions and add to the bottom line profitability. However, for organizations that have less tangible measurements of productivity on a daily basis such as marketing or consulting firms, the process can be more difficult to measure from the standpoint of individual measurement. For high-tech organizations that rely heavily on creativity and innovation, like Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Apple, Intel, Cisco, or Yahoo, it is absolutely essential to have human interaction to stimulate the creative design of the next generation product or service. This product or service is rarely the effort a single individual. Enter again, diversity, even though its an outdated concept, replaced with inclusion. This time it is diversity of thought, which involves exploring and engaging differences, suspending judgment, experiencing personal transformation and mastering creativity and innovation. These are, by definition, dominantly high-touch, group-oriented human interactions. At least, thats the conclusion Yahoo recently came to in deciding to bring its virtual employees back to

campus. Based upon a decline in earnings, it was concluded by the new CEO that collaboration, quality and speed were being compromised. Best Buy has followed suit with a similar recall process. There is no one-size fits all. It depends on ones business model, the preservation of ones culture and continuous contact with both internal and external customers. Most of all, it involves the type of business one engages in to find the proper balance of virtual and human interaction. In spite of these differences, there are critical skills that are absolute necessities for virtual telecommuting work arrangements: Personal responsibility and accountabilitythe greater the percentage ownership the greater performance and productivity. The less percentage ownership, the lower performance and productivity. High competencybecause there is often no one to help in virtual situations if you encounter the necessity for a new competency or hit a technology snag. (Except maybe your kids!) Continuous (self-motivated) learningbased upon the necessity to continuously learn new cognitive and behavioral skills. (With no manager available as well as new software and computer technology.) Self-managementthe ability to plan, prioritize, execute and focus your work with the least amount of (or no) management.

In other words, in telecommuting work arrangements, there is a necessity for empowered employees and managementwhere empowerment is defined as the capacity to perform; not the act of delegation. Without these fundamental cognitive and functional skills, productivity, profitability and innovation will suffer, which will be reflected in organizational business performance. In straightforward terms, telecommuting is a privilege, not a right. That privilege is earned by not only ones individual contribution to the organization, but the overall health of the organization. Thats what leadership is all about. Ensuring the health and sustainability of the organization. It is not about popularity, although popularity may be desired. Whether we are aware of it or not, most of us operate in virtual relationships up to 90% of our workday, regardless of being part of a typical workplace or in a telecommuting situation. Just make a mental accounting of those you work with mostyour personal workplace network of about four to six co-workers; both virtual and interpersonal. And you will discover that a

considerable amount of your interaction occurs via email, texting, voice messaging, and telephone conversations. More precisely, we live in a dominantly virtual workplace world, with less and less human interaction. The challenge is making a conscious decision to what degree human interaction is still a necessity for your business success and personal well-being. Some virtual relationships, like leadership, management or project teams, are often defined by locationboth locally and globally. Fortunately, most of these have planned face-to-face meetings several times a yeardepending on distance. At Innovations, we have defined the Golden Rules of Virtual Teaming and Collaboration as shown below: 1. Team members are expected to adopt and adapt to new information technologies as necessary for rapid information processing and dissemination. 2. Team members must be open and resilient to a variety of changing assignments, tasks and responsibilities that may require new learning during or prior to a new project. 3. Team members are required to have (or learn) superior collaboration skills in working with other team members regardless of location. 4. Team members are expected to operate both independently and interdependently in defining their roles, planning and prioritizing their activities and executing their responsibilities with a high level of effectiveness and efficiency. 5. Team members must learn and master the essential interpersonal skills of teamwork and collaboration. 6. Team members must view their inherent differences as the source of breakthrough innovation, creativity, and competitive business advantage. 7. Team members must learn the practical skills of participating on and leading virtual teams, such as agenda preparation, expected outcomes, information dissemination, and follow up report and future activities in specific time frames. 8. Team members must adapt to divergently different cultural work styles, e.g., high and low context, polychronic and monochronic, and Eurocentric and non-Eurocentric styles.