Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash
One of the 7Cs of team resilience is coordination, which means aligning your priorities and actions to be in sync across your organization.
It is easy for an organization to get out of sync if it has offices in many different locations. The most common challenge for dispersed organizations is the disconnect between the realities of a field office and the view from headquarters.
Organizations will be more resilient and productive if field offices and headquarters actively work to stay in sync as much as possible. Here are some suggestions for keeping headquarters and field offices in sync:
Clarify Organizational Goals
Without clear goals, offices may find themselves going in different directions or even working at cross purposes. Tension often develops when headquarters has a different perception of their goals than the field offices. If this is the case, work with colleagues to clarify mission goals and ensure you have a shared understanding of these goals.
Create Working Groups
If you have shared problems across the organizations, create working groups to develop possible solutions. Draw employees from various work units, positions, and locations. Encourage members to be open and share multiple perspectives, working through conflict and differences to reach a unified way forward.
Build Connections
Use technology to develop relationships across the various offices. Find reasons for colleagues to travel and spend time in the same physical location once it’s safe to be together. Headquarters staff should visit field offices regularly. When people know and understand each other, they are more likely to work through conflict rather than blame each other when things don't go well. When we know each other, we see each other as human beings instead of titles/positions.
We Are Where We Sit
We all see the world from our unique perspective based on where we sit. Someone in headquarters will perceive an issue differently than a field office employee simply because they sit in different places. For example, headquarters may feel the pressure of the 24/7 news cycle more acutely and, therefore, be more demanding in requesting information from a field office, which is more focused on day-to-day work. Recognizing that no one is "right" and seeking to understand other perspectives will help everyone find the best approach in the long run.
It’s Better to Be In Sync Than right
Avoid the temptation to stubbornly insist on your position despite opposing views, especially if you are a senior leader. I've seen well-intentioned leaders demand that employees accept their direction only to have them fight even harder to prove the leader wrong. Suppress the need to be right and work with colleagues to find a way forward that works for everyone.
Hierarchy Doesn’t Work
Resist the temptation to use positional power to demand coordination. When employees are forced to comply, they often find ways to undermine the effort. Hierarchy can also kill innovation and reduce productivity since staff will usually check with leadership for permission to do something. Instead, encourage all staff to become involved in developing shared goals and values so they are committed to staying in sync.
Talk to People
Given time zone differences and the realities of working in different places, it is not surprising that most communication between headquarters and field offices is via email. An email is a useful tool for many forms of communication, but when it becomes our only tool, communication will falter. We can resolve misunderstandings much more quickly when we talk to someone. Negotiations are much more effective in person. Never fight over email or messenger.
Manage Expansion
One of the reasons organizations struggle with coordination is that they expand very fast in numbers of employees and mission scope. Expansion breaks down systems and structures that need to be rebuilt or refined. If growth is too rapid, there is no time to develop new ways of staying in sync. It's better to slow down expansion efforts to ensure that systems are keeping pace.
What has helped you stay in sync and minimize tensions between headquarters and field offices?
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