Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance in the Virtual Workplace - Softcover

Froggatt, Cynthia C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0787953903 ISBN 13: 9780787953904

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2001

Synopsis

Alternative workstyles can be a way to attract, retain, and motivate talented employees

"Enlightening, enjoyable, and extremely practical . . . offers real clarity about what is wrong with the way most companies work, plus exact directions on how to fix each and every office foolishness. Do what Froggatt says and watch your employees productivity rise."--Scott Shuster, BusinessWeek

Corporate and individual resistance to new ways of working are often imbedded within a company's culture--and can stifle change and hinder productivity. Organized around eight simple yet critical principles of the new workplace, Work Naked challenges long-held beliefs about the appropriate time, place, look, and feel of productivity in the knowledge era, showing how a wealth of hidden potential can be released by giving employees the freedom to work how, when, and where they want. Cindy Froggatt suggests workplace options that can help balance work and personal life, and helps managers address the needs of the many knowledge workers who require a greater degree of autonomy to perform, create, and innovate. She presents numerous examples of companies of different sizes and types that have instituted telework or alternative programs--and clearly explains the benefits and pitfalls of implementing them.

Cindy Froggatt (New York, NY) is Principal of Froggatt Consulting, whose clients include Compaq, Mercedes-Benz, Capital One, and Nova Corporation.

About this title

From the Publisher

"Enlightening, enjoyable, and extremely practical, Work Naked offers real clarity about what is wrong with the way most companies work, plus exact directions on how to fix each and every office foolishness. Do what Froggatt says and watch your employee productivity rise." --Scott Shuster, Business Week

"High-tech tools (cell phones, laptops, e-mail, bluetooth, videoconferencing, etc.) are not and never have been sufficient by themselves to gain competitive advantage. What's needed is a concurrent change in corporate culture, and Cynthia Froggatt helps lead the way." --William R. Pape, cofounder VeriFone, Inc.

"Work Naked is a lively and eminently practical book. Froggatt pulls off a graceful sleight of hand with this engaging book: she uses the topic of working remotely as a trojan horse to cover virtually every essential element of working in the new economy. A great guide for those who are working remotely -- and those with far-flung employees." --Tom Ehrenfeld, columnist, The Industry Standard, and author, The Startup Garden: How Growing A Business Grows You

"Work Naked's eight principles provide keen insight into how we must change our attitude about work and the workplace to tap the extraordinary power of human creativity in the rapidly evolving connected economy. A must-read for enterprise leadership and those with a stake in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage." --Michael Bell, research director, Gartner Group

"Cynthia Froggatt makes a persuasive case that the best way -- indeed, the only way -- that business leaders can stir creative minds is by giving up control. Her message to corporate America is powerfully simple and simply powerful: set your workers free." --Daniel H. Pink, publisher, FreeAgentNation.com, and author, Free Agent Nation: How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live

"Three centuries after we first started going to centralized workplaces, someone has finally broken through the weight of tradition and given us a guide to the next generation of work and workplaces. Work Naked is your escape route from the world of cubicles, time clocks, and all the other vestiges of the Stone Age of the workplace." --Gil Gordon, telecommuting consultant and author, Turn It Off: How To Unplug from the Anytime-Anywhere Office Without Disconnecting Your Career

"A highly useful exploration of the joys and gains of broadening the range of styles, places and time structures which we define as 'real work.' It is filled with useful data tied to stimulating case examples." --Fritz Steele, consultant on organizational and environmental chang, Portsmouth Consulting Group

"With compelling stories about high performing free agents and corporate employees, Work Naked breaks confining stereotypes about how and where people work. An experienced workplace consultant, Froggatt provides practical guidelines to corporate managers about how to support value adding work anytime, anyplace." --Michael Joroff, senior lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and workplace consultant, author, lecturer, and researcher

"In a highly readable style combining survey data with case study examples and simple checklists and diagnostic tools, Froggatt presents a strong case for working virtually. For managers thinking about how to introduce and implement some form of virtual work, Work Naked is likely to become an indispensable primer." --Franklin Becker, professor and chair, department of design and environmental analysis, and director of the international workplace studies program, Cornell University

"Cindy Froggatt strips away the seven (actually eight) veils that have prevented us from seeing what the future office will be like. What matters isn't territory any more. We can all change our lives far more profoundly if we dare seize control of our time. This new dimension of freedom will reshape not just our work styles but the entire landscape of the new century." --Francis Duffy, founder, DEGW and author, The New Office

"In this enormously useful book, Cindy Froggatt explains with frankness why managers need to improve the way they treat employees. Cindy writes the simple truth that the best managers treat employees with dignity and trust, giving them the necessary freedom to balance overwhelming life and work issues." --Marilyn Zelinsky, senior editor, Home Office Computing Magazine and author of New Workplaces for New Workstyles and Practical Home Office Solutions

"This enlightening book will sharpen a corporate leader's ability to become a master on the 'infrastructure gameboard.' Froggatt's practical case studies enable readers to understand how, by providing the correctly balanced infrastructure of physical and virtual workspaces for employees, they can promote the development of the kind of revolutionary innovations which fuel today's fiercely competitive businesscape and lead to increased shareholder value." --Nancy Johnson Sanquist, director of strategic initiatives, Peregrine Systems and fellow of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA)

"This book is truly essential reading for anyone who is seriously committed to creating work options that really meet the needs of professional men and women." --Laraine T. Zappert, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University, School of Medicine, and author, Getting It Right

"Work Naked is not simply an alternative to the traditional workplace or workstyle...It is evidence of the liberation of workers from hierarchical burdens, frustration due to mistrust, overwork, stress, fixed work hours,idea-hoarding, and unpleasant work environments. Cindy shows us a map to the knowledge society that will replace industrial society in the 21st century." --Mototsugu Nakatsu, president, Nakatsu CRE/FM Consulting Inc, Tokyo, Japan

"If you want your company to be more successful and the place people want to work, you must read this book. Cynthia Froggatt, an experienced workplace consultant, tells us how to enable people to do their best work." --Peter Lawrence, chairman and founder, Corporate Design Foundation

From the Inside Flap

Do your employees have the freedom to work naked? That is, do they have the freedom to work where and when they are most effective? If not, you may be unwittingly limiting the performance of your company. Laptop computers, e-mail, voicemail, cell phones, and the Internet . . . technology has forever transformed the way we work. Or has it? Despite the myriad technological advances of the last decade, most knowledge economy businesses still cling to the mind-sets and customs of the traditional nine-to-five workplace. Work Naked challenges these outdated practices and uncovers hidden potential that can be realized when employees make smart choices about where and when to work. In this refreshing new book, Cynthia Froggatt offers a vision of the workplace unencumbered by traditional corporate rules and trappings where employers and employees can reap the benefits of remote and mobile work technologies. Discover how Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Merrill Lynch, Jupiter Communications, Deloitte & Touche, the federal government, American Express, Autodesk, Herman Miller, and many other large and small enterprises have adopted innovative ways of working and are leveraging the power of the virtual workplace. Using the eight Work Naked principles, business leaders, managers, and employees can shed their old ideas about work and ? Take the Initiative to explore remote and mobile work strategies ? Trust employees to work out of sight and improve performance ? Encourage Joy in the workplace and avoid overwork and high turnover ? Celebrate Individuality and encourage creativity, self-management, and stronger solo contributions ? Emphasize Equality to remove barriers to communication ? Engage in honest Dialogue and enhance global collaboration ? Optimize Connectivity among stakeholders to strengthen relationships and attract a talented workforce ? Support a wide range of Workplace Options so employees can be more effective in both solo and collaborative work Written with wisdom and a healthy dose of wit, Work Naked is the survival handbook for making virtual work . . . work! The Author Cynthia C. Froggatt, principal of Froggatt Consulting, (New York, New York) advises Fortune 500 companies on aligning workplace strategies with business plans. She is frequently quoted on the topics of remote and mobile work strategies, overcoming resistance to change, and the virtual workplace in a variety of media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Home Office Computing, the San Jose Mercury News, Stern Business Journal, and National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Visit Cynthia Froggatt at www.worknakedbook.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0787953903
• ISBN 13: 9780787953904
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320