Results-Only means old measures of effectiveness

Given the shameful performance of Congress and Wall Street in recent weeks and years, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson are calling for a "RESULTS-ONLY GOVERNMENT" or ROG - in which old measures of effectiveness are rendered obsolete and a singular focus is put on results.

Based on their innovative and groundbreaking work developing ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment) at Fortune 100 retailer Best Buy's corporate offices, Ressler and Thompson have discovered fundamental truths about managing for results--only results.

"People are outraged. They are asking themselves where the oversight was," says Jody Thompson, co-author of Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It. "Why don't people in Congress and Wall Street executives have to be held accountable for RESULTS?"

While the crisis on Wall Street and in Congress mount, Presidential candidates offer platitudes and bailouts--heartbreakingly absent from the debate will be a single, clarion call for focusing on results. Until now.

In a ROWE the focus of work shifts from hours worked and physical presence (inputs) to results (outcomes). The concept has been hailed as both "revolutionary" and was the subject of a BusinessWeek cover story.
"The American people are tired of excuses," says Ressler. "It is high time we demand that results, and only results, are what matters."

The results at Best Buy speak for themselves: Productivity increased an average of 41% on ROWE teams, voluntary turnover rates went down as much as 90%, and involuntary turnover rates (so long, slackers) increased - much to business leaders' delight.

How Would a ROG (Results-Only Government) Work?
Ressler and Thompson say the concept of ROWE is gaining traction, and point to the convergence of demographic and cultural trends (technology, telecommunications, boomers scaling back, and Gen Y entering the workforce) as cornerstones of ROWE's movement's progress within the American workplace.

"We have perfected ROWE in an office setting," says Thompson. "And we believe there are some foundational elements of ROWE that are transferable to Wall Street and Government."

They have seen how transformative a singular focus on results can be, and would hope that business leaders and government officials, many of whom have already made inquiries about ROWE, would seek out their expertise on how to create systems based narrowly on results.

"The last eight weeks, and the last eight years, have shown just how easy it is to be distracted from what the American people consider to be "results," says Ressler. "We'd like to be at the table when the conversation finally turns to results."