I recently read a 2008 article in Edutopia by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, that presents an exciting “Education 2.0″ vision of using technology to create lessons that are tailored to individual student’s best ways of learning.
The article made me think about whether the same possibilities hold true for the workplace. Could Web 2.0 technology meaningfully change the way we think about work, making our lives more flexible? To some extent this has already happened, but the revolution that would dramatically alter our perception of “working remotely” hasn’t come to pass.
Many companies still are not maximizing the possibilities of remote access. They fly account managers cross country for meetings that could be done via web conference, or insist that documents be kept in paper format when they could be stored in a good online system, offering more cost and space efficiency, and allowing employees to access documents wherever they are.
Some of these technologies — like Skype or creating a robust document filing system — cost relatively little money. But they require a vast shift in how people do their jobs. Ironically, the people at the top, who are most in a position to effect some of these dramatic changes, are also the most likely to choose to keep things status quo in their own offices. They and/or their assistants are unable or unwilling to seriously rethink how they do their jobs.
If some have been unwilling to adapt to the new technology environment, others have adapted for the wrong reasons. Many working mothers have seen new technologies as offering more opportunity to “work from home” or develop a schedule that allows for more time with family. That may be a positive outcome of Web 2.0, but I worry when the needs of working mothers become a driver for companies to adopt new technology. For one thing it gives license to lots of people who aren’t working parents to opt out of these advances — and for Web 2.0 to work as a corporate strategy, everyone needs to be on board.
Using new technology primarily to allow parents more flexibility also reinforces a myth: that working remotely allows for fewer hours spent “at the office.” In my experience, remote employees who are doing their jobs well work as much or more than their in-office counterparts. The problem is that there are also lots of remote employees who aren’t doing their job well — they think that working from home will allow them to concurrently watch babies, or do laundry, or cook dinner. This makes companies rightfully wary of allowing employees to use technology to facilitate working from other locations.
Finally, one thing in the Christensen article concerned me. The piece opens with a group of children sitting around using noise-canceling headphones and laptop computers to learn Mandarin. Amazing possibility. But not for a whole day. Educators will have to figure out how to use technology not only to create uniquely effective learning experiences for children, but also to bring them together in meaningful ways. At its best, Web 2.0 creates community and facilitates teamwork. A world that consists only of the kids with the headphones and computers will surely be less educationally rich than the one we have now. But one that uses those experiences as a launchpad for collaborative projects where kids work together in person could truly be revolutionary.
Similarly, there is a pitfall in the workplace. In-person communication — not just via email or phone, but being able to see eachother’s faces and body language — is critical to keeping corporate environments healthy. People who work remotely on a regular basis may lose (or never gain) some of the key interpersonal skills that would allow them to function at top capacity. The challenge for managers and management experts is to find ways of using technology that deepen bonds between employees and facilitate their work together. When that happens working parents — and lots of others — will benefit considerably too.
Related links:
- Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani writes about matering the art of working remotely in her Harvard Business Review blog.
- Michelle Conlin asks “Working Remotely…or Remotely Working?” in the Management IQ blog at Businessweek.
- An interesting article from the Miami Herald about how the internet is extending working mothers’ days.
- The Columbus Dispatch says that legitimate work from home jobs are few and far between.
