MBWA
As you know, I’m a proud baby-boomer. As you also know, I try very hard not to be judgemental about the other generations — there are no ‘bad’ ages to me. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses.
Several years ago, managment by walking around was all the rage. We were told to be seen by our employees, show interest in their work, be available for questions, coach them, give them feedback… It made a lot of sense ten or 20 years ago.
But what about Gen Y? Many prefer to communicate electronically. And many more do their best work when they are out of the office. So who will I see when I’m doing my managing by walking around?
July 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Love this blog. I imagined the movie “Office Space” when you stated, “So who will I see walking around?”. Maybe in today’s world of virtual offices we will grow more toward managers available on a web cam to “see and be seen”. Maybe the evidence in the work ethic for telecommuters will out-perform those that are in the office? It could be an interesting study.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Ms. Holmes,
I agree and believe that in the very near future, more companies will allow their employees to work from home over the internet. This will allow them to have happier employees and will end up saving money for the company and the employee from having to pay for fuel.
I enjoy reading your blog so much. The posts are very direct and to the point. I actually found your blog via some of our HR blogger friends (most of which are listed in your Blogroll). We would love to exchange links with your blog as I believe we compliment each other nicely. Please let us know either way!