What does knowledge work look like?

One of my favourite stories about work is an apocryphal one about Nikola Tesla visiting Henry Ford at his factory. Ford was having a problem and asked Tesla to come and see if he could help him. During his visit, Tesla had a look at one of the machines, walked up to it, and made a small X on it in chalk. Ford was delighted and asked Tesla to invoice him.

When the invoice arrived it was for $10,000. Ford, rather shocked at this amount, asked for a breakdown of charges. So Tesla followed up with another invoice. This time he indicated that he made a $1 charge for marking the machine with the chalk, and $9,999 for knowing where to put it.

This Snopes article debunks the story as being literally true but, nevertheless, reflects that the 'value' of work is a difficult thing to quantify:

The value of work can appear contradictory in that those who are visibly busy frequently earn but a fraction of those who seem to not be doing all that much. Judged by the eye alone, the secretary who can at the end of the day point to the stack of letters she typed would appear to be worth more than the executive who at the end of the same day can display no physical manifestations of what she's spent her time on. Equally, one who flips burgers and fills orders appears far more productive to the naked eye than the manager in charge of the place.

I'm a knowledge worker. I create value not through manual labour but through thoughts and words. I've found by trial and error and a few years of experience that can only spend a maximum of six hours per day, or 30 hours a week, before I'm mentally exhausted. Any more than that leads to negative effects on my productivity, mental health, and/or physical health.

Am I cheating my employer or clients, then? No. Standard 40-hour contracts are a nonsense in 2015 and we treat them as such. These days, the equivalent of the 20th century 'work hack' of spending time at the water cooler is spending time on social networks. The ironic thing is that, because knowledge work isn't usually procedural and repetitive, but thrives on serendipity and slow hunches, this 'goofing off' can actually be beneficial.

Having experience working in offices, classrooms, and from home over the last few years, here are three principles I'd suggest leaders in a knowledge environment may want to pay attention to.

1. Focus on results

There will be times when it's all hands on deck and there's specific issues you need to burn down. But for business as usual, it's best to judge people by the value they create and the results of their projects. Some people need to sit physically co-located with people to achieve this. Others are best going for a walk.

I tend to work in bursts and like to mix up the environments in which I work. The important thing here is for leaders to be rigorous about results, but much more flexible over process.

2. Promote work-life harmony

While 'work-life balance' may be a myth, it's certainly possible to have work-life harmony as an aspirational goal. One of the wonderful things about knowledge work in the 21st century is the extent to which it allows collaboration across timezones with some team members based at home.

Your colleagues and reports are likely to be much happier if they can fit their work around their family. This shouldn't be a one-way relationship, but all too often it's a non-negotiable in the other direction, with parents missing out in important events in their children's lives and in the wider life of their community.

3. Work in a more agile and holistic way

Knowledge work isn't something that comes packaged up in discrete boxes that take a specified amount of time. That's why a highly production-centred approach like a waterfall model can be problematic for projects that involve creativity, serendipity and co-ordination.

When working on projects, some weeks may involve more work than others. Instead of a zero-hour contract approach these are times when knowledge workers should be encouraged to bond and do self-directed research. This will make them more effective team members and able to develop themselves while providing value to the organisation.

Conclusion

It's easy to look busy. Offline you can walk around in a rush, attend lots of meetings, and shuffle papers around. Online simply stagger your emails and project management tool to make it look to your boss that you're Getting Things Done. While it's important to provide these updates and keep information flowing through an organisation, too often we forget that the value comes in the meaning behind the actions. This the 'why' question - as in: why are we doing this?

Great leaders are the ones that start with why, who recognise that some people work at different speeds, and are best at different times and in different environments to others. I know some people who I actively enjoy working with online who I find it very difficult to work with face to face. And vice versa.

Ultimately, knowledge work doesn't look 'like' anything. It's a process that leads to results. It's difficult to quantify and based on culture, workflow, and (planned) serendipity. If you could use some assistance in this area, give me a shout over at Dynamic Skillset.

Image CC BY Paul Reynolds