Working on the F.A.R.M.

Last July, I justifiably blasted a book called Why Work Sucks & What to Do About It. The authors, trying to sell more of their consulting services, gave a shiny-happy, absent-of-detail description of what it’s like to work in a Results-Only Work Environment. Since that time, and with no help from the aforementioned book, we at our office have successfully adopted a work environment free of a defined schedule and by being entirely results-focused.

But today’s the day that I give it a pragmatic, grown-up name. I call it “Working on the F.A.R.M.”

“Why ‘working on the F.A.R.M.’?” Because a successful farm is practical. Because a successful farm focuses on the farm’s needs, and then indirectly, all the farmers benefit. If the farm does well, the farmers do well. If the animals are fed and the crops are seeded, fertilized and watered, then there’s no need for make-work projects. And if the work is done, then it’s fine to do other things. Work first, play later.

Most importantly, a successful farm is based on nurturing natural principles. You can’t harvest (i.e. benefit) if you miss the weather window to get the seed in the ground. You can’t harvest if you don’t fertilize the seeds. Your crop will be ruined if you don’t harvest it at the right time. You reap what you sow; you can’t harvest lentils if you plant wheat.

“Working on the F.A.R.M.” encompasses five elements, “Working” being the first… The remaining four are:

• Freedom of choice;
• Accountability for choices;
• Results as the only measuring stick; and enjoying the
• Motivation that comes from focusing on freedom, accountability and results.

Freedom of Choice

Everyone at our company decides when they come to work and when they go home. They decide what to work on and when to work on it. They decide when they’re accessible to their co-workers. If they’re going on vacation, they decide to either be accessible or have all the necessary information available for others to successfully work in their absence.

Accountability for Choices

Every choice has a consequence. So all choices should be made in light of those consequences. In our work environment, are my choices in line with the owners of the company? Am I working on prescribed priorities? Am I meeting deadlines and budgets? If I’m falling behind, am I compensating in order to catch up? If not, it’s up to me to make it happen.

Results as the Only Measuring Stick

To focus on a number of hours worked or on face-time or on playing office politics are all a waste of time. Such people are the first to go in an economic downturn. Just like on the farm, it doesn’t matter what I intended — God’s not gonna bail me out because I really wanted to plant those seeds… — it only matters what I accomplished. Successful farms only pay for results; they don’t pay for effort.

Motivation

The reality is that “working on the F.A.R.M.” is a more honest acknowledgement of real life. In the 21st century, business and personal lives are a fluid combination; trying to separate them is an outdated, ineffective and unproductive idea. Work, play and family can’t be neatly canned into specific time slots. We all need focused time for each area, but most of our lives are spent blending from one into the other. Ignoring that reality short-changes all of them.

For many people, their business lives started blending into their home lives decades ago. As long as the work is still getting done superbly well, why shouldn’t our personal lives be allowed to blend into work?

The result that comes from acknowledging the business-personal reality is not a reduction in productivity, but an increase in it. Suddenly people are motivated to do things faster. Work becomes effective. Most importantly, work becomes fun.

Working on the F.A.R.M.

It’s worked for 10,000 years. Why wouldn’t it work now?