🚀 go-pugleaf

Greetings!  I have been on both sides of this coin.  I have also managed
"remote" employees and have telecommuted myself.   A few things come to
mind:

* While we live in a highly electronic age, people still like and connect
with 3-D communication (i.e seeing and speaking to someone)  Email cannot
accurately capture the tone, urgency, and sometimes even relevance of the
message to the recipient.

* A lot of conversations happen in the hall and the break room.  Bits of
information are passed on and no one thinks to pass on the information to
others not physically located in the office.  Furthermore, it's virtually
impossible to listen to a conversation in the coffee room and think : "gee,
Jane in Florida might want to know about that" unless it directly relates to
Jane's job.

* I would ask the folks in the regional office to give you some examples of
their disconnected feeling.  It may be that the HQ office is seen as having
"privileges" that the regional offices do not.  Perception is a big chunk of
the issue.

* Suggestions: Can HQ visit the regional offices for a "corporate update"?
Can a rep from each region be appointed as a liason?  How is the management
of the region set up and what is the communication between HQ and these
managers and is the information getting passed down correctly and in a
timely manner or is the manager hording the info (Or not understanding its
relevance to the workers?)

These are just some initial thoughts from my own experience.  Hope that they
provide food for thought.

Annie Bartlett
Timeless Strategies
creators of "The Indispensable Manager"
www.timeless-strategies.com
annieb@together.net


Mary Beth Kline wrote in message ...
>I work for a state agency that has a central office and seven field
>offices around the state.   We are looking into ways in which
>communication/information sharing between central office and field
>office personnel can be improved.
>
>We have an e-mail system with bulletin boards (accessible to
>everyone and currently the main conduit for sharing technical and
>operational information), an agency newsletter, and the field office
>managers have frequent telephone contact with central office staff.
>We also include field staff on agency project teams.  Unfortunately,
>there are still problems with field staff feeling disconnected and
>isolated from events that are occuring at the higher organizational
>level, and complaints that they are not well enough informed of critical
>information.
>
>So my questions to the list are:
>
>1.  Have other people experienced these same problems, and how
>have you dealt with them?
>
>2.  What are the ways in which information is shared with
>field/regional offices?
>
>3.  How "hands-on" are central office supervisors of field staff?  How
>often are visits made to the field?  How often are field personnel
>brought in? How frequently are meetings held to share information?
>
>4.  Is anyone aware of any reference source in which I could find
>information to attempt to address these concerns, or does anyone
>have information on an organization with whom we could benchmark?
>
>I would really appreciate your collected wisdom on this subject.
>In other words . . . PLEASE HELP!!!
>
>Thanks.
>Mary Beth Kline
>Organizational Development Specialist
>Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
>State Employe's Retirement System
>mkline@sers.state.pa.us
>717-237-0361