One of my bosses, one of Kwela’s two owners, Russ, came to
my choir concert the other Saturday night.
Afterwards I introduced him to a good friend of mine who loves that he
is a huge supporter of Sea Shepherd.
As they were chatting, she remarked to him how cool she
thinks it is that her and I can be in my kitchen making brownies and when my
phone rings, I flip into ‘Kwela Corp’
mode and conduct business for 10 min’s while the batter awaits.
Russ laughed and then parlayed that the most non-business
setting he took a client call in was on the water in a kayak.
It really struck me how the telecommute model that Kwela
employs requires a huge amount of trust – on all our parts, certainly, but
especially on the parts of the owners.
If one can make progress toward better conditions
through employing more enlightened or liberal ideas, have Russ and Nic reached
enlightenment because they trust us all so implicitly?
Over the course of my
former life managing admin & customer service staff, the odd time someone
from my group asked if they could knock off 3-4 hr’s early to take the huge pile
of work they had (physical papers to sort) home – which they couldn’t get to at
the office because of the high volume of calls, I have to admit that while I
said yes, I felt uneasy about it.
That having been in the
late 80s–mid 90s aside (many organizations have progressed to very liberal
work environments since) – I can still see myself squirming when I replay those
scenes in my head.
Was that a lack of
trusting those individuals? Seeing their
faces in my head now, I can’t think “I don’t trust this person”.
For me, I realize, it
was about feeling like I was giving up control.
While I’m a recovering perfectionist now, I was marinating in
perfectionism then and the illusion of the loss
of knowing what was going on with the work created a sense of mistrust
within me.
It was as if I felt
better seeing the huge pile on her desk, knowing we were 3 mo’s behind
processing applications, versus her coming in the next morning all ready for
those applications to be entered into the system lickety-split. [Of course I felt better seeing them all
ready the next a.m., but I lived in an uncomfortable place during that
in-between time of ‘not knowing’.]
I know that Russ and
Nic are not uncomfortable with ‘not knowing’ about all the work we do [or don’t
do ;) ] that they can’t see. While we
all have to deliver tangible results – so it wouldn’t take long to find out if
someone is not pulling their weight – they both took big leaps of faith from
the get-go: to trust us fully as the
starting point.
Speaking at least for
myself, the benefits to us employees are significant: a flexible schedule,
autonomy and a sense of ownership of our responsibilities, balanced lives, and
above all, feeling comfortable with Management.
Like there isn’t something to prove or that we need to hide … We can be
ourselves and manage our work within that.
And I can imagine the
benefits to Russ & Nic because of the trust they have in their
employees. Owners of small businesses
lose a lot of sleep, with added health risks from the level of stress that can
come when we don’t trust. Many of those
owners may feel it’s all about the employee and whether they’re a trustworthy
person … And rightfully so, in some cases.
But when I hear of managers
in organizations today – including organizations we work with, who try to
control their employees’ every move, eg. watch every minute of their time, I do
believe that’s not about the individual’s trustworthiness, but about the
supervisor / manager [I’m sure in some instances, it’s organizational culture,
which can start at the top – as it does at Kwela].
If you have a hard time
trusting any one of your employees, see that person in your mind’s eye and ask
yourself “do I think this person is untrustworthy?”
Do that with everyone
who reports to you. While I recognize
that trust is a complex matter, I do still feel that if you have a lack of
trust in everyone or most team members, looking at your need for control,
power, perfectionism, etc could be worthwhile.
Working on issues
within yourself could free up wasted energy, lower your stress level – and who knows: you may even reach enlightenment ;)
Liz
