Focus - Summer 2012 - 42

5 QUESTIONS Kevin Kruse

5 Questions With…

Julie Clow
o understand how innovative organizations are creating cultures that breed both business success and individual engagement, I turned to Dr. Julie Clow, who has more than a decade of experience as a learning and development professional, including ve years with Google. She is now the VP for learning and development at a New York-based investment management company. Her new book is, e Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All. Kevin Kruse (KK): You suggest that company cultures haven’t changed with the times. What is the reality of these new times we live in? Julie Clow (JC): Our new reality has shi ed from a workplace with bounded hours and prescribed work to a global workforce spanning all 24 hours of our days. Our attempts to keep employees inside a proverbial box are failing. KK: What are some of the new principles that can provide an enlightened framework for work? JC: ere are ve principles I have observed in companies doing this well: 1) Focus on the impact individuals and teams are creating, rather than the activities they engage in. 2) Let individuals follow their own energy, rather than prescribing set work schedules. 3) Find roles in your organization for individuals based on their strengths rather than static job slots. 4) Figure out the right things to work on rather than trying to do everything. 5) Empower employees at the grassroots level rather than dictating topdown mandates.

KK: Help us to visualize what an enlightened job might look like? What was a day at Google like? JC: Most days, I’d sleep in until 8 a.m. and roll into the o ce around 10 a.m. We’d usually have a few late morning meetings, and then I’d head out for a lunchtime run around the campus. A er showering and grabbing a salad to go, I’d hunker down for a solid afternoon of work mixed with some meetings, and work into the evening – around 7 p.m. or so. KK: Some people might think you are describing a workplace anarchy where people just do what they want, when they want. Your rebuttal? JC: Our challenge is to nd ways of tracking and articulating the impact we are creating, as well as individual contributions to this, which frees people to gure out the best way to do their work. We’re learning the creative process o en requires a good deal of play and recuperation, so if employees aren’t spending a bit of time in the game room, we should actually be worried. KK: So what can we all do to launch a work revolution? JC: As an individual, you can make clear your strengths and energy needs to your team. As a manager, your goal is to multiply the collective intelligence of every employee to maximize the impact of the whole team. And as a leader, you can choose to trust your employees, but arm them with an inspiring mission statement and clear problem statements to solve. I

Julie Clow, author, The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All

For more information, scan/capture the QR code with your smartphone.

Kevin Kruse is the executive director of SPBT and co-author of the New York Times best-seller, We: How to Increase Performance and Pro ts through Full Engagement. Email Kevin at kkruse@spbt.org.

FOCUS | SUMMER 2012 | www.spbt.org

http://www.spbt.org

Focus - Summer 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus - Summer 2012