Making Flexible Work Work at CMHC

For many of us working from home or in a flexible remote working environment for the first time, so we can learn a lot from organizations like CMHC Canada's Mortgage and Housing Corporation, where they operate as a results only work environment. 

So, results only work environment or ROWE for short, means that everyone in the organization is 100% accountable, and 100% autonomous. I, as an employee, have the power to decide how, where, when, to get my work done in order to achieve the results expected of me. So that doesn't mean necessarily you're working from home, but it means you're choosing where I can get my work done. 

So at CMHC, they had a distinct advantage when suddenly people couldn't go into the office because already a huge majority of their work population was working from home or flexibly. So logistically people had the setup at home they had the equipment they needed, and they knew how to manage their time and they knew their routines and all of that. So from an organizational standpoint, they didn't have to worry about people leaders trying to figure out how do I know if my people are working, because the other thing in a, in a row, is that managers actually become results coaches, so at CMHC all of their managers have been trained to coach about results to coach people how to achieve results. 

So managers are no longer managing people or people's time, which is what we all have to shift away from in a flexible world. They are coaching people to figure out their own roadblocks and to achieve the results that they're that they need to. So, by already being a row CMHC was ready when the pandemic hit, and they already had these built in reflexes, they're able to have powerful conversations and support people more effectively who are struggling with mental health, or even who are sick because they have this already this way of working, and coaching. 

So, we can take that lesson from CMHC from this row environment results only work environment to stop managing people's time and attendance and start coaching for results and there'll be more in one of our modules in this course.

What's your biggest challenge in moving to more flexible and / or remote work? Share in the comments below!