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The title of this article probably conjured up
all kinds of images for you - some of them more
sinister than others. Before you rush to pick up
a scalpel, please note that I'm not really
suggesting that you take off the top of your
CEO's head and peer inside. As much as that might
help settle some long-standing bets in
your organisation, it's not likely to further
your career - let alone the CEO's.
Wouldn't it be nice, though, if you could get
a glimpse inside the mind of your CEO and find
out to what extent he or she "gets it"
about flexibility? All the official
pronouncements notwithstanding, it's often
difficult to know whether the CEO is on your side
or not when it comes to encouraging the
appropriate use of flexibility. I contend that
having this inside information would help you in
your efforts to advance flexibility - and there
are ways of getting it that don't require major
surgery.
How important is "top
management support" anyway?
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Pick up any text on management or attend a
seminar and you can count on being told that
"top management support is essential"
when it comes to doing just about anything. We're
led to believe that we need the CEO's direct
involvement and blessing whether we're starting a
new line of business, changing paper clip
vendors, or anything in between.
Thus instructed, we go to great pains to
convince, cajole, and beseech the big boss to put
his or her stamp of approval on the pet project
du jour. Quite often, the boss does just that -
and out comes yet another official-sounding memo
of praise and support for the new ingrown-toenail
insurance program, or whatever.
Does it really make a difference when the boss
provides this support? In most cases, probably not. Here's why:
- THE TROOPS ARE JADED - Most organisations
overuse the memo/speech from the boss. The
value of that very important ceremonial role has
been diluted to the point where most employees
give it passing notice at best, or scornful
reaction at worst. In the extreme, a
top-management blessing can be the kiss of death!
- TOO MUCH BACKGROUND NOISE - Consider the pace
of work life and communications flow in today's
organisation; the boost from the boss for today's
new project simply gets lost among all the memos,
e-mail, and overflowing in-boxes everyone must
deal with.
- DESERVED DERISION - If the CEO has, in fact,
offered his or her support to the announcement of
a new paper-clip vendor (and believe me, I have
seen examples just as ludicrous), the troops will
rightfully sneer at just about any other
management missive that comes along.
I would argue that top-management support can
be very valuable, but even more so is an
appropriate set of actions. They do, as the
saying goes, speak much louder than words. This
is true overall and perhaps even more so in the
realm of flexibility.
What does the Boss really
think
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Before you can reasonably expect the senior
executives to back your flexibility initiatives,
you need to know exactly how they feel about
flexibility. There are several ways to find out:
1. Does the executive PERMIT what you preach?
- What does the office grapevine say about how
this manager reacted when an employee needed some
form of flexible work option in the past? Was it
allowed, or encouraged - or was it dismissed out
of hand?
2. Does the executive PRAISE what you preach?
- Similarly, how does this person react when he
or she sees other managers using flexibility
wisely? Are those subordinate managers recognised
and given a pat on the back for doing so - or
does the boss react with a proverbial poke a bit
lower down on the anatomy?
3. Does the executive PRACTICE what you
preach? - I know this is hard to conceive, but
there actually are some senior executives who
take leaves of absence, cut back their work
hours, do some telework, or otherwise use
flexibility themselves.
There's another way to find out how the CEO
feels about flexibility. My first manager when I
joined the workforce had an endless list of
aphorisms that have stayed with me over the
years. One of them was, "management EXPECTS
what management INSPECTS." In other words,
if you want to figure out what a manager expects
the staff to do, watch what the manager
"inspects" - or monitors and cares
about. The best way to find out what's important
is to see what the CEO asks about upon calling in
or returning from being on holiday. If something
is on the CEO's mind, you can bet it should be on
your mind as well.
Is a CEO likely to ask "how many
job-sharing pairs do we have in place?" the
moment he or she walks in the door after a week's
holiday on the ski slopes? Of course not. But
after the more expected series of questions about
those mundane topics such as sales results,
profits, lawsuits, R&D status, etc., a
question or two about what's happening with
flexibility might be in order.
Using management support wisely
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Your first - and most formidable - task is to
help your CEO understand why flexibility is a
valid and valuable business tool. This website and other resources are available to you to help
make that argument, and it must not be
overlooked. Otherwise, you will very accurately
be identified as someone who's peddling
"solutions in search of problems" -
another favorite saying from my ex-boss.
Assuming you have done your homework well and
gotten your CEO on your side, your next challenge
is to leverage that interest the best way
possible. This does not, as you might have
guessed, include ghost-writing an
"official" memo on flexibility policy
for the CEO to sign. Instead, here are some
suggestions:
CASUAL PUBLIC PRAISE - It's very powerful if
the CEO manages to mention during a meeting that
a certain manager "has kept the Amalgamated
Mining project on schedule by retaining Mary
Wilson as part of a job-share team."
When those words are spoken in the course of
normal business conversation, it conveys the
notion that the boss thinks job-sharing is
acceptable and valuable. He or she might need to
be prompted by you to slip in those words of
praise - but that's much more fun than
ghost-writing yet another memo, isn't it?
"OH, BY THE WAY" QUESTIONING -
Similarly, the CEO can ask his or her direct
reports (during their monthly operating reviews)
a question like, "What kind of progress are
you making with the telework pilot?" or
"Have you considered filling some of those
openings using part-timers?" Very soon,
those direct reports will get the message that
the boss is serious about this flexibility stuff.
PICTURES, NOT JUST WORDS - Imagine how
powerful it might be to have a photo in your
company newspaper or magazine of the CEO visiting
a teleworker's home office - with an accompanying
quote such as "I think telework makes a
great deal of sense for our company. It saves
money for us and our employees, and enables them
to get their work done with fewer interruptions
and without the stress of commuting."
Use your imagination and come up with other
ways to redefine "support" beyond the
official memos, speeches, and modern-day
equivalents of the blessing of the fishing
fleets. Your CEO will probably be very willing to
take these more activist roles - IF you have done
your job well in giving him or her a reason to do
so.
Put down that scalpel, pick up a pencil, and
start thinking about new ways to get your CEO
attuned to flexibility and willing to engage the
organization in its proper use. This approach
will not only get better results, but it will
probably be a hit with the CEO as well. CEOs get
as tired of signing all those proclamations as
employees do of reading them....
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